Broadside offering reward for the capture of Maria, Susan, and Harriet Johnson: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

A letterpress broadside offering a reward for the capture of Maria, Susan and Harriet Johnson, three fugitive enslaved girls owned by Charles Alexander Burnett. The broadside features large, bold, black print, which from top to bottom reads: [$250 / REWARD! / RANAWAY FROM THE SUBSCRIBER / 3 NEGRO GIRLS / MARIA JOHNSON, aged about 25 years, SUSAN JOHN- / SON, aged about 20 years, both full faces, thick set, and / rather dark mulattoes. Susan has a defect in one arm, / which causes her to use it somewhat awkwardly. HAIR - / RIET is about 13 years old, small and much darker com- / plexion than the others. All are sisters, and, at the time / they ran off, were serving as house-servants. / $100 each will be given for Susan and Maria, and $50 / for Harriet, if delivered to me in Georgetown, D. C., or / lodged in Baltimore County, or Montgomery County Jail. / For further information call on C. Levering & Clark, / Baltimore, or the subscriber. / C. A. BURNETT, / GEORGETOWN, D. C. / March 15, 1848. / Printed at MURPHY’S General Printing Establishment, 178 Market street, Baltimore.].

After printing, Burnett apparently requested several edits to make the three sisters easier to spot. The changes were added in manuscript, noting that Maria "is darker than a mulatto"; Susan "is a light mulatto" with a "scar on her left elbow"; and Harriet "is short but heavy . . . and is left-handed." The docketing on verso reads "1848 C.A. Burnett vs. 3 girls."

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: March 15, 1848
• Created by: Charles Alexander Burnett, American, 1769 - 1849
• Printed by: Murphy's General Printing Establishment, American
• Subject of: Susan Johnson
• Subject of: Harriet Johnson
• Subject of: Maria Johnson
• Type: broadsides
• Medium: ink on wove paper
• Dimensions: H x W: 11 3/4 × 9 1/2 in. (29.8 × 24.1 cm)
• Place depicted: Baltimore, Maryland, United States, North and Central America
• Place printed: Georgetown, District of Columbia, United States, North and Central America
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Children
• Topic: Families
• Topic: Fugitive enslaved
• Topic: Self-liberation
• Topic: Slavery
• Topic: Women
• Object number: 2020.26.8
• Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture
• Data Source: National Museum of African American History and Culture

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of African American History and Culture through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed. The displayed image also has an explicit CC0 designation. The underlying object's rights statement is: Public domain Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.