I appreciate your post, but in writing and discussing slavery and Black people it is important that we use historically accurate language and move beyond narratives of “slaves” and “fugitive slaves". The importance of your piece becomes lost by the language/terms you are using. When discussing the forced migration of African people via the Middle Passage, please write “African captives” or “captives from the continent of Africa” or certain region — you can do the same in writing about enslaved Black people’s forced migration from the mid-Atlantic region of the US to the “deep south" (Texas). They are also “captives”. For Black people who are enslaved, do not write “slaves" but “enslaved Black people/person/man/woman". Please do not write “fugitive slaves", but “fugitives from slavery" or “self-emancipated person/people". The weight of slavery should be placed on “enslavers" NOT Black people. The term “slaves" takes us back to the writings of Thomas Jefferson, if he and other thinkers of the 18th and 19 century used the term “slaves" maybe we should use something else. Black people never saw their status within this system as legitimate — and always contested and fought against the institution in small and large ways. We were held captive against our will for centuries, the term “slave" is a disservice to explaining the historical textures within the system of US slavery and how in the 21st century it should be discuss and remembered. Thank you for sharing your work, Lisa Betty