Slave Voices

PUNISHMENT

Slave owners routinely offered generous rewards for the return of runaways. If they were fortunate, however, runaways were no longer in the slaveholder's state. That, of course, was by choice.

But many freed slaves were not allowed to remain in their own state. They had no choice but to leave. If they wanted to stay, they needed special written permission.

Jonathan Walker, a white man, attempted to assist a group of slaves leave not just their state, but the country. He helped them sail to the Bahamas - and freedom - in 1844. Walker was captured and branded with the letters "SS" (for "slave stealer") on the palm of his hand. The branding took place in the courtroom, where a fire had been built for that purpose.

Fined and imprisoned for more than a year, Walker moved to Michigan where he died (near Muskegon) in 1878. Eighty years old at his death, Walker was immortalized by John Greenleaf Whittier in his famous poem, The Branded Hand. The most-quoted verse was: