Origins

The Voice of the Fugitive started publishing in 1851, the year after the Fugitve Slave Act of 1850 was enacted. The Fugitive Slave Act existed before 1850, however in 1850 its reach extended into Northern parts of the States where it hadn't before.

Henry and Mary Bibb moved to Upper Canada because of this act. The act made it legal for slaveholders to recapture slaves and made it illegal to aid individuals who were escaping as well.

The criminalization by using the word "fugitive" when applied people freeing themselves from slavery and by extension those aiding them was intentional. Both literally and in the minds of people, the association of crime with what is liberation discourages people from siding with it.

It pushed forward the idea emancipation was morally corrupt. Because fugitives are people who flee the law, which is meant to be morally correct, they must be morally corrupt. So when emancipation is illegal and those who are freeing themselves become 'fugitives', moral corruption in the eyes of the public extends to them and could prevent them from thinking otherwise.

When paired with the persepective offered by this newspaper, the meaning of the word fugitive changes for the public. It is a bold and meaningful decision for the newspaper title to have this word, it helps in sharing the understanding that Henry Bibb and those published in this newspaper have. With this title, an understanding of who exactly the 'fugitives' that legal documents push are is formed and the non-Black public most importantly