ABSTRACT In the antebellum period (1800–1860), thousands of enslaved people attempted to escape slavery by making their way to the burgeoning cities and towns within the American South and passing as free or as self-hired slaves. The labor market proved to be especially beneficial for a successful integration due to capitalist transformations and rapid urbanization. There, runaway slaves joined free African Americans of whom many were undocumented residents of their states. This ‘undocumentedness’ placed them in a liminal status between free and unfree. Over the decades, black people were pushed into even more exploitative working conditions and labored at the lowest end of the urban labor markets. These downward developments were linked to their vulnerable political, legal, and social status. At the same time, this increasingly disadvantageous socio-economic position of the free black population created opportunities for runaway slaves to blend in in large numbers, as well as for the undocumented as a whole to make ends meet.

中文翻译：

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早期的无证工人：城市南部的逃亡奴隶和非裔美国人，c。1830-1860 年

摘要 在战前时期（1800-1860 年），成千上万的奴隶试图逃离奴隶制，他们前往美国南部迅速发展的城镇，并以自由或自雇奴隶的身份过世。由于资本主义转型和快速城市化，劳动力市场被证明特别有利于成功整合。在那里，逃跑的奴隶加入了自由的非裔美国人，其中许多人是他们所在州的无证居民。这种“无证”使他们处于自由和不自由之间的界限状态。几十年来，黑人被迫进入更具剥削性的工作条件，并在城市劳动力市场的最低端劳动。这些向下的发展与他们脆弱的政治、法律和社会地位有关。同时，