What word or words would a social historian find most useful in analyzing the above runaway advertisement?
The key word in the advertisement is shrewd. Social historians are interested in the ideas and actions of ordinary people, including masters and slaves. This master revealed an interesting contradiction when he called his slave shrewd. If the slave is shrewd, then the question was how the master could argue that slavery was justified by the inferiority of blacks and their inability to run their own lives. Runaway advertisements are a wonderful source of information about slavery. The other options are not as relevant in analyzing this document because they are normal expectations of the master for the runaway. Instant means this month. Abram was the slave's name. If he had long hair would not be as important as his being shrewd.