This chapter examines several narratives written by American slaves who escaped captivity prior to the Civil War. It argues that the accounts of former and fugitive slaves are animated by a particular notion of leaving, one that is at odds with the orthodox notion of exit and its emphasis on individual autonomy. Narrators use their own flights from slavery to expose the continued suffering of the enslaved. In this way, narrators deflect attention from themselves and their personal experiences and focus it on the plight of their people. Their accounts reveal an abiding connection with Those they left and serve to illuminate the hardship, misery, and injustice of their lives. Read in this way, these narratives suggest a conception of exit that is linked to suffering, solidarity, and communal concerns. This is particularly clear in Harriet Jacobs’s account, which gives insight into the ways that gender and race can influence the act of leaving and how it is conceptualized.