Antebellum Maryland's society was made up of communities of enslaved African Americans, free African Americans, non-slave owning whites, and slave owners. While there were many cases of non-slave owning whites helping slaves escape, they were an unreliable source of aid, and often attempted to capture runaways for reward money. Fleeing slaves often received help from other slaves and free African Americans in the form of food, clothing, money, information, and timely silence. Often, fleeing slaves received aid from relatives or friends who broke the law to help them.