Ellen Craft, born into slavery in Clinton, Georgia in 1826, became famous for her daring escape from slavery along with her husband William. They lectured widely on their experiences, living in England for two decades, where their book Running a Thousand Miles to Freedom was published.
Ellen Craft, the daughter of slave Maria Smith and Maria's master James Smith, was light-skinned. For their escape, Ellen and William took advantage of this fact by disguising Ellen as a white slave master traveling with his slave from Macon, Georgia to Philadelphia. She donned men's clothing hid her hair. Because she was illiterate and expected to be asked to sign documents during their trip, she feigned a broken arm. They began their journey on December 21, 1848 and arrived in Philadelphia on Christmas morning and soon traveled to Boston.
The Crafts lives were dramatically altered by their escape. They were able to have their marriage legally recognized. And they regularly spoke before large sympathetic audiences of abolitionists. However, their escape was headline news in the North and their master, aided by laws passed in the 1850s which outlawed assisting the escape of slaves. The Crafts fled to England via Nova Scotia.
In England, they continued lecturing on their experiences. Their story was told in their 1860 book Running a Thousand Miles to Freedom. They seem to have pursued education, attending the Ockham School in Surrey, and they had five children.
The Fifteenth Amendment was ratified on March 30, 1870. The Crafts decided to return to the US where, aided by philanthropists, they settled on a farm of 1800 acres. They even established a school for the education of freedmen. Unfortunately, harassment by the KKK and falling cotton prices so the eventual failure of both their farm and their school. They moved in with their daughter Ellen in Charleston, South Carolina in 1890 where both soon passed away.
Works Referenced:
"Ellen Craft: Celebrated Runaway Slave." BLACFAX 11.43 (2003): 16. MasterFILE Premier. EBSCO. Web. 16 Nov. 2010.
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