Books with author Craft Ellen

In Running a Thousand Miles for Freedom (1860), William Craft recounts the circumstances under which he and his wife escaped from slavery. His account also relates incidents that portray the evils of slavery, including its negative effects on slaveholders, white children sold into slavery, and other slaves. Craft offers tales of cruelty to show that "he who has the power, and is inhuman enough to trample upon the sacred rights of the weak, cares nothing for race or colour," suggesting that slavery is a product of sadism and not necessarily racial prejudice. To prove this point, Craft recounts the tale of Salomé. Muller, a white German girl sold into slavery in New Orleans after her father's death left her and her sister orphaned. Craft also references other accounts of white children stolen or sold into slavery who later obtained their freedom by either running away or being recognized. The Crafts' story begins with Ellen's experience as a daughter of a slaveholder and a slave. Her father's wife was unhappy that Ellen was thought to be one of her own children, so to distance herself from her husband's illegitimate slave child, she gave Ellen as a gift to her daughter (Ellen's half-sister). This kind sister retained legal possession of Ellen until the couple ran away. Craft's own master, on the other hand, sold off his entire family at different periods to finance outstanding debts. Fortunately, because Craft had already been apprenticed to a cabinet maker, his new master, a cashier at the bank who assumed rights to him, allowed him to continue his trade and earn money for his new master. Throughout the narrative, William quotes sections of law regarding slaves. These excerpts highlight the justifications Southerners made to keep slavery legal and explains why the Crafts were so eager to escape to the North even though neither experienced the extreme physical abuse characteristic of plantation life. Craft introduces a family known as the Slators, whose individual family members were forced into extra-marital relationships and separated from one another before escaping and buying one another's freedom. Determined not to allow any slave owner the opportunity to sell her children, Ellen decides not to have any children while she remains a slave, and this decision strengthens her desire to escape from slavery. Craft tells of struggling for years to find some way to escape before finally coming up with a promising plan: "Knowing slaveholders have the privilege of taking their slaves to any part of the country they think proper, it occurred to me that, as my wife was nearly white, I might get her to disguise herself as an invalid gentleman, and assume to be my master, while I could attend as his slave, and that in this manner we might effect our escape". At first Ellen struggles with the idea. If they were caught, they would be separated and punished, maybe even killed. Yet her desire for freedom overcomes her fears, and Ellen agrees. The pair begins assembling her disguise and arrange with their owners for a period of leave so that they will not be immediately missed. In order to carry out their escape, Ellen dresses as a man with one arm in a poultice sling to avoid having to write, which she has never learned to do, and another sling tied about her face to disguise her beardless and feminine features. On the night of their escape, William recounts that Ellen was so afraid that she burst into tears, before finally working up the courage to proceed.

Husband and wife William and Ellen Craft's break from slavery in 1848 was perhaps the most extraordinary in American history. Numerous newspaper reports in the United States and abroad told of how the two -- fair-skinned Ellen disguised as a white slave master and William posing as her servant -- negotiated heart-pounding brushes with discovery while fleeing Macon, Georgia, for Philadelphia and eventually Boston. No account, though, conveyed the ingenuity, daring, good fortune, and love that characterized their flight for freedom better than the couple's own version, published in 1860, a remarkable authorial accomplishment only twelve years beyond illiteracy. Now their stirring first-person narrative and Richard Blackett's excellent interpretive pieces are brought together in one volume to tell the complete story of the Crafts. Ellen Craft (1826–1891) and William Craft (1824–1900) were slaves from Macon, Georgia in the United States who escaped to the North in December 1848 by traveling openly by train and steamboat, arriving in Philadelphia on Christmas Day. She passed as a white male planter and he as her personal servant. Their daring escape was widely publicized, making them among the most famous of fugitive slaves. Abolitionists featured them in public lectures to gain support in the struggle to end the institution. As the light-skinned quadroon daughter of a mulatto slave and her white master, Ellen Craft used her appearance to pass as a white man, dressed in male clothing, during their escape. As prominent fugitives, they were threatened by slave catchers in Boston after passage of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, so the Crafts emigrated to England. They lived there for nearly two decades and reared five children. The Crafts lectured publicly about their escape. In 1860 they published a written account, Running a Thousand Miles for Freedom; Or, The Escape of William and Ellen Craft from Slavery. One of the most compelling of the many slave narratives published before the American Civil War, their book reached wide audiences in Great Britain and the United States. After their return to the US in 1868, the Crafts opened an agricultural school for freedmen's children in Georgia. THE BOOK: Their book provides a unique view of race, gender, and class in the 19th century. It offers examples of racial passing, cross-dressing, and middle-class "performance" in a society in which each of these boundaries was thought to be distinct and stable. While originally published with only William's name as author, twentieth-century and more recent scholarship has re-evaluated Ellen's likely contribution, noting the inclusion of material about Sally Miller and other women slaves. Reprints since the 1990s have listed both the Crafts as authors. Their escape, and particularly Ellen's disguise, which played on so many layers of appearance and identity, showed the interlocking nature of race, gender, and class. Ellen had to "perform" successfully in all three arenas simultaneously for the couple to travel undetected. Since only William's narrative voice tells their joint story in the book, critics say it is suggestive of how difficult it was for a black woman to find a public voice, although she was bold in action. Brusky says that, in the way that she used wrappings to "muffle" her during the escape to avoid conversation, Ellen in the book is presented through the filter of William's perspective. Historians and readers cannot evaluate how much Ellen contributed to the recounting of their story, but audiences appreciated seeing the young woman who had been so daring. On one occasion, a newspaper notes, there was "considerable disappointment" when Ellen Craft was absent. Since they appeared over a period of 10 years, as William recounted their escape, they could respond to audiences' reactions to Ellen in person and to hearing of her actions. It is likely their published account reflects her influence.

"Running a Thousand Miles for Freedom" chronicles the daring escape of William and Ellen Craft which is often known as the most ingenious plot in fugitive slave history. While Ellen posed as a white male planter William, her husband, posed as her personal servant. The couple cleverly travelled by train and steamboat, escaped nail-biting detection and arrived in Philadelphia on Christmas Day. Excerpt: "It is a common practice in the slave States for ladies, when angry with their maids, to send them to the calybuce sugar-house, or to some other place established for the purpose of punishing slaves, and have them severely flogged; and I am sorry it is a fact, that the villains to whom those defenceless creatures are sent, not only flog them as they are ordered, but frequently compel them to submit to the greatest indignity." William Craft (1824–1900) and Ellen Craft (1826–1891) were slaves from Macon, Georgia in the United States who escaped to the North in December 1848. Their daring escape was widely publicized, making them among the most famous of fugitive slaves in America. But due to the controversial Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 they had to immigrate to Britain for safety where they continued to garner support for the abolishment of slavery.

Ellen Craft and William Craft were slaves from Macon, Georgia who escaped to the North in December 1848 by traveling openly by train and steamboat, arriving in Philadelphia on Christmas Day. She posed as a white male planter and he as her personal servant. Their daring escape was widely publicized, making them among the most famous of fugitive slaves.

This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.

This is a reproduction of the original artefact. Generally these books are created from careful scans of the original. This allows us to preserve the book accurately and present it in the way the author intended. Since the original versions are generally quite old, there may occasionally be certain imperfections within these reproductions. We're happy to make these classics available again for future generations to enjoy!

“The story of William and Ellen Craft had been told, repeated in fragments, and retold among proslavery people as well as by Abolitionists for at least a decade before the Crafts were in a position to publish their narrative. Apparently no two slaves in their flight for freedom ever thrilled the world so much as did this handsome young couple. It began, as the narrative indicates, when the near-white wife, disguised in man’s clothes as a young planter, and her young black mate left Macon, Georgia, during the Christmas holidays of 1848. When the ruse succeeded, they became heroes, about whom speeches were made and poems written….Here was romance with dimensions which Shakespeare might not have missed, and which President James K. Polk did not, altogether. …Polk declared after the passage of the Fugitive Slave Law that he would employ military force for their capture.” – Arna Wendell Bontemps, “Great Slave Narratives,” 1969 “We would look in vain through the most trying times of our revolutionary history…for an incident of courage and noble daring to equal that of the escape of William and Ellen Craft; the future historians and poets would tell this story as one of the most thrilling in the nation’s annals.” -The Liberator

This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.