#williamcraft

Ellen and William Craft's Escape Through Canada: The Challenges of Racial Prejudice

Among the most daring escapes from slavery in the United States in the 19th century was the flight of Ellen and William Craft from the slave state of Georgia to the free state of Pennsylvania in 1848. Ellen (1826-1891), a light-skinned Black woman who could pass as White, disguised herself as a Southern gentleman, as women could not travel alone with male slaves, and William (1824-1900) posed as 'his' slave. They arrived safely in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on Christmas Day 1848, and soon after, they became the most famous fugitive slaves in the United States.

They were welcomed by the abolitionists of Philadelphia, including Passmore Williamson (1822-1895) and William Still (1819-1902), both members of the Underground Railroad, who sent them on their way to fellow abolitionists in Boston. Once there, they lectured on their escape and the evils of slavery, which brought their location to the attention of their former master who sent slave-catchers after them in 1850.

Flight from the United States

Prior to the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, a freedom seeker could be captured and re-enslaved in a free state, but there was no law compelling anyone to aid in this. After the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 was passed by the US Congress, failure to report a runaway slave or to help slave-catchers apprehend one was punishable by hefty fines and imprisonment.

Boston, a bastion of the abolitionist movement, resisted the Fugitive Slave Act, hid freedom seekers, and worked within the law to apprehend and jail slave-catchers. Abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison (1805-1879) addressed this in his article "Slave Hunters in Boston" in his anti-slavery newspaper The Liberator, 1 November 1850, describing the lengths to which the Boston abolitionists went to hide the Crafts and impede the efforts of the slave-hunters.

Still, the Crafts understood they were no longer safe in the city and, financed by the abolitionists, left for England. They first traveled to Portland, Maine, then to St. John's, New Brunswick, Canada, and from there, to Nova Scotia, where they left for Liverpool, England, aboard the Cambria. Once in England, the Crafts learned to read and write, penning their famous work, Running a Thousand Miles for Freedom (1860), detailing their escape and providing firsthand accounts of life as a slave in the United States.

Although many slaves fled bondage for freedom in Canada, they could not escape racial prejudice. In an especially interesting passage from Ellen and William Craft's Running a Thousand Miles for Freedom, the authors describe the difficulties in lodging and travel through Canada simply because William was a Black man. Ellen, having discarded her disguise upon reaching Philadelphia in 1848, was received warmly as a White woman, but William had a very different and far less pleasant experience, as detailed below.

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Running a Thousand Miles to Freedom or, The Escape of William and Ellen ...

Preface: HAVING heard while in Slavery that "God made of one blood all nations of men," and also that the American Declaration of Independence says, that "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these, are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness;" we could not understand by what right we were held as "chattels." Therefore, we felt perfectly justified in undertaking the dangerous and exciting task of "running a thousand miles" in order to obtain those rights which are so vividly set forth in the Declaration.

I beg those who would know the particulars of our journey, to peruse these pages.

This book is not intended as a full history of the life of my wife, nor of myself; but merely as an account of our escape; together with other matter which I hope may be the means of creating in some minds a deeper abhorrence of the sinful and abominable practice of enslaving and brutifying our fellow-creatures.

-W. CRAFT. 12, CAMBRIDGE ROAD, HAMMERSMITH, LONDON.

(Without stopping to write a long apology for offering this little volume to the public, I shall commence at once to pursue my simple story.)

Image is from:File:Ellen and William Craft (72a234fc-4e0a-4e3a-95f9-71aa2401000b).jpg - Wikimedia Commons

Image is from:File:Ellen Craft escaped slave.jpg - Wikimedia Commons

Slave Hunters in Boston: The Failed Attempt to Capture Ellen & William Craft

In 1848, Ellen and William Craft escaped from slavery in Georgia by Ellen posing as a Southern gentleman and William as 'his' slave (since women were not allowed to travel alone with a male slave). They arrived in the free state of Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia, on Christmas Day 1848, were taken in by the Vigilance Committee, and sent on to Boston. There, they were understood to be free people, safe from capture and re-enslavement, until the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850.

In October 1850, two slave=catchers arrived in Boston from Georgia to bring the Crafts back to their former master. The incident was recorded by the abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison (1805-1879) in his anti-slavery newspaper, The Liberator, in November 1850, and his article was saved and reprinted by the abolitionist William Still (1819-1902) in his work, The Underground Railroad Records (1872), along with Still's narrative of Boston's reception of the slave-catchers and the Crafts' later flight to Great Britain, given below.

The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850

The Fugitive Slave Act of 1793 was passed by the US Congress on 4 February 1793 to provide the legal means of enforcing the Fugitive Slave Clause of the United States Constitution (Article IV, Section 2, Clause 3), giving slaveowners the right to retrieve their fugitive slaves from wherever they might have gone.

No escaped slave, therefore, could be confident in their freedom because, at any time, once they were located, they could legally be reenslaved. No one, however, was legally compelled to inform on the fugitive. It was up to the slaveholder to locate and then organize the capture of their former slave.

The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 strengthened the Act of 1793 by mandating that citizens of free states, law enforcement and judicial officials, and public servants aid slave-catchers in finding and capturing fugitives (today referred to as 'freedom seekers). Further, those who refused to do so or helped freedom seekers evade capture in any way faced fines and imprisonment.

Anyone convicted of helping a freedom seeker was subject to a fine of $1,000.00 (equal to around $37,000.00 today) and six months in prison. Once a freedom seeker was caught, they were brought before a commissioner, who ruled on whether the person was a fugitive slave or a free Black. Commissioners were paid a stipend for performing this duty, but it was weighted heavily in favor of declaring the person a slave. A decision sending the person back to slavery was rewarded with $10.00 (equal to around $380.00 today), while a verdict freeing the person netted the commissioner only $5.00 (around $190.00 today). Commissioners, therefore, tended to decide in favor of the slave-catchers.

It was not only freedom seekers who might be caught and enslaved, however, but any free Black that a slave-catcher managed to ensnare. The slave-catcher would then make up a name and backstory for the 'slave' and sell him or her to a slave trader. This policy was followed even before the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850.

The most famous example of this is the case of Solomon Northup (circa 1807/1808 to circa 1857/1864), a free Black man from Saratoga Springs, New York, who was drugged and sold into slavery in New Orleans, Louisiana, under the name Platt Hamilton in 1841. His family had no idea where he had gone or how to locate him. He only regained his freedom twelve years later when a sympathetic Quaker, Samuel Bass (1807-1853), alerted Northup's family to his whereabouts, and they were able to have him freed and brought home. Northup then detailed his experience in his book, Twelve Years a Slave (1853), which became a bestseller at the time and a major motion picture in 2013.

After 1850, this same practice that had enslaved Northup continued, but on a larger scale. In his case, the two men who tricked and sold him were acting out of self-interest, but, after 1850, informing on the whereabouts of a fugitive slave – or a free Black one could claim as such – was the law and 'catching' any Black person, free or fugitive, netted the informer or catcher a significant sum of money. Free Black children, especially, were in danger of being kidnapped and sold into slavery at any slave auction in any slave state in the South.

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Ellen and William Craft's Running a Thousand Miles for Freedom

Ellen and William Craft's Running a Thousand Miles for Freedom (1860) tells the story of the couple's escape from slavery, with Ellen disguised as a young, White gentleman of means and William as her slave. They successfully traveled to the free state of Pennsylvania in 1848 and became the most famous fugitive slaves in the United States.

Ellen Craft (l. 1826-1891) was born in Clinton, Georgia, to a light-skinned slave and her White master, and so was light-skinned herself and could pass as a White woman. William Craft (l. 1824-1900) was born in Macon, Georgia, where Ellen arrived in the company of her new mistress after the wife of her previous owner presented her to her daughter as a wedding gift to get her out of the house and remove the evidence of her husband's affair.

The Crafts devised a clever scheme in which Ellen would pose as a White gentleman traveling north for his health (since women could not travel alone with male slaves), accompanied by a faithful slave. Because neither could read or write, Ellen wore her right arm in a sling so that the couple would raise no suspicions when asked to sign guest registries. They traveled from Georgia to Pennsylvania, arriving in Philadelphia on Christmas Day 1848.

They were taken under care by the abolitionists in the city and moved to Boston, where they lectured on their experiences until the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 was passed by Congress and slave-catchers were sent to bring them back to Georgia. With the help of Boston abolitionists, the Crafts fled to England, where they lived for the next 19 years, had five children, lectured on their escape, and, having learned to read and write, co-authored Running a Thousand Miles for Freedom, published in 1860.

They returned to the United States in 1868, three years after the end of the American Civil War and passage of the Thirteenth Amendment abolishing slavery, and they set up a farm school outside of Savannah, Georgia, employing former slaves. White supremacist policies made it difficult to maintain the school, which closed in 1878.

In 1890, the Crafts moved to Charleston, South Carolina, to live with their daughter. Ellen Craft died of natural causes in 1891, and William in 1900. Their book became a bestseller, especially among abolitionist circles, and remains a popular work in the present day.

Text

The following excerpt is taken from Running a Thousand Miles for Freedom; or, the Escape of William and Ellen Craft from Slavery, the Electronic Edition, published on the site Documenting the American South, pp. 27-43. The excerpt has been edited for space; omissions indicated by ellipses. The full account is given in the bibliography below and in the External Links.

My wife was torn from her mother's embrace in childhood and taken to a distant part of the country. She had seen so many other children separated from their parents in this cruel manner, that the mere thought of her ever becoming the mother of a child, to linger out a miserable existence under the wretched system of American slavery, appeared to fill her very soul with horror; and as she had taken what I felt to be an important view of her condition, I did not, at first, press the marriage, but agreed to assist her in trying to devise some plan by which we might escape from our unhappy condition, and then be married.

We thought of plan after plan, but they all seemed crowded with insurmountable difficulties. We knew it was unlawful for any public conveyance to take us as passengers, without our master's consent. We were also perfectly aware of the startling fact, that had we left without this consent the professional slave-hunters would have soon had their ferocious bloodhounds baying on our track, and in a short time we should have been dragged back to slavery, not to fill the more favourable situations which we had just left, but to be separated for life, and put to the very meanest and most laborious drudgery; or else have been tortured to death as examples, in order to strike terror into the hearts of others, and thereby prevent them from even attempting to escape from their cruel taskmasters.

It is a fact worthy of remark, that nothing seems to give the slaveholders so much pleasure as the catching and torturing of fugitives. They had much rather take the keen and poisonous lash, and with it cut their poor trembling victims to atoms, than allow one of them to escape to a free country and expose the infamous system from which he fled.

The greatest excitement prevails at a slave-hunt. The slaveholders and their hired ruffians appear to take more pleasure in this inhuman pursuit than English sportsmen do in chasing a fox or a stag. Therefore, knowing what we should have been compelled to suffer, if caught and taken back, we were more than anxious to hit upon a plan that would lead us safely to a land of liberty.

But, after puzzling our brains for years, we were reluctantly driven to the sad conclusion, that it was almost impossible to escape from slavery in Georgia and travel 1,000 miles across the slave States. We therefore resolved to get the consent of our owners, be married, settle down in slavery, and endeavour to make ourselves as comfortable as possible under that system; but at the same time ever to keep our dim eyes steadily fixed upon the glimmering hope of liberty, and earnestly pray God mercifully to assist us to escape from our unjust thraldom.

We were married, and prayed and toiled on till December 1848, at which time (as I have stated) a plan suggested itself that proved quite successful, and in eight days after it was first thought of, we were free from the horrible trammels of slavery, and glorifying God who had brought us safely out of a land of bondage.

Knowing that 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. After I thought of the plan, I suggested it to my wife, but at first, she shrank from the idea. She thought it was almost impossible for her to assume that disguise and travel a distance of 1,000 miles across the slave States.

However, on the other hand, she also thought of her condition. She saw that the laws under which we lived did not recognize her to be a woman, but a mere chattel, to be bought and sold, or otherwise dealt with as her owner might see fit. Therefore, the more she contemplated her helpless condition, the more anxious she was to escape from it. So, she said, "I think it is almost too much for us to undertake; however, I feel that God is on our side, and with his assistance, notwithstanding all the difficulties, we shall be able to succeed. Therefore, if you will purchase the disguise, I will try to carry out the plan."

But after I concluded to purchase the disguise, I was afraid to go to any one to ask him to sell me the articles. It is unlawful in Georgia for a white man to trade with slaves without the master's consent. But, notwithstanding this, many persons will sell a slave any article that he can get the money to buy. Not that they sympathize with the slave, but merely because his testimony is not admitted in court against a free white person.

Therefore, with little difficulty I went to different parts of the town, at odd times, and purchased things piece by piece, (except the trousers which she found necessary to make,) and took them home to the house where my wife resided. She being a ladies' maid, and a favourite slave in the family, was allowed a little room to herself; and amongst other pieces of furniture which I had made in my overtime, was a chest of drawers; so when I took the articles home, she locked them up carefully in these drawers.

No one about the premises knew that she had anything of the kind. So, when we fancied we had everything ready the time was fixed for the flight. But we knew it would not do to start off without first getting our master's consent to be away for a few days. Had we left without this, they would soon have had us back into slavery, and probably we should never have got another fair opportunity of even attempting to escape.

Some of the best slaveholders will sometimes give their favourite slaves a few days' holiday at Christmas time; so, after no little amount of perseverance on my wife's part, she obtained a pass from her mistress, allowing her to be away for a few days. The cabinetmaker with whom I worked gave me a similar paper, but said that he needed my services very much, and wished me to return as soon as the time granted was up. I thanked him kindly; but, somehow, I have not been able to make it convenient to return yet; and, as the free air of good old England agrees so well with my wife and our dear little ones, as well as with myself, it is not at all likely we shall return at present to the "peculiar institution" of chains and stripes.

On reaching my wife's cottage she handed me her pass, and I showed mine, but at that time neither of us were able to read them. It is not only unlawful for slaves to be taught to read, but in some of the States there are heavy penalties attached, such as fines and imprisonment, which will be vigorously enforced upon anyone who is humane enough to violate the so-called law…

…However, at first, we were highly delighted at the idea of having gained permission to be absent for a few days; but when the thought flashed across my wife's mind, that it was customary for travellers to register their names in the visitors' book at hotels, as well as in the clearance or Custom-house book at Charleston, South Carolina–it made our spirits droop within us.

So, while sitting in our little room upon the verge of despair, all at once my wife raised her head, and with a smile upon her face, which was a moment before bathed in tears, said, "I think I have it!" I asked what it was. She said, "I think I can make a poultice and bind up my right hand in a sling, and with propriety ask the officers to register my name for me." I thought that would do.

It then occurred to her that the smoothness of her face might betray her; so she decided to make another poultice, and put it in a white handkerchief to be worn under the chin, up the cheeks, and to tie over the head. This nearly hid the expression of the countenance, as well as the beardless chin…

My wife, knowing that she would be thrown a good deal into the company of gentlemen, fancied that she could get on better if she had something to go over the eyes; so I went to a shop and bought a pair of green spectacles. This was in the evening.

We sat up all night discussing the plan and making preparations. Just before the time arrived, in the morning, for us to leave, I cut off my wife's hair square at the back of the head, and got her to dress in the disguise and stand out on the floor. I found that she made a most respectable looking gentleman.

My wife had no ambition whatever to assume this disguise, and would not have done so had it been possible to have obtained our liberty by more simple means; but we knew it was not customary in the South for ladies to travel with male servants; and therefore, notwithstanding my wife's fair complexion, it would have been a very difficult task for her to have come off as a free white lady, with me as her slave; in fact, her not being able to write would have made this quite impossible.

We knew that no public conveyance would take us, or any other slave, as a passenger, without our master's consent. This consent could never be obtained to pass into a free State. My wife's being muffled in the poultices, &c., furnished a plausible excuse for avoiding general conversation, of which most Yankee travellers are passionately fond…

…When the time had arrived for us to start, we blew out the lights, knelt down, and prayed to our Heavenly Father mercifully to assist us, as he did his people of old, to escape from cruel bondage; and we shall ever feel that God heard and answered our prayer. Had we not been sustained by a kind, and I sometimes think special, providence, we could never have overcome the mountainous difficulties which I am now about to describe.

After this we rose and stood for a few moments in breathless silence, –we were afraid that someone might have been about the cottage listening and watching our movements. So I took my wife by the hand, stepped softly to the door, raised the latch, drew it open, and peeped out. Though there were trees all around the house, yet the foliage scarcely moved; in fact, everything appeared to be as still as death. I then whispered to my wife, "Come my dear, let us make a desperate leap for liberty!" But poor thing, she shrank back, in a state of trepidation.

I turned and asked what was the matter; she made no reply, but burst into violent sobs, and threw her head upon my breast. This appeared to touch my very heart, it caused me to enter into her feelings more fully than ever. We both saw the many mountainous difficulties that rose one after the other before our view and knew far too well what our sad fate would have been, were we caught and forced back into our slavish den. Therefore, on my wife's fully realizing the solemn fact that we had to take our lives, as it were, in our hands, and contest every inch of the thousand miles of slave territory over which we had to pass, it made her heart almost sink within her…

…We then opened the door and stepped as softly out as "moonlight upon the water." I locked the door with my own key, which I now have before me, and tiptoed across the yard into the street. I say tiptoed, because we were like persons near a tottering avalanche, afraid to move, or even breathe freely, for fear the sleeping tyrants should be aroused, and come down upon us with double vengeance, for daring to attempt to escape in the manner which we contemplated.

We shook hands, said farewell, and started in different directions for the railway station. I took the nearest possible way to the train, for fear I should be recognized by someone, and got into the negro car in which I knew I should have to ride; but my master (as I will now call my wife) took a longer way round, and only arrived there with the bulk of the passengers. He obtained a ticket for himself and one for his slave to Savannah, the first port, which was about two hundred miles off. My master then had the luggage stowed away and stepped into one of the best carriages.

But just before the train moved off, I peeped through the window, and, to my great astonishment, I saw the cabinetmaker with whom I had worked so long, on the platform. He stepped up to the ticket-seller, and asked some question, and then commenced looking rapidly through the passengers, and into the carriages. Fully believing that we were caught, I shrank into a corner, turned my face from the door, and expected in a moment to be dragged out. The cabinetmaker looked into my master's carriage, but did not know him in his new attire, and, as God would have it, before he reached mine the bell rang, and the train moved off.

I have heard since that the cabinetmaker had a presentiment that we were about to "make tracks for parts unknown;" but, not seeing me, his suspicions vanished, until he received the startling intelligence that we had arrived safely in a free State.

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À 1000 Miles de la Liberté d'Ellen et William Craft

À 1000 miles de la liberté (1860) d'Ellen et William Craft raconte l'histoire de la fuite du couple de l'esclavage, Ellen étant déguisée en jeune homme blanc de bonne famille et William étant son esclave. Ils réussirent à gagner l'État libre de Pennsylvanie en 1848 et devinrent les esclaves fugitifs les plus célèbres des États-Unis.