Enslaved Couple Devise Daring Plan To Escape To Freedom
This story about how an enslaved couple, madly in love with each other, blurred the lines of race and culture to escape slavery and live a life of freedom will make you appreciate everything you have right now. Meet William and Ellen Craft.
Ellen was born sometime in 1826, in Clinton, Georgia to Maria, a slave, and her master Major James Smith – yes, it was a case of infidelity. Because Ellen resembled her half-siblings and her father so much, Smith’s frustrated wife gave the then 11-year-old Ellen to her daughter Eliza Cromwell Smith in Macon as a wedding gift, all in an attempt to get rid of Ellen from the house. William was born on the 25th of September, 1824 in Georgia. In an attempt to repay debts, the slaveholder tore apart William’s family apart by selling his sister and parents to different slaveholders and sending William to Macon.
It was in Macon that Ellen, who worked as a seamstress, and William, who worked as a carpenter for his master, fell in love and decided to have children and escape to freedom. But they were slaves, and neither of them could read or write because, back then, it was forbidden for enslaved people to study. So how would they pull off such a brave and daring act? The enslaved couple knew that if they were caught trying to escape they would be killed, but for them, being killed was much better than living as slaves for the rest of their lives. Ellen was 20 years old when she married William Craft, who had saved enough money to plan their escape from slavery in December 1848.
Thanks to Ellen’s complexion and appearance, she could easily pass as white and so the enslaved couple decided that she would pose as a white man, a slaveholder, while William would pose as her slave. But Ellen was a female, and illiterate, how would she pass as an educated white male with a slave? They had a solution. In order to hide her illiteracy, Ellen pretended that she had a broken arm and placed it in a sling to avoid signing any documents that needed to be signed along the way. To hide her feminine features and her voice from exposing them, she covered her face in bandages and pretended she was suffering from tooth problems. They were sure their plan to flee to Philadelphia would work.
Ellen and William were both trusted by their slaveholders so it was easy for them to acquire travel passes as they prepared for their final destination. Ellen, who was traveling as William Johnson, was very close to being exposed as she sat next to her slaveholder’s friend at the Macon station, but luck was on their side. During the entire trip from Macon to South Carolina, Ellen was unrecognizable. So much so that people, who took her for a wealthy slaveholder, advised her to keep a close eye on her slave, William, as abolitionists could help free him along the way. William too was secretly advised by abolitionists to escape as soon as they landed at their destination. On Christmas in 1848, the enslaved couple reached Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and immediately started reading and writing classes, with the help of local abolitionists.
Soon the couple relocated to Boston, Massachusetts and when matters got worse, they moved to England to escape bounty hunters who were looking to make money by recapturing fugitive slaves under the Fugitive Slave Act in 1850. It was in England that the enslaved couple were finally able to build the family they always wanted. They had five children: Charles Estlin Phillips, William Ivens, Brougham H., Ellen A. Craft, and Alfred G. They were finally free, but it took a lot of courage, determination, and fearlessness to get there.
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