In the 1850s, “William and Ellen Craft were slaves in the State of Georgia.” Their “desire to be free was very strong.” It was rare for slaves that deep in the Confederacy to successfully flee, but it “occurred to William and Ellen, that she might act the part of master and her husband the part of servant.”
“Ellen was fair enough to pass for white,” but how to transform her into a young planter? She needed to “dress elegantly in a fashionable suit of male attire, and have her hair cut in the style usually worn by young planters.” But she was beardless. So, they muffled up the face of the young planter as if he were “suffering badly with a toothache.”
But how could they register for a room at hotels? Their planter had to be a “gentleman who was very much indisposed. He must have his right arm in a sling,” so he could not sign in. “He must be a little lame, with a nice cane in the left hand; he must have large green spectacles over his eyes, and he must be hard of hearing and depend on his faithful servant, as was common with slaveholders, to look after all his wants.”
“William was just the man to act this part. To begin with, he was very smart, active, and exceedingly attentive to his young master. Indeed, he was almost the eyes, ears, hands, and feet for him. William knew that this would please the slaveholders. The young planter would have nothing to do but hold himself subject to his ailments and put on a bold air of superiority; he was not to deign to notice anybody. If, while traveling, gentlemen, either politely or rudely, should venture to scrape acquaintance with the young planter, in his deafness he was to remain mute; the servant was to explain.”
Where did they obtain the money and props to pull this off? William’s master had apprenticed him to learn carpentry, and hired out his services. He was permitted to keep a small portion of his earnings. Ellen was a house servant, which enabled her to learn how she could escape. When she was twenty they were married, but did not want to raise a family in slavery.
This masquerade fooled everyone on the train and in two hotels, one in Charleston, another in Richmond. But they ran into a problem when they tried to buy a train ticket in Baltimore, which was just over the border from Pennsylvania, and freedom.
At the depot, “the servant asked for tickets for his master and self. The ticket master said, ‘Of course, your master could have a ticket, but bonds will have to be entered before you can get a ticket.’”
“The servant replied that he knew nothing about that, that he was simply traveling with his young master to take care of him, and that he was in a very delicate state of health.” He feared “that he might not be able to hold out before reaching Philadelphia, where he was hastening for medical treatment,” adding that “my master cannot be detained.” “Without further parley, the ticket master very obligingly waived the old rule, and furnished the requisite tickets. The mountain being thus removed, the young planter and his faithful servant were safely in the cars for the city of Brotherly Love.”
“Scarcely had they arrived on free soil when the rheumatism departed, the right arm was unslung, the toothache was gone, the beardless face was unmuffled, the deaf heard and spoke, the blind saw, and the lame leaped as a hart, and in the presence of a few astonished friends of the slave, the facts of this unparalleled Underground Railroad feat were fully established.”
After conferring with William Lloyd Garrison and other abolitionists, they traveled to the free soil of Boston, Massachusetts. “The story of their escape was broadcast over the country, North and South, and indeed over the civilized world.” “But the day the Fugitive Slave Bill passed, even the bravest abolitionist began to fear that a fugitive slave was no longer safe anywhere under the stars and stripes.”
“Many abolitionists counseled resistance to the death at all hazards. Instead of running to Canada, fugitives generally armed themselves and thus said, ‘Give me liberty or give me death.’”
But after a close call when they evaded capture by slave hunters hired by their old master, they decided to emigrate to Great Britain, where they were safe. Ellen could read and write, and they earned speaking fees for sharing their experience as slaves.
Frederick Douglass had also emigrated to Great Britain after he entertained John Brown at his house. Although Douglass did not assist John Brown in his raid of the armory at Harper’s Ferry, and indeed tried to dissuade him from this fool’s errand, he was suspected of being an accomplice.
Life and Times of Frederick Douglass, After Slavery as an Abolitionist
http://www.seekingvirtueandwisdom.com/life-and-times-of-frederick-douglass-after-slavery-as-an-abolitionist/
https://youtu.be/M0sx85oMRQA
William and Ellen Craft prospered in England, though they did have financial problems, and after the Civil War, they visited their old homes in Boston and Georgia. The land prices were depressed, as the Southern economy had collapsed after the Civil War, so they bought a plantation with funds raised from supporters near Savannah, Georgia, where they lived with their family.[1]
DISCUSSING THE SOURCES
We will be reviewing many of the stories about slaves escaping to freedom in the Underground Railroad, and there are other slave narratives. Frederick Douglass escaped from slavery when the abolition movement began. Augustine Tolton and his mother escaped from slavery during the Civil War, he was the first black priest ordained after the Civil War. And Booker T Washington was emancipated as a young teenager at the end of the Civil War.
Frederick Douglass Tells Us About His Life as a Slave in his Autobiography
http://www.seekingvirtueandwisdom.com/frederick-douglass-tells-us-about-his-life-as-a-slave-in-his-autobiography/
https://youtu.be/7VkzhyNnuQk
Life and Times of Frederick Douglass, After Slavery as an Abolitionist
http://www.seekingvirtueandwisdom.com/life-and-times-of-frederick-douglass-after-slavery-as-an-abolitionist/
https://youtu.be/M0sx85oMRQA
Father Augustine Tolton, From Slave to Priest
http://www.seekingvirtueandwisdom.com/father-augustine-tolton-from-slave-to-priest/
https://youtu.be/dZbzWJkAf5k
Up From Slavery: Autobiography of Booker T Washington
http://www.seekingvirtueandwisdom.com/up-from-slavery-autobiography-of-booker-t-washington/
https://youtu.be/yxDnJ6sBoJc
In our first video in this series, Harriet Jacobs sailed for freedom after hiding for many years on her plantation.
Underground Railroad: Harriet Jacobs, the Slave Girl Who Escapes Slavery Before the Civil War
https://seekingvirtueandwisdom.com/underground-railroad-harriet-jacobs-the-slave-girl-who-escapes-slavery-before-the-civil-war/
https://youtu.be/3KMkAyg7goY
We read of Eliza Harris who escaped with her infant daughter crawling from one block of ice to another, crossing a river not quite frozen over in the winter, with slave catchers watching helplessly on the bank. This incident inspired a scene in Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin, a novel that helped spark the Civil War.
Underground Railroad: Eliza and Her Infant Escape Slavery Over the Ice Before the Civil War
https://seekingvirtueandwisdom.com/eliza-harris-and-her-infant-escapes-slavery-over-the-ice/
https://youtu.be/kRSzNZP73og
Harriet Tubman was perhaps the most famous conductor on the Underground Railroad, she returned to Maryland nineteen times to lead family members and other slaves to freedom, and even assisted in a military raid in South Carolina during the Civil War.
Harriet Tubman, Conductor of Underground Railroad, Leading Many Slaves to Freedom
https://seekingvirtueandwisdom.com/harriet-tubman-conductor-of-underground-railroad-leading-many-slaves-to-freedom/
https://youtu.be/Lkk30_zIDI0
Henry Box Brown escaped from slavery by having himself boxed and shipped to freedom in Philadelphia.
Underground Railroad: Henry Box Brown, Who Escaped From Slavery Via Mail Express
https://seekingvirtueandwisdom.com/underground-railroad-henry-box-brown-who-escaped-from-slavery-via-mail-express/
https://youtu.be/q3AWLDo4e6I
And we have the tragic story of Margaret Garner, who killed two of her children to free them from a lifetime of bondage and sexual molestation.
Margaret Garner, Slave Mother Who Killed Her Child to Avoid Slavery, Inspiration for Beloved
https://seekingvirtueandwisdom.com/margaret-garner-slave-mother-who-killed-her-child-to-avoid-slavery-inspiration-for-beloved/
https://youtu.be/gd6SRd7T20I
[1] William Still, William and Ellen Craft, Female Slave in Male Attire, Fleeing as a Planter, with Her Husband as Her Body Servant, included in Slave Narratives of the Underground Railroad (Garden City, New York, Dover Publications, 2001, 1880), pp. 39-44 and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellen_and_William_Craft
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