“Since my escape from slavery, I have gotten much better in every respect than I could have possibly anticipated,” wrote Ellen Craft in a December 1852 issue of Anti-Slavery Advocate. They were also able to live as a truly free family. In England, they were finally able to build the family they had long hoped for, with the birth of their five children. “They could say, ‘This is how slavery really is, this is what slavery really looks like, on a day-to-day basis, because we lived it.'”Įventually, William and Ellen Craft moved to England to avoid bounty hunters who sought to profit by recapturing the pair under the Fugitive Slave Act in 1850. Because these people could vouch for the reality of enslavement,” explains McCaskill. ![]() “ understood that one of the most effective weapons that they had to defeat slavery were the stories of formerly enslaved persons themselves. The pair soon relocated to the safe haven of Boston, Massachusetts where they and other abolitionists continued to tell their story. Several local abolitionists immediately offered to help and even started reading and writing lessons on their first day in the city. News of the escaped couple traveled fast throughout Philadelphia after their arrival. At the time, surveillance had been heightened for fugitive enslaved people in the 1820s and ‘30s, following a string of revolts. She worried that her cover would be blown and that both she and William would be killed. Ellen found herself sitting next to the man who was well-acquainted with Ellen in her former life. There was a terrifying close call, however, when Ellen, who was traveling as William Johnson, ran into a friend of her slaveholder at the Macon station. The mouth injury was also used as an alibi for hiding her voice and possibly talking to anyone and raising flags that she wasn’t who she appeared to be, according to McCaskill.īoth William and Ellen were trusted by their slaveholders, so they were able to acquire travel passes-authorization that allowed enslaved people to travel without fear of being arrested-and avoid raising suspicions as they started their escape in December 1848. It was a convenient coverup: A southern white slaveholder, riddled with injuries traveling with his enslaved worker to help him on the journey for medical treatment. It was renowned for its hospitals, its spas, its cutting-edge medical practices.” “At that time, middle of the 19th century, Philadelphia was a medical center in the United States. ![]() And she's suffering from some kind of…tooth problem, along with arthritis,” says McCaskill. “ concoct the story that she is very ill. ![]() She also covered her face in bandages to hide her feminine features. In order to hide her illiteracy, Ellen placed her arm in a sling to avoid drawing attention to herself if any signatures were required along the way. Neither William nor Ellen could read or write, since it was forbidden for enslaved people to study.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |