Ellen (1826-1891) and William Craft (1824-1900) rose to international fame for their daring escape aboard a train from Georgia in 1848. Ellen, who was light-skinned, posed as a male slaveholder, and William acted as her enslaved valet. The Crafts settled for several years in Boston, where they publicly defied the 1850 Fugitive Slave Act, before ultimately relocating to England. There, the couple published their story, Running a Thousand Miles for Freedom (1860). After the Civil War, the Crafts returned to Reconstruction-era Georgia and opened schools for freedpeople.
ESSAYS: Blackett // Crew // Grover // Larson // Oakes // Sinha
ROLES: Abolitionist // Freedom Seeker // UGRR Operative