This past summer I visited Boston, Massachusetts for the first time. During this trip, I went on an Underground Railroad walking tour, and it was very informative. Our tour guide was great and gave great details to different sites. I took down the names of many of the figures and stories heard. I wanted them to be stored in my collection of American history during civil rights in the 19th century. Today I would like to honor Ellen and Willian Craft and their connection to Black History in America.
The Craft’s was a young couple who were enslaved in Georgia. To continue their love, they hoped to expand their family. But there was a problem in the mid-19th century. Kids of enslaved parents were often sold off to other slave owners. On a united front, the couple devised a plan to escape slavery in the South to live in the North.
Ellen was biracial as she was born to an enslaved mother and a slaveholder father. Due to her fair skin, the wife of her father sent her away to live with her white half-sister. William was separated from his parents and siblings at the age of 16 to pay his slaveowner debt. Together the two decided that Ellen would disguise herself as a white male slaveholder and William would be her enslaved valet. Due to the trust of their own slaveholders, they were able to obtain travel passes. They would take a train from Georgia to Pennsylvania. Due to their illiteracy, Ellen would wear an arm sling as to not sign documents. She also wore bandages on her face to pretend she was injured and traveling for medical support in Pennsylvania.
After arriving in Pennsylvania on Christmas Day in 1848, abolitionists took them under their wing. They educated them and then eventually transported them to Boston, Massachusetts. After two years, they were being hunted for a return to their rightful owners. Many local figures protected them until they eventually escaped to England. It was there where they started a family and would not return to the states for 20 years.
When I went to Boston on the tour, we were outside the home that housed them while they were hiding from the slave hunters. See the picture below. So on this day let’s speak the names of Ellen and William Craft and their roles in the history of Black Americans and the fight for freedom in the 19th century.
