Listen Live
Listen Live Graphics (Indy)

The Crafts made the journey to Charleston, S.C. by boat. They narrowly made it out of Charleston after a ticket seller refused to sign them on board, even with Mrs. Craft’s bandages. A captain the pair met in Charleston vouched for them and signed them aboard a boat heading to Philadelphia. Once they made it Philadelphia, their fortunes changed when the Crafts were taken into safety by abolitionists.

They were taught to read and eventually moved to Boston where Mr. Craft owned a cabinetmaking business while his wife worked as a seamstress.

Abolitionists encouraged Mr. Craft to tell their escape story, for use as propaganda for their movement. The passing of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 put their lives in peril, and Georgia bounty hunters came north to retrieve the Crafts. Boston abolitionists protected the Crafts, but they feared for their lives and fled to England. For the next 19 years, they lived in England where they had five children.

In 1860, they published their story Running a Thousand Miles for Freedom. The Crafts returned to the United States in 1870, establishing a school for freed slaves in 1873 with the backing of donors. They purchased a 1800-acre farm near Savannah, Ga, but lost it due to allegations of misused funds.

Later, they moved to Charleston, S.C. to reside with one of their children and it was there that would become their final resting place.

Like BlackAmericaWeb.com on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter.

Little Known Black History Fact: William and Ellen Craft  was originally published on blackamericaweb.com

« Previous page 1 2