Black History Month: William and Ellen Craft

Post date: Feb 26, 2018 7:29:36 PM

By: Kendra Williams

As some of you may know, February is Black History Month. Black History Month is primarily associated with nationally known icons such as Martin Luther King Jr, Rosa Parks, and if you’re lucky, Malcolm X. But while these people and stories are a big part of black history, some stories are not told as much. So I am here to further expand your knowledge on black history and it’s many diverse stories.

In the year 1848 two slaves were married, William and Ellen Craft, and they were very much in love. However there was a catch: they both had different masters. Due to the slave trade, the couple always had a trepidation of getting separated from one another. William and Ellen then devised a plan to escape and flee to Philadelphia. Ellen, being as light skinned as she was, cut her hair and dressed herself as an injured white man. She wrapped a bandage around her head and her hand to hide the fact that she could not write, as well as further hide her identity. This meant that William had to portray the part of Ellen’s loyal and well behaved slave. On December 21, 1848 the two boarded a train for the north. Coincidentally, Ellen sat right next to her master’s close friend but luckily he did not recognize her. They spent the next several days traveling mainly by train. To keep up the act, Ellen had lodged in fine hotels and rubbed elbows with the upper class whites. The Craft’s plan was all a game of luck and that’s exactly what they got. They arrived on Christmas Day in Philadelphia and were taken in by abolitionists before they traveled to Boston. Fearing slave hunters the couple moved to England where they wrote about their escape, raised a family and will forever be a part of black history.