Running a Thousand Miles for Freedom - Softcover

Craft, William; Craft, Ellen

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1617206717 ISBN 13: 9781617206719

Publisher: SMK Books, 2012

Synopsis

Ellen Craft and William Craft were slaves from Macon, Georgia who escaped to the North in December 1848 by traveling openly by train and steamboat, arriving in Philadelphia on Christmas Day. She posed as a white male planter and he as her personal servant. Their daring escape was widely publicized, making them among the most famous of fugitive slaves.

About this title

About the Author

Ellen Craft (1826–1891) and William Craft (September 25, 1824 – January 29, 1900) were slaves from Macon, Georgia in the United States who escaped to the North in December 1848 by traveling openly by train and steamboat, arriving in Philadelphia on Christmas Day. She posed as a white male planter and he as her personal servant. Their daring escape was widely publicized, making them among the most famous of fugitive slaves. Abolitionists featured them in public lectures to gain support in the struggle to end the institution. As the light-skinned mixed-race daughter of a mulatto slave and her white master, Ellen Craft used her appearance to pass as a white man, dressed in appropriate clothing, during their escape.

Review

Running a Thousand Miles for Freedom is the most significant fugitive slave narrative to come out of Georgia. I know of no other account that provides as riveting an account of an actual escape experience. It offers so much more in its treatment of gender and racial role-reversals, of husband-wife and master-slave relations, and of abolitionist activity on both sides of the Mason-Dixon line.

(Georgia Historical Quarterly)

Edition details

• Publisher: SMK Books
• Publication date: 2012
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1617206717
• ISBN 13: 9781617206719
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 62