As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Affiliate disclosure.
Historical person
1826–1891
Ellen Craft was born enslaved in Georgia and married William Craft. In December 1848 she used her light complexion to pass as a white male enslaver travelling for medical treatment, while William posed as her enslaved attendant. The disguise allowed them to use public trains, steamers and hotels on their journey north.
After reaching freedom, the Crafts became abolitionist speakers. The Fugitive Slave Act exposed them to renewed danger in Boston, and they moved to Britain before returning to the United States after the Civil War. Their jointly published account made the escape one of the best-known narratives of slavery and resistance.
In Doug Peterson’s The Vanishing Woman, Ellen Craft disguises herself as a sickly white male planter and travels openly from Georgia with her husband William posing as the enslaved servant of his supposed master.
Series
The North-South Series is a five-volume sequence of biographical historical novels about Black resistance to slavery and service during the American Civil War. Its first three books reconstruct the escapes of Ellen and William Craft, Henry “Box” Brown and Harriet Tubman; the final two turn to John Scobell’s…
All books in this series
