Running a Thousand Miles for Freedom

In 1848 William and Ellen Craft made one of the boldest escapes from American slavery on record, and this is their own account of it. Ellen, light-skinned enough to pass as white, disguised herself as an ailing young gentleman travelling with his enslaved manservant, played by her husband, and together they journeyed openly by train and steamer from Georgia to freedom in the North. Published in 1860, the narrative recounts the near-misses and quick thinking that carried them past suspicious officials and slaveholders, and it sets their personal daring against a clear-eyed indictment of the laws and hypocrisies that made such a scheme necessary. It remains one of the most gripping and morally forceful of the slave narratives. Free PDF and EPUB editions are available here.