EVANGELICAL WOMEN IN EARLY 1800; ELLEN CRAFT P/152

                                                                  Read Part One HERE                                                                                                   

In this post I will focus on a woman named Ellen Craft. She lived from 1826 - 1891. She was born in Clinton,Georgia, to Maria, a mixed-race enslaved women, and her wealthy plantation owner, Major James Smith. At least three-quarters European by ancestry, Ellen was very fair-skinned and resembled her white half-siblings, who were her enslaver's legitimate children. Smith's wife gave the 11-year old Ellen as a wedding gift to her daughter, Eliza Cromwell Smith, to get the girl out of her household and remove the evidence of her husband's infidelity.

After Eliza Smith married Dr Robert Collins, she took Ellen with her to live in the city of Macon where they made their home. Ellen grew up as a house servant to Eliza, which gave her privileged access to information about the area,

At age 20, Ellen married William Craft in whom her enslaver Collins held a half interest. Not wanting to have a family in slavery, the couple planned an escape during the Christmas season of 1848.

Ellen planned to take advantage of her appearance to pass as white while the pair travelled by train and boat to the North; she dressed as a man since, at the time, it was not customary for a white woman to travel along with an enslaved man. She also faked illness to limit conversation, as she was prevented from learning to read and write with the threat of death because she was enslaved. William was to act as her personal servant. During that time, enslaved people frequently accompanied their enslavers during travel, so the Crafts did not expect to be questioned. To their surprise, they were detained, but only temporarily. An officer had demanded that William was indeed Ellen's property. They were finally let on the train due to sympathy from passengers and the conductor. 

In preparation for her trip, Ellen dyed her hair and bought appropriate clothes to pass as a young man, travelling in a jacket and trousers. William cut her hair to add to her manly appearance. Ellen also practiced the correct gestures and behaviour. She wore her right arm in a sling to hide the fact that she could not write. They travelled to nearby Macon for a train to Savannah. They then boarded a steamship for Philadelphia, in the free state of Pennsylvania, where they arrived early on the morning of Christmas Day.

Read Part One Hundred And Fifty-Three HERE