William and Ellen Craft escaped slavery in Macon, Georgia by traveling to Philadelphia in 1848. Ellen, the light skinned daughter of her mixed race mother and their enslaver, posed as a young white male planter and William posed as her slave.Their daring escape made international headlines and the Crafts became two of the most famous emancipated people in American history.

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Episode Sources

Running a Thousand Miles for Freedom: Or, the Escape of William and Ellen Craft from Slavery (Dover Thrift Editions: Black History)
Time Magazine: The Remarkable True Story of the Couple Who Posed as Master and Slave to Escape Bondage
Smithsonian Magazine: The Great Escape From Slavery of Ellen and William Craft
National Park Service: "A Desperate Leap for Liberty": The Escape of William and Ellen Craft
History: The Daring Disguise that Helped One Enslaved Couple Escape to Freedom
Georgia Women of Achievement: Ellen Smith Craft
BBC: Ellen and William Craft: Blue plaque for abolitionists who fled slavery

Episode Music

Traveller by Kevin MacLeod Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. Source: http://incompetech.com

Episode 140 William and Ellen Craft - Desperate Leap to Liberty 25:59 Share

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Episode 140 William and Ellen Craft - Desperate Leap to Liberty