Woman fled to Liverpool dressed as a white man to escape slavery
Liverpool is a city with deep roots in the transatlantic slave trade.
Much of its early wealth was built on the back of slavery right up until it was abolished in Britain in 1807.
In North America, although the importation of enslaved people was outlawed in the same year, slavery lasted in about half of US states until 1865.
To escape from her own still legal bondage, one black woman made a daring attempt to flee her captors by disguising herself as a white man to travel thousands of miles in the hope of finding refuge in Liverpool.
Much like many enslaved people, Ellen Craft was conceived when her mother was raped by the white man who ‘owned’ her, reports Express online.
She met her future husband William in 1846 and started plotting their journey to freedom which they would enact two years later.
Ellen and William were both born into slavery in the south-eastern US state of Georgia.
Her light skin allowed her to pass as white, which the pair used to their advantage during their escape.
She disguised herself as a disabled white man heading a thousand miles north for treatment, with William posing as her servant.
It was not customary for women to travel with male servants, hence Ellen posed as a wealthy man.
Her light skin allowed her to pass as white, which the pair used to their advantage during their escape.
She disguised herself as a disabled white man heading a thousand miles north for treatment, with William posing as her servant.
It was not customary for women to travel with male servants, hence Ellen posed as a wealthy man.
Ellen and William settled in Ockham, Surrey, before moving to a house in Hammersmith, London.
They spent 19 years in England, and turned their London home into something of a hub for black activism.
They had five children, who were born and raised during their nearly two decades living in England.
Ellen was heavily involved in the London Emancipation Committee and the Women’s Suffrage Organisation.
The couple travelled the UK giving lectures about abolition, their escape from the US, racial reform and justice.
They were recently honoured with a new plaque at the London house where they campaigned for the abolition of slavery.
The plaque in Hammersmith was revealed last week, and describes them as “refugees from slavery and campaigners for its abolition”.
Dr Hannah-Rose Murray, a historian at the University of Edinburgh who proposed the plaque, said last week: “Their story inspired audiences on both sides of the Atlantic and when the Crafts reached Britain, they were relentless in their campaigns against slavery, racism, white supremacy, and the Confederate cause during the US Civil War.”
The publication of ‘Running a Thousand Miles for Freedom’, an account of their escape, helped establish the couple as some of the most famous slavery refugees in history.
Dr Murray described the Crafts as “heroic freedom fighters”.
She added: “If caught, they would have been incarcerated, tortured and almost certainly sold away from each other.”
In 1868, after the American Civil War ended and the legal emancipation of all enslaved people, Ellen and William returned to the US with three of their children.
They founded a school in Georgia in 1873 for children of emancipated slaves.
Ellen is reported to have died in Georgia in 1891.
William died in Charleston nine years later and was buried in the city.