Ellen Craft

Born c. 1826
Clinton, Georgia
Died 1897
Charleston, South Carolina

William Craft

Born 1824
Macon, Georgia
Died January 28, 1900
Charleston, South Carolina

Slaves, freedpeople, abolitionists, teachers

The story of the Crafts' 1848 escape from slavery illustrates the great lengths slaves were willing to go in order to be free. Escaping slavery was never easy, but the odds against the Crafts were especially steep because they lived in the state of Georgia—a thousand miles away from the nearest free soil. Their journey to freedom did not end, however, until they were many thousands of miles away, in England, where slavery was illegal. After the Civil War (1861-65), their homesickness for the land where they grew up led them back to Georgia and farming.