author
William Craft
d. 1900
Born into slavery in Georgia, he became known for one of the boldest escapes of the era and later turned that experience into powerful antislavery activism. His life joined courage, practical skill, and a lasting fight for freedom on both sides of the Atlantic.
1 Audiobook
Running a Thousand Miles for Freedom Or, The Escape of William and Ellen Craft from Slavery
by William Craft, Ellen Craft
About the author
William Craft was an American abolitionist, writer, and skilled carpenter who was born into slavery in Georgia in 1824 and died in 1900. He is best known for escaping slavery with his wife, Ellen Craft, in 1848, in a plan so daring that it became one of the most famous freedom stories of the 19th century.
After reaching the North, the Crafts spoke publicly against slavery, but the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 made them unsafe even in free states. They moved to Britain, where they continued lecturing and in 1860 published Running a Thousand Miles for Freedom, a memoir that helped tell their story to a wide audience.
After the Civil War, William and Ellen Craft returned to Georgia, where they worked to build opportunities for newly freed Black Americans, including through education. His story is remembered not only for its drama, but for the steady purpose that followed: building a life, a family, and a public record of resistance.