Master Slave Husband Wife: An Epic Journey from Slavery to Freedom

“As he waited for Ellen, he could only pray that he would not lose her, as he had lost them.”

While living under slavery in the American South, William and Ellen did not have the luxury of pursuing the full breadth of their love for others. Even the love they had for themselves was constantly under scrutiny and challenge. The couple recognized that they could be separated at any moment. On their journey North, these fears were renewed in a different way. However, it was the intensity of their love that propelled them forward.

“William refused to let this man’s irreligion shake his own faith, which would be a powerful part of his parents’ legacy—that and their love, which would set a precedent for his own, lifelong union.”

William learned about the hypocrisy of enslaving piety from his enslaver, and this lesson also taught him about The Perseverance of True Faith. William’s enslaver was well respected and known for his generous donations to the church and willingness to help others. However, he sold William’s parents to two different enslavers, separating them from one another. William could not believe that a person who could so easily destroy the life and love of others answered to a higher calling.

“In the aftermath of his family’s rupture, William made every effort to keep track of his dispersed family members, all of whom he appears to have located, years past their removal—all excepting his last sold sister.”

This passage contributes to the theme The Enduring Nature of Love. Long after William and Ellen escaped to Europe, they continued to seek and advocate for family members and others living in slavery. Their dedication impacted countless lives. The Crafts did not settle into their new lives without remembering those they left behind, and they worked tirelessly to secure freedom for as many individuals as they could.

“But she learned from her mother this crucial lesson: that no matter what slavers might rob or remove, the love she carried belonged to her.”

Ellen first learned about The Enduring Nature of Love from her mother, Maria, who instilled in her the belief that her enslavers could never take away the love that she had for her family, loved ones, and neighbors. Ellen demonstrates this lesson throughout her life, putting her advocacy before her health and committing her life to the betterment of others.

“Ellen learned the language of the White elite. She also learned to observe their manners, the smallest signs and behaviors that were typical for them, rather than one of her own, enslaved class.”

This passage reveals the beginning of William and Ellen’s use of The Exploitation and Subversion of Bias. Racist beliefs about enslaved laborers’ intelligence and self-awareness pervaded white enslavers’ culture. Ellen used this to her advantage by allowing her enslaver to think of her as a loyal and submissive worker while carefully observing valuable information about white culture. She used what she learned to successfully imitate a white enslaver and secure freedom for William and herself.

“Unable to devise a plan, yet determined to be together, they had decided, at last, to invert their goals—run later, love first.”

Although William and Ellen first decided to postpone their relationship until they could escape slavery, they later decided to be together. Woo speculates that this decision may have contributed to William and Ellen’s motivation. Rumors that Ellen may have lost a child suggest that a desire to keep her children from slavery may have fast-tracked the couple’s plan.

“Through conversations here and there, she had persuaded the young officer she was worthy of his type and class, and in a single moment, her hard work paid off.”

Along their journey North, William and Ellen used The Exploitation and Subversion of Bias to navigate the white world. By exploiting her enslaver’s expectations and gathering information about white culture and mannerisms, Ellen successfully convinced other passengers that she was a white enslaver. The carefully managed conversations she had with other passengers paid off later when other travelers confirmed her identity as Mr. Johnson.

“Having served such young ladies all her life, Ellen knew exactly what type of conversation would be most pleasing to them from a gentleman like herself.”

Important to Ellen’s story is the intersection of race and gender. Ellen uses what she learned from waiting on white women to garner their favor. It was important that Ellen understood both the mannerisms of a Southern enslaver and the complex nuances of gender relations.

“William made sure during these hours to take special care of his master, showing such devotion that he drew praise from onlookers, who took his attentiveness as proof of the closeness that existed between masers and slaves.”

William, too, played his role in exploiting bias. The Crafts knew that white slavery supporters believed in a vision of slavery that emphasized a mutual bond of trust and love between enslavers and enslaved people. By playing on this false belief, William assured the other passengers that he was not a flight risk.

“Later, he would recall the faith that drew him forward—his conviction that the God who had brought them so far would not fail them now.”

Woo juxtaposes William and Ellen’s faith with the hypocritical faith of white enslavers. Throughout their lives, the Crafts felt pulled forward by their faith and their belief in their own divine destinies. This idea is explored in the theme of The Perseverance of True Faith.

“William and Ellen would state their belief that ‘had they not been sustained by a kind and…special Providence,’ they could never have come this far.”

The boasted faith of white enslavers was founded on two pillars: a belief in a judgmental and wrathful God of the Bible and the justification of sin by the division of races. Woo details how sex trafficking and slave auctions were erected on the same streets as churches and the nation’s Capitol. However, the Crafts knew of a different kind of faith—one that asked them to care about the freedom of others, as well as their own liberty.

“Eschewing the guaranteed path to their own safety, they opted for a riskier road, setting a pattern for years to come.”

William and Ellen’s story began with a desire to secure freedom for themselves. Their four-day journey to Philadelphia was dangerous, and it would have been simpler for the couple to settle down once they reached safety, fulfilling their dream of starting a family. However, living by the principles of their conviction, they saw how their story might help the anti-slavery cause. They left the dangers of slavery and then risked their lives repeatedly to advocate for others.

“But this story was different: a fugitive love story, a romance, and he wanted to hear it from the couple themselves.”

William and Ellen’s story resounded with audiences because of its connection to The Enduring Nature of Love. People were inspired by their experience because they saw their escape as an act of love between a man and his wife.

“Ellen Craft was not an ‘unfortunate slave,’ who required their help. After all, she had saved herself and her husband. Together she and William demanded that others not look down at them, but eye to eye.”

Although William later suggests that the plan to escape was entirely his, historical artifacts suggest that Ellen was responsible for the carefully designed plot. Her skills as a seamstress and her time observing white enslavers’ culture impacted every decision the couple made. The alteration to the story may have been to protect Ellen from the scrutiny of a gender-divided society. However, both William and Ellen were proud and demanded respect from others. William often refused charity, and Ellen emphasized the importance of educating herself.

“The problem was how to make others aware that there was a fire in the first place.”

Discussions around abolishing slavery were often centered on a slow and arduous process of allowing the institution to slowly die out. Members of Congress opposed to slavery suggested methods that restricted enslavers’ access to new shipments of trafficked people and limited trade. However, the Crafts, like many other individuals who had experienced the cruelty and violence of the slave trade, understood that every moment was precious. They also saw how those restrictions were ignored and overridden to guarantee the continuance of slavery. Their story needed to emphasize the urgency that was required.

“For White abolitionists, the shock of seeing an enslaved young man as white as themselves was especially motivating—as was the case in their excitement about Ellen.”

Although Ellen was uncomfortable with how audiences thought of her as both white and enslaved, The Exploitation and Subversion of Bias impacted audiences to think about slavery in a new way. White audiences felt closer to the experience of slavery and began to understand how the limitation of freedom for some could easily become a limitation of freedom for others.

“Unable to communicate with those left behind or divine what the enslavers intended, the couple continued their travels on the lecture circuit, fighting to destroy the system that had once enslaved them, laying their lives on the line.”

The dangers of publicly speaking about their escape from slavery cannot be overstated. William and Ellen risked their lives by speaking to audiences about their experiences. Their courage to do so came from The Perseverance of True Faith. William and Ellen believed that they were answering a higher calling that would impact the lives of millions of people.

“Commence to do something to elevate and improve and enlighten the colored man, and your prejudice will begin to vanish. The more you try to make a man of the black man, the more you will begin to think him a man.”

This quote by Frederick Douglass contributes to the theme The Exploitation and Subversion of Bias. Douglass showed how bias impacts how people see others, but when people begin to help others and spend time with them, their biases are dismantled. Douglass explained to audiences that ignorance and hatred are destroyed by compassion and love.

“This, however, was exactly why the couple resolved to stay, for if even they could be chased out or captured, what hope was there for anyone else?”

An important element to the theme of The Enduring Nature of Love is the love that the Crafts had for others. Although their journey began with securing their own freedom, the Crafts were not content to set aside their past or live only for themselves. Even as Robert Collins pursued William and Ellen through the Fugitive Slave Act, the Crafts faced the risk head on, living a public life of advocacy. When white enslavers came to William’s shop, he stood his ground and refused to leave the city.

“They had run for each other, with each other, and now had each other in this place and time, where, strong enough together, they would have room to explore their own identities apart.”

Mirroring the title of the work, Woo shows how William and Ellen’s identities were affected by the world around them. In the early morning of 1848, the Crafts made a choice to allow others to see them as an enslaver and an enslaved companion. Later, they were defined by their roles within a marriage. Once they arrived in England, away from many of the biases that shaped their histories, the couple could learn to get to know themselves as individuals.

“Silencing ‘the erroneous reports’ so lately in the newspapers, and speaking loudly against the claims of her former enslaver, she tells her story in her own written words.”

Once more, Ellen participated in The Exploitation and Subversion of Bias. Newspapers in the United States spread lies about Ellen’s marriage and character. They also suggested that Ellen was eager to return to her life in the South, and Robert Collins insisted that Ellen had been persuaded to leave by her evil partner. These stories operated on the assumption that Ellen could not speak for herself or tell her own story. However, Ellen had pursued her education and learned to read and write. She undermined the power structures that restricted access to learning by demanding her own education and penning her story for all to read.

“Seventeen years and thousands of miles finally closed as daughter and mother, Ellen and Maria, held each other again.”

The story of Ellen and her mother contributes to the theme of The Enduring Nature of Love. Ellen never gave up on freeing and reconnecting with her mother, even after years of separation and an ocean between them. Their successful reunion shows how love can persist and overcome incredible odds.

“The Crafts succeeded in transforming this once abandoned site of slavery into a farm and school collective, with an active community.”

In the final chapter, Woo explores the complex ending to William and Ellen’s lives and the continued hardship they faced. However, they persisted in their attempts to help others, and they returned to Georgia to help reshape the culture that had once held them in bondage.