One Signature Could Expose William and Ellen Craft

William and Ellen Craft escaped slavery by traveling as a wealthy white gentleman and his enslaved servant. But when a clerk demanded a signature, the disguise faced a problem Ellen could not solve by simply looking the part. Follow their journey from Macon through train stations, steamer cabins and suspicious desks—and discover why reaching Philadelphia was only the first escape. Watch next: Harriet Tubman Helped Free Hundreds in One River Raid    • Harriet Tubman Helped Free Hundreds in One...   Explore Ingenious Escapes to Freedom    • Ingenious Escapes to Freedom   Watch next: Harriet Tubman and the Combahee River Raid—another route out of slavery.    • Harriet Tubman Helped Free Hundreds in One...   Chapters 0:00 The register 0:32 A marriage under slavery 2:00 Building the disguise 3:31 Leaving Macon 5:01 Two places on one steamer 6:30 Charleston's desk 8:04 North through Virginia 9:38 The border on paper 11:08 The ferry separation 12:38 Christmas in Philadelphia 14:08 Learning to sign 15:42 Boston is threatened 17:17 Another escape 18:52 The shore beyond pursuit Sources William and Ellen Craft, Running a Thousand Miles for Freedom (1860) https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/585 National Park Service: The Escape of William and Ellen Craft https://www.nps.gov/articles/-a-despe... National Archives: Compromise of 1850 https://www.archives.gov/milestone-do... The memoir was published twelve years after the first escape. Recalled conversations are not contemporary transcripts. Music 'The Weight of Air – Anabasis I' by Scott Buckley - released under CC-BY 4.0. www.scottbuckley.com.au Source: https://www.scottbuckley.com.au/libra... 'Undertow' by Scott Buckley - released under CC-BY 4.0. www.scottbuckley.com.au Source: https://www.scottbuckley.com.au/libra... License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/... Music edited into excerpts, with fades, filtering, gain adjustment and narration ducking. #BlackHistory #History