Running a Thousand Miles for Freedom explained

What happens

Themes in this chapter

• Freedom and Liberty

  The central theme of the chapter: the Crafts' desperate quest for freedom from slavery and their eventual escape to England.

• Dehumanization of Slavery

  Slavery reduces humans to chattel; the Crafts are deprived of legal rights, earnings, and family bonds.

• Family Separation

  Ellen was given away as a wedding gift at age 11, separated from her mother; the chapter also describes the sale of children from their parents.

• Race and Identity

  Ellen's near-white appearance allows her to pass as a white man; the story of Salome Muller shows that white individuals could also be enslaved.

Characters to notice

• William Craft

  Narrator and co-escapee; devises the plan for Ellen to disguise as a white gentleman.

• Ellen Craft

  William's wife; nearly white, disguises as an invalid gentleman to facilitate their escape.

• Salome Muller

  German immigrant enslaved in New Orleans; her story illustrates how white individuals can be enslaved.

• Daniel Muller

  Salome's father; died shortly after arriving in Louisiana, leading to his daughters' disappearance.

• John F. Miller

  Plantation owner who employed Daniel Muller; connected to Salome's enslavement.

• Louis Belmonte

  New Orleans wine-shop owner who held Salome Muller as a slave.

• Madame Karl

  German woman who recognized Salome Muller in New Orleans and helped reunite her with family.

• Mr. Filmore

  U.S. President who ordered military force to return the Crafts to slavery.

Key passages

• “My wife and myself were born in different towns in the State of Georgia, which is one of the principal slave States. It is true, our condition as slaves was not by any means the worst; but the mere idea that we were held as chattels, and deprived of all legal rights—the thought that we had to give up our hard earnings to a tyrant, to enable him to live in idleness and luxury—the thought that we could not call the bones and sinews that God gave us our own: but above all, the fact that another man had the power to tear from our cradle the newborn babe and sell it in the shambles like a brute, and then scourge us if we dared to lift a finger to save it from such a fate, haunted us for years.”

  William and Ellen were born into slavery in Georgia. Though their treatment was not the worst, the constant awareness of being property, having no legal rights, and the terror of seeing their children sold and beaten drove them to seek freedom.

  This passage captures the psychological torment of slavery and the motivation for escape.

• “Knowing that slaveholders have the privilege of taking their slaves to any part of the country they think proper, it occurred to me that, as my wife was nearly white, I might get her to disguise herself as an invalid gentleman, and assume to be my master, while I could attend as his slave, and that in this manner we might effect our escape.”

  William realized that since slaveholders could travel freely with slaves, Ellen could pass as a white man and pretend to be his master, allowing them to escape together.

  This outlines the ingenious escape plan central to the chapter.

• “We therefore resolved to get the consent of our owners, be married, settle down in slavery, and endeavour to make ourselves as comfortable as possible under that system; but at the same time ever to keep our dim eyes steadily fixed upon the glimmering hope of liberty, and earnestly pray God mercifully to assist us to escape from our unjust thraldom.”

  After years of failed planning, the Crafts decided to marry and endure slavery while still hoping and praying for eventual freedom.

  Shows their initial resignation and persistent hope before the final plan emerged.

• “Oh! shame, shame upon us, that Americans, whose fathers fought against Great Britain, in order to be free, should have to acknowledge this disgraceful fact! God gave us a fair and goodly heritage in this land, but man has cursed it with his devices and crimes against human souls and human rights. Is America the 'land of the free, and the home of the brave?' God knows it is not; and we know it too.”

  The author condemns America for betraying its founding ideals by forcing the Crafts to flee to England for freedom.

  Highlights the hypocrisy of American liberty in the context of slavery.