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An Epic Journey from Slavery to Freedom
by Ilyon Woo
The remarkable true story of Ellen and William Craft, who escaped slavery through daring, determination, and disguise, with Ellen passing as a wealthy, disabled White man and William posing as "his" slave.
In 1848, a year of international democratic revolt, a young, enslaved couple, Ellen and William Craft, achieved one of the boldest feats of self-emancipation in American history. Posing as master and slave, while sustained by their love as husband and wife, they made their escape together across more than 1,000 miles, riding out in the open on steamboats, carriages, and trains that took them from bondage in Georgia to the free states of the North.
Along the way, they dodged slave traders, military officers, and even friends of their enslavers, who might have revealed their true identities. The tale of their adventure soon made them celebrities, and generated headlines around the country. Americans could not get enough of this charismatic young couple, who traveled another 1,000 miles criss-crossing New England, drawing thunderous applause as they spoke alongside some of the greatest abolitionist luminaries of the day—among them Frederick Douglass and William Wells Brown.
But even then, they were not out of danger. With the passage of an infamous new Fugitive Slave Act in 1850, all Americans became accountable for returning refugees like the Crafts to slavery. Then yet another adventure began, as slave hunters came up from Georgia, forcing the Crafts to flee once again—this time from the United States, their lives and thousands more on the line and the stakes never higher.
With three epic journeys compressed into one monumental bid for freedom, Master Slave Husband Wife is an American love story—one that would challenge the nation's core precepts of life, liberty, and justice for all—one that challenges us even now.
What are some books you loved reading in 2024?
My favorite books in 2024: The Unfinished Love Story, Doris Kearns Goodwin The House of Doors, Tan Rwan Eng The Anomaly, Hervé Le Tellier Master Slave Husband Wife, Ilyon Woo The Frozen River, Ariel Lawhon Thank you for sharing your lists. It will be good reference for my bookclubs.
-Micheline_Heckler
Pulitzer Prize, 2024
"A gripping adventure.... suspenseful and wonderfully told. A captivating tale that ably captures the determination and courage of a remarkable couple." - Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"Readers interested in studies about the enslaved, abolitionism, and antebellum history should read this insightful new work." - Library Journal (starred review)
"Historian Woo seamlessly knits together an in-depth portrait of antebellum America and a thrilling account of an enslaved couple's escape to freedom.... This novelistic history soars." - Publishers Weekly
"Master Slave Husband Wife, like all of the truly great American stories, spent over a century lying in wait, desperate to be told. Enter Ilyon Woo. Ellen and WIlliam Craft loved each other, but also loved freedom, and knew one was impossible without the other. And so they embarked on one of the most daring feats ever attempted in American history, a breathless story captured with breathless prose, and we readers gasp in amazement and wonder at the tragedy and triumph." - Marlon James, winner of the 2015 Booker Prize
"Master Slave Husband Wife tells one of the most important stories of American slavery and freedom. With prose that is suspenseful, brilliantly detailed, historically precise, and simply gorgeous, Woo depicts the Crafts and their historic role in antebellum America stunningly. This is a story that will stay with you for a lifetime." - Imani Perry, author of South to America: A Journey Below the Mason-Dixon to Understand the Soul of a Nation
"For those of us who already were familiar with Ellen and William Craft, we're so grateful for this reconsideration of this courageous couple's story. Ilyon Woo has accomplished a phenomenal feat, presenting previously unpublished archival excavations. Certainly, this is an essential addition to early African American studies—but more than research, Woo offers the Crafts' travels with such grace, such tenderness. Here is a necessary rendering of Black love, Black resilience, and Black humanity during one of our nation's most fraught times." - Honorée Fanonne Jeffers, author of The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois
This information about Master Slave Husband Wife was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Ilyon Woo is the author of The Great Divorce: A Nineteenth-Century Mother's Extraordinary Fight Against Her Husband, the Shakers, and Her Times and the recipient of a Whiting Creative Nonfiction Writing Grant. Her articles have appeared in venues such as The Boston Globe and The Wall Street Journal, and she has received support for her research from the National Endowment for the Humanities, among other organizations. She holds a BA in the Humanities from Yale College and a PhD in English from Columbia University.
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