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Showing Original Post only (View all)To understand the depth of slavery's depravity, it is necessary to learn about its roots. [View all]
I've recently finished reading a non-fiction book titled Master Slave Husband Wife which was written by Ilyon Woo.
It's the true story of a pair of married slaves from Georgia during their flight to freedom during the 1840's.
I was gripped by the many details of what slavery was like during that time, and how they risked everything to be free.
After many close calls, they did succeed.
I strongly urge anyone who's interested in the roots of the discrimination that still lives in our country today to read this book.
New York Times Bestseller
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 dayamong 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 againthis 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 storyone that would challenge the nations core precepts of life, liberty, and justice for allone that challenges us even now.
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 dayamong 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 againthis 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 storyone that would challenge the nations core precepts of life, liberty, and justice for allone that challenges us even now.
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To understand the depth of slavery's depravity, it is necessary to learn about its roots. [View all]
CaliforniaPeggy
Mar 2023
OP
Putting it on the list. Thank you. Just finished re-reading Caste by Isabel Wilkerson.
Scrivener7
Mar 2023
#1
Please share where you found 30% of Americans want to own another human being. nt
Phoenix61
Mar 2023
#12
Thanks, Peggy. I plan to read it. But we'll need to restore the 'Underground Railroad' ...
70sEraVet
Mar 2023
#5
I've been recommending "They Were Her Property" to everybody I know. Extremely illuminating
WhiskeyGrinder
Mar 2023
#10
When you said the roots of slavery, I was expecting something a bit more... ancient.
WarGamer
Mar 2023
#13