Monday, November 15, 2010

Ellen Craft

I've mentioned before that our normal Friday night is spent watching the week's worth of "Jeopardy!" that we have recorded. There was a category called "Lady Antebellum" on one of the episodes. The category was about famous women before the U.S. civil war. Ellen Craft was one of the subjects of the category and they said that she was a slave woman who posed as a white man to escape the south. I was all, What!!??
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I had My Sweetie rewind so I could hear the name again and I wrote it down. I couldn't believe that in 49 1/2 years I had never heard of this woman. Very late Friday night I looked her up. Not only did she disguise herself as a white man in 1848, but she took along her husband posing as "his" slave. And not only that, but her husband later wrote a book about it. The book is Running 1000 Miles For Freedom and the whole thing can be read online on a University of Virginia site RIGHT HERE.
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I sat right here in the early hours of Saturday and read the whole thing - it's not too long - and was spellbound. I've been thinking about it all weekend. It's really an amazing story and I find it incredibly hard to believe that it has never been made into a movie or a miniseries. It's historical, it's a thriller and the suspense is crazy.
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Some of you may already know the story of Ellen Craft, but I had never heard it. If you had never heard of Ellen Craft until just now, please take time to read the book on the link I provided. It's free, it's amazing, it's nerve-wracking and it's actually true.

13 comments:

OldLady Of The Hills said...

I agree with you---I don't understand why it has nevere been made into a movie or mini-series. There may be some "thing" with the rights...Hard to know why.
FASCINATING in every way, isn't it?

Anonymous said...

Wow, who knew? I need to read this book.

Jazz

Jocelyn said...

I had NO idea! And it can be read online? You are the answer to my reading needs, woman.

Anonymous said...

dang...I had no idea either! I'll have to look that up when I get a chance.

Anonymous said...

Nope, never heard of her either. Where did she and her husband run to? Could you tell me please? Too lazy to read the book for myself and can't wait till the movie comes out.

Carole said...

Wow - Gee! Who knew?!!! I got a brief start on this story, but don't have the time to read the whole thing right now, but will get back to it soon. The beginning was wonderful though! Thanks so much for posting about this.

geewits said...

Naomi,
~~I hope the rights can be procurred. I would love to see it.

Jazz,
~~You could probably read the whole thing in 40 minutes.

Jocelyn,
~~If I find anything else, I'll send it your way.

Cab,
~~Thanks for stopping by. Please do read the story. You'll thank me later.

LGS,
~~Don't be ridiculous you big goof. Read it yourself. (Would it help to know that Canada is in the story?)

Carole,
~~You'll love the story!

Lori Stewart Weidert said...

Wow, I'm going to check it out. Wonder if it's available for my Nook!

Lori Stewart Weidert said...

It is, it is, and it's free! Woot! Thanks for the tip!

Carole said...

Gee & Gnightgirl, I looked for my Kindle yesterday and couldn't find it, but today I found it! And also free! Yay! I've got it downloaded and will read it on Kindle now instead.

Carole said...

The day I couldn't find it for my Kindle, I clicked on "tell publisher you want this added to the Kindle's reading selection". I wondered if they added it just that quick, or if I possibly searched wrong. Kind of new to the Kindle. Either way, I started reading this last night. It is really great reading!

Anonymous said...

Wasn't there a movie made of this story? Somehow it rings a bell.

geewits said...

Lori,
~~I'm glad you found it. Share it with your friends.

Carole,
~~I think you got it done!

Ian,
~~I can't find any reference on IMDB. I tried chracter names and written by Let me know if you find something.