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Preserving and amplifying the historical legacy of William & Ellen Craft
About the William and Ellen Craft Foundation
To commemorate the 175th Anniversary ... of the legendary 1848 escape from enslavement by William and Ellen Craft, direct descendants of The Crafts in the United States established the William & Ellen Craft Foundation (WECF) in December 2023. The William and Ellen Craft Foundation (WECF) is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization committed to advancing Black American history, education, and civil rights by amplifying and preserving the legacy of its ancestors, William and Ellen Craft.
Vision
Inspired by the work started by our formerly enslaved ancestors, international abolitionists William and Ellen Craft, we believe passionately in the power of education, advocacy and respect for cultural heritage to change lives and shape future generations.
Mission
The mission of the William and Ellen Craft Foundation is to preserve and amplify the legacy of William and Ellen Craft; to champion the depth, breadth and richness of Black History and to advocate for human rights through supporting endeavors in education and preservation.
William and Ellen's Story
The extraordinary story of the formerly enslaved William and Ellen Craft has been captured for nearly two centuries via publications, oral history, legal material, photos, moving images, exhibitions, eyewitness accounts and more. However, their escape from enslavement is often where their story stops for some people. Learn more.
MASTER SLAVE HUSBAND WIFE
Winner of the 2024 Pulitzer Prize in Biography
“A rich narrative of the Crafts, an enslaved couple who escaped from Georgia in 1848, with light-skinned Ellen disguised as a disabled white gentleman and William as her manservant, exploiting assumptions about race, class, and disability to hide in public on their journey to the North, where they became famous abolitionists while evading bounty hunters.”
—The Pulitzer Prizes
Named one of the best books of the year by The New York Times, The New Yorker, Time, NPR, Smithsonian Magazine, and Oprah Daily
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