Sunday, January 28, 2018

To Ellen Craft,

Ellen Craft,


I am so full of awe at your and your husband’s escape from slavery. How did it feel to be in Philadelphia at last? How did you manage not to waver once in your disguise? It must have been  terrifying to worry at every moment about discovery. I am amazed at the calmness you must have mustered to keep from slipping concern for your husband or your own self into your words as you heard slaveholders slandering people of colour everywhere. I wonder how it felt to suddenly be treated as a white person after a lifetime of being undervalued and abused. Was it good to finally be appreciated as a human being? Or did the accompanying assumption that you were now elevated above your husband fill you with disgust at the system that forced you apart?

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