Editor’s Note: Pulitzer Prize-winning author Ilyon Woo will present in one of more than 30 events offered Nov. 1-10 during the Charleston Literary Festival. To learn more about the festival, see our special section here.
Author Ilyon Woo’s skin tingled when she walked into the Dock Street Theatre as she researched her 2023 Pulitzer Prize-winning nonfiction book, Master Slave Husband Wife.
More than 175 years ago, the theater was home to the Planter’s Hotel, which the protagonists of the book, Ellen and William Craft, visited briefly as they escaped slavery in Georgia.
“Even to approach this space from the outside felt unreal—to glimpse the lacy ironwork, the dramatic facade—and yes, shivers flew up and down my spine when I went inside,” Woo said. “To stand inside the lobby, where the Crafts moved through; to mount the stairs, where Ellen rushed up, pretending to be sick; to look out windows through which they were once visible; and to behold the ornamentation that their eyes might also have touched—all was wondrous and vital.
“It will be emotional, I am sure, to journey into this space again, this time with descendants of Ellen and William Craft.”
On Nov. 10 during the Charleston Literary Festival, Woo will discuss the book with Kim Long, a member of the festival’s board, during the third annual city-wide Charleston Reads! initiative. Tickets are free, but must be reserved online due to limited space.
An escape in broad daylight
Woo’s book tells the true, emotional tale of the Crafts, who pulled off one of the most dramatic escapes in U.S. history in 1848 by posing as master and slave in broad daylight. Ellen, dressed as a young, rich, disabled White gentleman was accompanied and served by her slave, who actually was her husband, William, a carpenter.
After amassing some money through extra work, they started their escape by getting on an early train in their home of Macon, Ga., for Savannah. They then boarded a steamship to Charleston, where they faced two nerve-racking tests for the light-skinned Ellen to “pass” as a White man and not be caught.
First, the “young gentleman” told a story at the hotel that he needed to rest before continuing the journey. But he and his “slave” had to make it through the registration process.
“Planter’s Hotel is pivotal, because it’s the first hotel where Ellen has to check herself in—which means signing her name, when she is unable to read or write—and therefore a huge test in her passing as a rich, White, disabled man,” Woo said. “And what a hotel it was! The Crafts note that it was a favorite of the one-time Vice President, John C. Calhoun, who is buried nearby.”
Not long thereafter, the Crafts faced their second test – getting tickets for an outbound ship toward freedom at the nearby U.S. Custom House.
“Again, she would have to sign not only for herself but for William,” Woo said. “The standoff there is one of the most dramatic in their story: I was practically biting my nails as I wrote it.”
This experience also led to more chills for Woo.
“My chills started here from the outside, when I spotted a plaque that described how outdoor sales of enslaved people took place north of the Exchange, which was then the Custom House.
“To think that they passed an auction site—which represented not only the fate they could encounter, should they fail, but also the trauma of separation they had each experienced as children—it’s just devastating, and underscores their bravery and heroism.”
Later she added, “That’s the thing about the story of the Crafts. Even if you know the outcome, it’s incredibly suspenseful because of how the Crafts take ownership of seemingly impossible situations.”
Another person has chills
West Ashley resident Gail deCosta is the great-great granddaughter of Ellen and William Craft. She said she gets chills still when she thinks about what her grandparents went through.
“Just the courage that they had,” reflected daCosta, who returned to Charleston about 10 years ago after a career in IT consulting. “I just can’t even imagine.
“They came close to being caught, and if they had been caught, who knows? They wouldn’t probably have lived … and we wouldn’t be here.”
DaCosta said she knew a little about her famous ancestors as a girl, but didn’t really learn about them until she received a republished copy as a young adult of their 1860 book, Running a Thousand Miles for Freedom; Or, The Escape of William and Ellen Craft from Slavery. She said it was humbling to know how determined her great-great grandparents were to be free.
“There’s a quote that a lot of people say Ellen said when they got to England. Someone tried to make some comment that they had it better off when they were slaves. She said something like she would rather starve a free woman than ever go back to slavery.”
A past and future
Woo reminded that the Crafts’ connection to Charleston went far beyond their 1848 experiences at the Planter’s Hotel and Custom House.
“They had both a past and a future in the city, and in fact, one of my biggest ‘Eureka’ moments in the research process had to do with Charleston,” Woo said. “But I’ll let your readers discover more connections for themselves!”
She also added that her own visit to Charleston was essential in imagining the Crafts’ world in 1848.
“Strolling by the [old] Planter’s Hotel at sunset, walking through the nearby graveyard, paying my respects in the silence of the Old Slave Mart Museum, I felt the nearness of the nineteenth century,” Woo said. “Since my book came out, I’ve heard of readers traveling the trajectory of the Crafts’ journey, or parts of it, using my book as a guide.
“To future travelers, I’d say that one stop that must be visited for such a tour is Charleston—for the archives, for the sites, for the modern-day hospitality. I personally can’t wait to return.”
The Charleston Literary Festival offers a heady array of 37 literary events over the first 10 days of November. Click to learn more.
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