The Friends of the Long Beach Public Library and the African American Heritage Society presents “Public History, Private Memory: The Legacy of Ellen and William Craft”.

Meet our special guest Ilyon Woo and Peggy Trotter Dammond Preacely for an unforgetattable story of Ellen and William Craft depicted in Master Slave Husband Wife. This event will include an informal conversation followed by an autograph signing.

Date: Saturday, February 10, 2024

Time: Doors Open at 1:30pm, Event Begins at 2:00pm

Location: Long Beach City College – Bob and Barbara Ellis Auditorium

(4901 E. Carson Street, Long Beach, CA 90808)

FREE & OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

***NO TICKETS REQUIRED***

Purchase a book!

Books will be available for purchase at the event, but you can ensure that you get a copy by pre-ordering here. You can pick your book up at 1:30pm on the day of the event.

Can’t make it to the event? Pre-order the book here to have it shipped directly to you!

Questions?

For additional questions, please email: lb.libraryfriends@gmail.com

Book Details:

One of The New York Times’s 10 Best Books of 2023

New York Times BestsellerNamed a best book of 2023 by The New Yorker, Time, NPR, Smithsonian Magazine, Boston, Chicago Public Library, Oprah Daily, and People

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 day—among 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 again—this 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 story—one that would challenge the nation’s core precepts of life, liberty, and justice for all—one that challenges us even now.