Running for Freedom part II

Running A Thousand Miles for Freedom part II

Part II starts out with William and Ellen Craft being invited by Mr. Barkley Ivens to go with and his family and let Ellen recovery from their last journey. William accepted the invitation and went to their place up the Delaware River. William quotes “ This was the first act of great and disinterested kindness we had ever received.” I was surprised by this because something a little as inviting them over to their house was such a big deal to the Crafts. Their whole lives they have been treated horrible by every white person they came across but finally they meet a family they treated them as equals. Since they treated so bad by every white person they came across Ellen was reluctant to trust them. She thought they most have some hidden agenda because no white family would ever be this nice to them. She was so reluctant to go that she stopped William and told she wasn’t going because no white person could be trusted. I found this part very interesting that they she would be so hesitant to going the family but then thought about the life she had and would probably be the same way if I was her. After spending some time with the Ivens family they left for Boston; they grew so close to the Ivens in the few weeks William described leaving them was like leaving a family.

When they were in Boston Congress passed the fugitive slave bill which made it illegal for northern states to house or help out slaves in any way. Here William described the trials when slaves were caught, “If the Judge decides that the prisoner is a slave, he gets ten dollars: but if he sets him at liberty, he only receives five. I thought this was really interesting because a judge without a set of really high morals would just say that any black man caught was a slave just so he would get more money. This is just another example of how the system was against slaves in many different ways. It made it almost impossible for a slave to become free and it is remarkable they so many slaves managed to beat a system that was so against them.

Another that I liked from this reading was on page 91. when William talking about escaping to England to become free. He talks about how America had just fought against England to leave them and become free and now slaves were leaving America to go to England to become free. I just found this to be really Ironic and thought he was making a really good point while making this reference. It showed how hypocritical America was being with slavery.

Logan Reames