Welcome to the second article in our series about men and women who face challenges and overcome obstacles to succeed. This month we are featuring two extremely different people, Ellen Smith Craft and Walt Disney. Both have inspiring stories I hope will encourage you to believe in the power of your dreams and never give up.
Ellen Smith Craft was born a slave in 1826 in Clinton, Georgia. She was the daughter of a white slaveholder, Major James Smith, and a mixed-race enslaved woman. Smith’s wife resented her. When Ellen was eleven years old, she was given as a wedding present to her eighteen-year-old half-sister, Eliza, to get her out of the house. Eliza was kinder to Ellen and allowed her to work as a house servant in Macon where she had moved with her new husband.
When he was sixteen years old, William Craft and every member of his family was sold to pay his first owner’s gambling debts. Craft was a skilled carpenter. His enslaver allowed him to work as a carpenter but kept most of his earnings. Ellen and William met after his enslaver sold an interest in Craft to Eliza’s husband, Dr. Robert Collins.
Ellen and William fell in love, but she was reluctant to marry him because she did not want to bring children into a world where they would be slaves. Ellen and William married when she turned twenty and immediately began to plan their escape. Because Ellen was fair-skinned, William had the idea that she could pose as his elderly and sickly white slaveholder. William would be her caretaker and they could begin the thousand-mile journey to freedom unnoticed. Because a white woman traveling alone with a male slave might be deemed inappropriate and cause suspicion, Ellen decided she should pose as a young white man. She would cut her hair and William carefully began collecting gentlemen’s clothing for her one piece at a time so it wouldn’t be missed. Ellen decided to wear her right arm in a sling, so she would not be asked to sign anything because she had never been allowed to learn to write. By faking illness, she could avoid conversation and limit their risk of discovery. Ellen practiced Dr. Collins’ mannerisms and those of his male guests until she could mimic them perfectly.
They were nearly discovered when an officer traveling on the train insisted on proof that William was Ellen’s property. Passengers and the train conductor intervened on their behalf. Ellen and William traveled in first class and stayed at fancy hotels thanks to the earnings William was allowed to keep from his carpentry business.
Ellen and William arrived in the free state of Pennsylvania on Christmas morning in 1848. They soon moved to the well-established free black community of Beacon Hill in Boston. They gave many talks about their escape to abolitionist groups. Their story was well-known, and it was an embarrassment to slaveholders. After the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 was passed, Collins sent bounty hunters north to recapture them. Ellen and William were forced to go into hiding. When the bounty hunters returned without the Crafts, Collins appealed to President Millard Fillmore for the return of his property. Fillmore authorized the use of military force if necessary to capture the Crafts and return them to slavery.
After moving around safe houses, they fled to England. Once safe in England, Ellen learned to read and write. Ellen and William spent nineteen years in England and had five children. Their home became a hub for Black abolitionists and women’s suffrage supporters.
At the end of the American Civil War, Ellen located her mother and paid for her passage to England.
In 1868, Ellen and William returned to the United States with three of their children. They began fundraising and bought 1800 acres of land near Savannah, Georgia where they founded the Woodville Co-operative Farm School in 1873 for the education and empowerment of freedmen. Ellen and William lost their school when Reconstruction failed, but they shared the triumphant story of their journey to freedom with the world.
Sources for this article:
https://www.nps.gov/people/ellen-craft.htm
Walt Disney
“There is more treasure in books than in all the pirates’ loot on Treasure Island and at the bottom of the Spanish Main… and best of all, you can enjoy these riches every day of your life.” Walt Disney
The same man responsible for creating the Disney dynasty completed eighth grade but did not graduate from high school. Disney was one of five children. His father, Elias, though a hard worker, failed at most of the occupations he held during his life and often moved the family after each failure. Elias enlisted his sons to help with his business ideas but declined to pay them because he felt it was their “family duty” to help. Disney took on extra work to earn his own money, often being so exhausted he fell asleep in school. At 10, he opened his own refreshment stand selling candy and drinks but ate most of his own inventory. He loved to draw and drew caricatures of customers at the local barbershop in exchange for free haircuts.
When his family left Kansas City to move back to Chicago, Disney stayed behind with his older brothers to work. Later, he joined the family in Chicago and began taking art classes at the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts where he received his only formal training in drawing.
Disney lied about his age and attempted to enlist in the Army during World War I but was rejected. Again, lying about his age, he joined the American Ambulance service and went to France where he earned money drawing caricatures for the men he served with. After returning to the United States, Disney secured an internship at an art studio. After being laid off, Disney decided to go into business for himself. He was fascinated with animation and taught himself how to be an animator by reading books from the local library.
Disney failed many times before his first success with Steamboat Willy and his Mickey Mouse caricature. When Disney wanted to create an aminated movie based on the fairy tale, Snow White, he faced opposition from the industry and even his wife and brother. The project was dubbed “Disney’s Folly,” but he never gave up. In 1934, production started on Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. After three years, the studio ran out of money. After screening a rough cut of the film, Disney was able to get a loan and complete the film. It was released in February 1938 and became the most successful film of the year earning $8 million, the equivalent of about $134,033,100 today. Disney went on to build an empire and you know the rest.
Sources for this article: