Yale grad’s book wins Pulitzer Prize

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (WTNH) — The true story of a husband and wife who escaped slavery — and then had to dodge slave hunters — earned a Yale graduate an illustrious Pulitzer Prize on Monday.

Master Slave Husband Wife: An Epic Journey from Slavery to Freedom , by Ilyon Woo , was named as the winner of the 2024 Pulitzer Prize in Biography. Woo holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Yale University.

The book recounts the story of Ellen and William Craft, who escaped slavery by Ellen posing as a white man, while William pretended to be Ellen’s slave. After traveling more than 1,000 miles, they then had to escape slave hunters who were sent after them.

The book was included in numerous top book lists of 2023.

Woo is also the author of The Great Divorce A Nineteenth-Century Mother’s Extraordinary Fight Against Her Husband, the Shakers, and Her Times

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