Henry Brown - Slavery

Brown, Henry ("Box") (1815-?), African American slave and abolitionist, who escaped from slavery packaged in a wooden box.

Born a slave in Richmond, Virginia, Henry Brown labored first on a plantation (see Slavery in the United States). He later worked at a tobacco factory in Richmond, Virginia, under a master who was regarded as relatively benevolent. Although he later described his life in enslavement as tolerable, Brown decided to escape in 1848 when his wife, Nancy, and their three children were sold away from him. He launched an ingenious plan that he said was divinely inspired.

In March 1849 Brown had a white abolitionist friend, Samuel A. Smith, package him in a wooden box and ship him by Adams Express to antislavery headquarters in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. During the 27-hour journey, Brown spent much of the time on his head, as he was transferred back and forth from wagons, trains, and steamboats. An astonished group of abolitionists “received” him once he arrived in Philadelphia.

Antislavery groups helped Brown relocate, first to Boston, Massachusetts, and later to New Bedford, Massachusetts, where he became a regular speaker on the abolitionist lecture circuit (see Abolitionism in the United States). He toured the country with his box and his story. In an effort to boost his influence as an abolitionist, Brown commissioned the painting of a mural entitled Mirror of Slavery. Artists from Boston painted pictures of slavery in the South and of Brown's heroic escape. The mural covered several thousand square feet of canvas.

Fearing he would be captured, Brown left the United States for England after Congress passed the Fugitive Slave Law in 1850. Once he arrived in England, Brown toured the country, giving lectures on the horrors of slavery. After four years he disappeared and was not heard from again.