Narrative of the Life of Henry Box Brown, Written by HimselfJohn Ernest It is the most celebrated escape in the history of American slavery. Henry Brown had himself sealed in a three-foot-by-two-foot box and shipped from Richmond, Virginia, to Philadelphia, a twenty-seven-hour journey to freedom. In Narrative of the Life of Henry Box Brown, Written by Himself, Brown not only tells the story of his famed escape, but also recounts his later life as a black man making his way through white American and British culture. Most important, he paints a revealing portrait of the reality of slavery, of the wife and children sold away from him, the home to which he could not return, and his rejection of the slaveholders' religion--painful episodes that fueled his desire for freedom. This edition comprises the most complete and faithful representation of Brown's life, fully annotated for the first time. John Ernest also provides an insightful introduction that places Brown's life in its historical setting and illuminates the challenges Brown faced in an often threatening world, both before and after his legendary escape. |
Contents
1 | |
A Note on the Text | 39 |
Narrative of the Life of Henry Box Brown Written by Himself | 41 |
Illustrations | 107 |
Henry Box Brown in the Press | 123 |
From the United States to England The Two Narratives | 175 |
201 | |
207 | |
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Common terms and phrases
1849 Narrative 1851 Narrative abolitionism abolitionist African Americans American Anti-Slavery Society American Slavery Anti-Slavery Society antislavery movement appeared arrived asked audience Baptist Bible Boston British Brown’s escape Brown’s story Carolina cause Charles Stearns Christian church Colquitt Cottrell cruel death dollars Ellen Craft England enslaved escape from slavery Evil of Slavery Faneuil Hall fear feelings felt Frederick Douglass freedom fugitive slave hand heard heart Henry Box Brown Henry Brown human hymn Ibid James James Miller McKim lash liberty Lord Massachusetts master McKim minister Narrative of Henry never North overseer panorama person Philadelphia placed political pray published readers Richmond Ruggles side slave narratives slaveholders Smith song sheets soon soul South Stearns Stearns’s sufferings system of slavery tell things thought tion told Unboxing unto Virginia whip white abolitionist wife and children William William Wells Brown written