Henry “Box” Brown (ca. 1815- ca.1889) was a slave from Virginia that escaped to freedom
Henry “Box” Brown (ca. 1815- ca.1889) was a slave from Virginia that escaped to freedom by mailing himself to Pennsylvania. Born in Louisa County, at around the age of 15 he would be sent to Richmond in order to work at a tobacco factory. While there he would meet another slave named Nancy, and with the permission of their master’s and a promise that they would never be sold apart, the two married. They would have a happy family life until 1848, when Nancy’s master broke his promise and sold Nancy and their 3 children to a slave trader in North Carolina, despite Brown compensating her master monthly for time she spent away. Brown saw his family marched off in a slave gang and from that day on resolved to escape slavery. He told his story to a sympathetic shop keeper in Richmond, who agreed to help him at the cost of $86. He was to ship himself in a box that would be received by an abolitionist in Philadelphia. Brown burned his hand with sulfuric acid to create an excuse for missing work. After being placed in the shipping crate, he would spend an agonizing 27 hours being transported by “wagon, railroad, steamboat, wagon again, railroad, ferry, railroad, and finally delivery wagon” being turned upside down many times yet still avoiding detection. After making it to Philadelphia he became one of the Anti-Slavery Society’s most important speakers and in 1849 would publish his narrative. After the passing of the Fugitive Slave law he would move to England where he would continue to be an activist and public speaker on the issue of American slavery. -- source link
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