Summary
Henry Box Brown was an antislavery speaker and performer. He was born in Louisa County, Virginia. Brown worked in a Richmond tobacco factory. In 1848, his wife and children were sold away to North Carolina. Brown decided to escape from slavery. Brown shipped himself in a box to Philadelphia to escape slavery. In 1849 the package was received by a leader of the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society. As a free man, Brown spoke across New England on the evils of slavery. He also helped publish the Narrative of Henry Box Brown (1849). In 1850, a moving panorama, Henry Box Brown’s Mirror of Slavery, opened in Boston. That same year, Brown worried that he might be reenslaved. He moved to England, where he spoke, presented his panorama, and performed as a hypnotist. In 1875, he returned to the United States with his wife and daughter Annie. Brown performed as a magician during that time. Brown died in Toronto on June 15, 1897. He stands as a powerful symbol of the Underground Railroad and enslaved African Americans’ fight for freedom.
In This Entry
Early Years and Escape
Henry Brown was born between 1815 and 1816. He was enslaved on a plantation in Louisa County. Many enslaved people did not know their parents or siblings. But Brown spent his early years with his parents and his four sisters and three brothers. They all were enslaved by John Barret, a former mayor of Richmond. After Barret’s death in 1830, Brown was separated from his family. He was sent to Richmond to work in a tobacco factory. Most of Brown’s brothers and sisters were sent to different plantations.
In 1836 Brown married an enslaved woman named Nancy. Nancy was owned by a different master. Together they had three children. The family joined the First African Baptist Church. Henry Brown sang in the church’s choir. He became a skilled tobacco worker and was able to earn some money. Eventually, he earned enough to rent a house for his family. In 1848, Nancy’s master sold her and their three children to another master in North Carolina. At the time, she was pregnant with a fourth child.
After mourning his loss, Brown decided to escape from slavery. A fellow member of the church choir, James Caesar Anthony Smith (a free Black man), helped him get started. Together, they contacted Samuel Alexander Smith. Samuel Smith was a white shoemaker who agreed to help Brown escape—for a price. (Samuel Smith himself owned enslaved laborers.)
Brown came up with the idea to be shipped in a box by train to Philadelphia. Samuel contacted a leader of the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society. The leader was involved in Underground Railroad activities.
On March 23, 1849, the Smiths sealed Brown into a wooden box. The box was three feet long, two and one-half feet deep, and two feet wide. It was labeled as “dry goods” before being shipped from Richmond. Brown was turned head-down in the box for several hours. At other stops the box was handled roughly. He later wrote that he was determined “to conquer or die,” even as “I felt my eyes swelling as if they would burst from their sockets.”
The “package” finally arrived in Philadelphia on March 24. At the office of the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society, the box was opened carefully. After twenty-six hours of being trapped in the box, Brown came out alive and free. “I had risen as it were from the dead,” Brown wrote.
Career in Boston and England
In May, Brown attended the New England Anti-Slavery Convention in Boston. His daring escape was celebrated among the crowd. It showed people how much enslaved people wanted to be free. Here he was renamed Henry Box Brown. He sang a song that he had sung when he first arrived in Philadelphia.
That summer he appeared at antislavery gatherings. Brown probably sold copies of the song’s lyrics about him after the performances. In September 1849 the
Narrative of Henry Box Brown by Charles Stearns was published. Brown and Stearns toured New England selling the book and giving antislavery speeches.
Samuel Smith tried to put this same escape plan to use in May of 1849. He wanted to “ship” a group of enslaved people to Philadelphia. His plan was discovered, and he was arrested. That November he was sentenced to six and a half years in the state prison. James C. A. Smith helped Smith in the attempt. But he avoided arrest until September 1849. He was never convicted of the crime. James C. A. Smith joined Brown in Boston by December.
Late in 1849 Brown began his next project. Brown worked with artists to create a visual presentation about slavery. Before movies were possible, artists would sometimes create large artistic scenes called panoramas. Brown and the artists created a moving panorama that brought the scenes to life. On April 11, 1850, the moving panorama, Henry Box Brown’s Mirror of Slavery, opened in Boston. Brown and Smith showed the piece in New England throughout the summer.
Brown risked being captured and returned to Virginia. He, along with James C. A. Smith, sailed to England in October 1850. They showed the panorama in many English cities. In May 1851 the Narrative of the Life of Henry Box Brown, Written by Himself was published.
In June 1851 Brown’s and Smith’s partnership ended. The two had bitter conflicts about money. Smith also complained that Brown had not tried to free his family. Smith criticized Brown in letters to antislavery activists (abolitionists). Brown left the abolitionist circle and went into English show business.
He showed his panorama in England during the 1850s. During this time, he created the character of the African Prince. In this performance, he would dress in fine clothes and jewelry. By 1859 he had remarried. He began showing a new panorama with his wife. Brown also created a new performance as a hypnotist during this time. As late as 1864, he still sometimes showed the Mirror of Slavery.
Death and Legacy
In 1875, Brown returned to the United States with his wife and daughter Annie. Promoting himself as “Prof. H. Box Brown,” he performed as a magician. He continued his performance of the African Prince and continued to climb into his original box. By that time Henry Box Brown was living in Toronto, where he died on June 15, 1897.
More than a century later, the man who escaped slavery in a box has become a symbol of the Underground Railroad. His story has inspired works by many artists. Brown has been featured in a short film, at least two plays, an opera, and an exhibit at a wax museum. The writer Anthony Cohen honored Brown’s courage by traveling from Philadelphia to New York inside a box. Brown’s famous passage to freedom was not a thing apart from the rest of his life. He showed the character traits that allowed him to succeed as a fugitive time and again during his long career as a performer.
Summary
Henry Box Brown was an abolitionist speaker and performer. He was born in Louisa County, Virginia. Brown worked in a Richmond tobacco factory. In 1848, his wife and children were sold away to North Carolina. Brown decided to escape from slavery and enlisted the help of a free Black and a white slaveowner, who conspired to ship him in a box to Philadelphia. In March 1849 the package was accepted there by a leader of the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society. As a free man, Brown lectured across New England on the evils of slavery and participated in the publication of the Narrative of Henry Box Brown (1849). In 1850, a moving panorama, Henry Box Brown’s Mirror of Slavery, opened in Boston. That same year, Brown, worried that he might be reenslaved, moved to England, where he lectured, presented his panorama, and performed as a hypnotist. In 1875, he returned to the United States with his wife and daughter Annie and performed as a magician. Brown died in Toronto on June 15, 1897. He stands as a powerful symbol of the Underground Railroad and enslaved African Americans’ thirst for freedom.
In This Entry
Early Years and Escape
Henry Brown was born between 1815 and 1816 on a plantation in Louisa County. Many enslaved people did not know their parents or siblings. But Brown spent his formative years with his parents and his four sisters and three brothers. They all were enslaved, belonging to John Barret, a former mayor of Richmond. After Barret’s death on June 9, 1830, Brown was separated from his family and sent to Richmond to work in the tobacco factory of Barret’s son William Barret. Brown’s brothers and sisters were sent to various plantations, except for Martha, who, according to Brown, was kept by William Barret as his “keep Miss,” or mistress.
In 1836 Brown married Nancy, an enslaved woman owned by a different master, and together they had three children. The family joined the First African Baptist Church, where Henry Brown sang in the church’s choir. He had become a skilled tobacco worker and earned enough money through overwork to rent a house for his family. In August 1848, Nancy Brown’s master sold her and their three children to another master in North Carolina. At the time, she was pregnant with a fourth child.
After mourning his loss for several months, Brown decided to escape from slavery. Through James Caesar Anthony Smith, a free Black man and fellow member of the church choir, he contacted Samuel Alexander Smith. Smith was a white shoemaker who agreed to help Brown escape—for a price. (Ironically, Samuel Smith himself owned enslaved laborers.) The three men rejected several possible ideas before Brown developed an inventive idea. He decided to be shipped in a box by train to Philadelphia. Samuel Smith contacted James Miller McKim, a leader of the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society who was involved in Underground Railroad activities.
On March 23, 1849, the Smiths sealed Brown into a wooden box three feet long, two and one-half feet deep, and two feet wide. The package was labeled as “dry goods” before being shipped from Richmond to Philadelphia. Brown was turned head down in the box for several hours and nearly died. At other transfers the box was roughly handled, but he endured silently. He later wrote that he “was resolved to conquer or die,” even as “I felt my eyes swelling as if they would burst from their sockets; and the veins on my temples were dreadfully distended[swollen] with pressure of blood upon my head.” Even as he thought he might die, Brown heard a man telling another that he had been standing too long and needed a place to sit; “so perceiving my box, standing on end, he threw it down and then two sat upon it. I was thus relieved from a state of agony which may be more easily imagined than described.”
The “package” finally arrived in Philadelphia early on March 24. At the office of the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society, the box was opened hesitantly. After twenty-six hours of confinement, Brown emerged, alive and free. “I had risen as it were from the dead,” Brown wrote.
Career in Boston and England
At the end of May, Brown appeared before the New England Anti-Slavery Convention in Boston. His daring escape was celebrated as proof that enslaved people desired freedom, and he was renamed Henry Box Brown. He had a fine voice and performed the hymn of thanksgiving that he had sung on his arrival in Philadelphia. That summer he appeared at antislavery gatherings. Published sheets with the lyrics to “Song, Sung by Mr. Brown on being removed from the box” and “Escape from Slavery of Henry Box Brown” were probably sold by Brown after his performances.
Early in September 1849 the
Narrative of Henry Box Brown, written by Charles Stearns, was published in Boston. Brown and Stearns toured New England selling the book and delivering antislavery lectures into the early part of November 1849.
Samuel Smith attempted another shipment of slaves from Richmond to Philadelphia on May 8, 1849, but was discovered and arrested. That November he was sentenced to six and a half years in the state penitentiary. James C. A. Smith had helped Smith in the attempt but avoided arrest until September 25, 1849. A divided panel of magistrates enabled him to escape conviction. James C. A. Smith had joined Brown in Boston by December.
Late in 1849 Brown involved the Boston artist Josiah Wolcott and others to begin work on an ambitious moving panorama about slavery. In January 1850, The Resurrection of Henry Box Brown at Philadelphia, a lithograph probably reproducing an image created for the panorama, was published in Boston. It became one of the earliest of many visual representations of that scene. On April 11, 1850, the moving panorama, Henry Box Brown’s Mirror of Slavery, opened in Boston. Brown and Smith exhibited in New England throughout the summer.
On August 30, 1850, with passage of the Fugitive Slave Bill looming, Brown was assaulted on the street in Providence, Rhode Island. Believing that he was at risk of being captured and returned to Virginia, Brown, along with Smith, sailed to England in October 1850. They showed the panorama in several English cities between November 1850 and spring of 1851. Early in May 1851 the “First English Edition” of the Narrative of the Life of Henry Box Brown, Written by Himself was published in Manchester.
In June 1851 Brown’s and Smith’s partnership ended after a bitter dispute involving money. Smith also complained that Brown had made no effort to purchase his own family. Smith strongly criticized Brown in letters to leading American abolitionists as well as to those English activists who had helped them get started in that country. Out of both necessity and choice, Brown left the abolitionist circle entirely and went into English show business.
He showed his panorama throughout England during the 1850s. During this time he developed the character of the African Prince as another part of his persona, dressing in fine clothes and jewelry. In July 1852 Brown won a libel case against a newspaper that had published racial slurs about his performances. By 1859 he had remarried and was also exhibiting a panorama of the Indian Mutiny of 1857 with his wife. Around that time Brown began to perform as a mesmerist, entertaining audiences with the actions of people under his hypnotic influence. As late as 1864, he still occasionally showed the Mirror of Slavery.
Death and Legacy
In 1875, accompanied by his wife and daughter Annie, Brown returned to the United States. Billing himself as “Prof. H. Box Brown,” he performed as a magician. He continued his performance of the African Prince and continued to climb into his original box. By that time Henry Box Brown was living in Toronto, where he died on June 15, 1897. He was buried in Necropolis Cemetery there.
More than a century later, the man who escaped slavery in a box has become a symbol of the Underground Railroad. His confinement and triumphant appearance from the box have inspired works by several contemporary artists. Brown has been featured in a short film, at least two plays, an opera, and an exhibit at a wax museum. The writer Anthony Cohen paid homage to Brown’s courage by traveling from Philadelphia to New York inside a box. Brown’s famous passage to freedom was not a thing apart from the rest of his life. He displayed the attributes that allowed him to succeed as a fugitive time and again during his long career as a performer.
