In Season 1, Episode 1, of Not Even Past, host Brendan Wolfe introduces listeners to Henry Brown, of Richmond. Enslaved, his wife and family having been sold away, he climbed inside a postal box. Inside he hung feet-side-up, his temples throbbing, his head near to bursting. The box was addressed to Philadelphia—or, put another way, to freedom
For more, read about the Underground Railroad in Virginia and Brown’s multiple memoirs, including an excerpt from the Narrative of the Life of Henry Box Brown (1851).
IMAGE: The Resurrection of Henry Box Brown at Philadelphia (Library of Congress)
