The box was marked “dry goods” and Brown only had a small bottle of water and biscuits to sustain him.

His owner was John Barret, the former mayor of Richmond, Virginia. In his autobiography, Henry remembers his parents lovingly. Henry Brown was born into slavery in the year 1816 in one of the many plantations in Louisiana County in Virginia. Photo: Henry Box Brown/Public Domain / Wikimedia Commons. Open exiting the box Brown reportedly uttered a “How do you do, gentlemen?” before reciting a Psalm.

I looked forward to the good time which every day I more and more firmly believed would yet come, when I should walk the face of the earth in full possession of all that freedom.'' He became an abolitionist, working closely with Douglass, who wished that Brown had been more subtle about the method of his successful escape so that more slaves could have been saved the same way. All Rights Reserved. Brown was born into slavery in 1815 in Louisa County, Virginia. Fun Facts. He was born into slavery. Had It & Lost It – Celebrity Riches to Rags Instead, Brown publicly told the tale, which angered Frederick Douglass and other prominent abolitionists. Meet Actress Niecy Nash’s New Wife, Pastor John Gray Apologizes For Alleged Affair, Says He’s Seeking Guidance, Missing HBCU Student Adam Dowdell Found Dead In Alabama, Tamar Braxton’s Boyfriend Reportedly Files Restraining Order Over Domestic Violence, She Says He Was The Aggressor.

After three decades of enslavement, Brown cleverly mailed himself in a wooden box to abolitionists in the North in order to become a free man. Had It & Lost It – Celebrity Riches to Rags, Trump Supporter Who Killed Black Lives Matter Protester Dies By Suicide, Andrew Gillum And Wife Open Up To Tamron Hall About Hotel Incident, Marriage And More, Who Is Jessica Betts? Therefore, he was treating them wel… The 27-hour trip was dangerous, with Brown fearing at one point he would die.

Henry “Box” Brown was an escaped slave who took an inventive route to gain his freedom. A devout man of Christian faith Brown asked a fellow churchmember James Caesar Anthony Smith, a free Black man, to help. After three decades of enslavement, Brown cleverly mailed himself in a wooden box to abolitionists in the North in order to become a free man. Brown became a well-known performer who crafted a popular stage show about his escape, which eventually landed him in England where he married again. Among other Henry "Box" Brown facts are his marriage to a white Englishwoman as well as the fact that Frederick Douglass didn't like him.

In 1875, he returned to the U.S. with a family magic act.

Abolitionists hoping to use the same method of escape for other slaves, urged Brown to keep quiet about how he did it.

Henry Brown, like most slaves, did not know how old he was or when his birthday was. Sadly, Smith’s plan was discovered on May 8 of the same year and he was arrested. He lived with his parents, his four brothers, and his three sisters.

Henry "Box" Brown was born around 1816 in Virginia, and lived in several other countries until his death in Canada in 1897.

Photo: He Was Born Into Slavery In Virginia. Some of the texts state that Henry had two other siblings a sister and a brother.
There was a hole cut in the box for air, and it was lined with cloth. There are scant details on Brown’s death. In the 1860s, he began performing as a mesmerist, and some time after that as a conjuror, under the show names Prof. H. Box Brown and the African Prince. Henry Box Brown was born in 1815 in Louisa County, Virginia. When he was only 15 years of age, Henry was sent to work on a tobacco farm. Brown’s wife was pregnant when he learned that her master sold his family to a plantation in North Carolina.

The precise date of his birth is unknown.

A white man who felt sorry for Brown then contacted James Miller McKim, a white abolitionist and member of the Philadelphia Anti-Slavery Society.

He arrived in Philadelphia and was shipped by a delivery service to the abolitionists awaiting his arrival. He spent his early years at the Hermitage, a plantation about ten miles from Yanceyville in Louisa County. Brown is known for his speaking out against slavery and his feelings about the state of America.

''I now began to get weary of my bonds; and earnestly panted after liberty.

Brown was born into slavery in 1815 in Louisa County, Virginia. 3 photos.

--Henry ''Box'' Brown, an African-American slave living in Virginia in the early 1800s As the … Henry, his mother, and his brothers and sisters worked in their master’s house.

Henry Box Brown (c. 1815 – June 15, 1897) was a 19th-century Virginia slave who escaped to freedom at the age of 33 by arranging to have himself mailed in a wooden crate in 1849 to abolitionists in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Barret was known to be atypical in how he treated slaves.

Samuel Smith, a white sympathizer, placed Brown in a wooden box that was “ 3 feet long by 2 feet 8 inches deep by 2 feet wide,” using the Adams Express Company to send the box on March 23, 1849. I felt convinced that I should be acting in accordance with the will of God, if I could snap in sunder those bonds by which I was held body and soul as the property of a fellow man. As a teenager, he was sent to Richmond to work in a tobacco factory, but was forced to live apart from his wife and their three children.

Henry Box Brown Fact 1: He was born in Louisa County, Virginia in the United States of America in 1816. Follow us on Twitter. Henry “Box” Brown was an escaped slave who took an inventive route to gain his freedom. Unable to rescue them, Brown concocted a plan to escape to Philadelphia, a free state. At the age of 15, he was sent to Richmond to work in a … Instead, when Samuel Smith attempted to free other slaves in 1849, they were arrested. The owner of the factory at which he was working was a nice person. Copyright © 2020 Interactive One, LLC. Henry "Box" Brown was born enslaved in Louisa County, Virginia, in 1815.

In his Narrative, he offers a cure for slavery, citing increased number of slaves voting, electing a new president, and for the North to speak out against the “spoiled child” of the South. The other Smith was also charged but did not serve any time. Leaving his first wife and children in slavery (though he had the means to purchase their freedom),  he married a second time to a white British woman, and began a new family. Like BlackAmericaWeb.com on Facebook. Slave owners didn’t record slave births and they thought slaves who asked about their birthdays were impertinent and needed to be put in their place.

There is also a later report of the Brown Family Jubilee Singers. Brown stayed on the British show circuit for twenty-five years, until 1875.