William Wells Brown
Encyclopedia
William Wells Brown was a prominent African-American abolitionist lecturer
, novelist, playwright, and historian
. Born into slavery
in the Southern United States
, Brown escaped to the North in 1834, where he worked for abolitionist causes and was a prolific writer. Brown was a pioneer in several different literary genres, including travel writing, fiction, and drama. His novel Clotel
is considered the first novel by an African American
and was published in London in 1853.
Lecturing in England when the 1850 Fugitive Slave Law was passed in the US, Brown stayed for several years to avoid risk of capture and re-enslavement. After his freedom was purchased by a British couple in 1854, he returned to the US and the abolitionist lecture circuit. A contemporary of Frederick Douglass
, Wells Brown was overshadowed by the charismatic orator and the two feuded publicly.
, Kentucky
. His mother Elizabeth was owned by Dr. Thomas Young and had seven children, each by different fathers. (In addition to William, her children were Solomon, Leander, Benjamin, Joseph, Milford, and Elizabeth.) His father was George W. Higgins, a white planter
who was a cousin of William's master, Dr. Young. Although Young promised his cousin he would never sell the boy (whom Higgins recognized as his son), William was sold multiple times before he was twenty years old.
William spent the majority of his youth in St. Louis. His masters hired him out to work on the Missouri River
, then a major thoroughfare for steamships and the slave trade. He made several attempts to escape, and on New Year's Day of 1834, he successfully slipped away from a steamboat
when docked in Cincinnati
, Ohio
, a free state
. He adopted the name of Wells Brown, a Quaker friend, who helped him after his escape by providing food, clothes and some money.
, where he worked as a steamboat
man on Lake Erie
. He used his position to aid escaped slaves to freedom in Canada as a conductor for the Underground Railroad
. Brown became active in the abolitionist movement in Buffalo by joining several anti-slavery societies and the Negro Convention Movement.
as demonstration of its evils. At the Paris Peace Conference, he faced opposition while representing the country that had enslaved him, and confronted American slaveholders on the grounds of the Crystal Palace
.
. He soon focused on anti-slavery efforts. His speeches expressed his belief in the power of moral suasion and the importance of nonviolence. He often attacked the supposed American ideal of democracy
and the use of religion to promote submissiveness among slaves. Brown constantly refuted the idea of black inferiority. Reaching beyond America’s borders, he traveled to Britain in the early 1850s and recruited supporters for the American abolitionist cause. An article in the Scotch Independent reported the following:
Due to Brown's reputation as a powerful orator, he was invited to the National Convention of Colored Citizens, where he met other prominent abolitionists. When the Liberty Party
formed, he chose to remain independent, believing that the abolitionist movement should avoid becoming entrenched in politics. He continued to support the Garrisonian approach to abolitionism, and shared his own experiences and insight into slavery in order to convince others to support the cause.
' slave narrative
. He critiques his master’s lack of Christian values and the brutal use of violence in master-slave relations. When Brown lived in Britain, he wrote more works, including travel accounts and plays.
His first novel, entitled Clotel
, or, The President’s Daughter: a Narrative of Slave Life in the United States, is believed to be the first novel written by an African American. But, because the novel was published in England, the book was not the first African-American novel published in the United States. This credit goes to either Harriet Wilson's Our Nig (1859) or Julia C. Collins' The Curse of Caste; or The Slave Bride (1865).
Most scholars agree that Brown is the first published African-American playwright. Brown wrote two plays, Experience; or, How to Give a Northern Man a Backbone (1856, unpublished and no longer extant) and The Escape; or, A Leap for Freedom (1858), which he read aloud at abolitionist meetings in lieu of the typical lecture.
Brown continually struggled with how to represent slavery "as it was" to his audiences. For instance, in an 1847 lecture to the Female Anti-Slavery Society of Salem, Massachusetts
, he said, "Were I about to tell you the evils of Slavery, to represent to you the Slave in his lowest degradation, I should wish to take you, one at a time, and whisper it to you. Slavery has never been represented; Slavery never can be represented.
Brown also wrote several historical works, including The Black Man: His Antecedents, His Genius, and His Achievements
(1863), The Negro in the American Rebellion (1867) [considered the first historical work about black soldiers in the Civil War], The Rising Son (1873), and another volume of autobiography, My Southern Home (1880).
), did Brown return to the United States. He quickly rejoined the anti-slavery lecture circuit again.
Perhaps because of the rising social tensions in the 1850s, he became a proponent of African-American emigration to Haiti
, an independent black republic. He decided that more militant actions were needed to help the abolitionist cause.
During the American Civil War
and in the decades that followed, Brown continued to publish fiction and non-fiction books, securing his reputation as one of the most prolific African-American writers of his time. He also played a more active role in recruiting blacks to fight in the Civil War. He introduced Robert John Simmons
from Bermuda to abolitionist Francis George Shaw, father of Colonel Robert Gould Shaw
, the commanding officer of the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment.
On April 12, 1860, Brown married twenty-five year old Anna Elizabeth Gray in Boston While continuing to write, Brown was active in the Temperance movement as a lecturer; he also studied homeopathic medicine and opened a medical practice in Boston's South End while keeping a residence in Cambridge
, Massachusetts
's Second Ward until moving to the nearby city of Chelsea
in 1882.
William Wells Brown died on his birthday in Chelsea, Massachusetts
in 1884 at the age of 70.
Lecturer
Lecturer is an academic rank. In the United Kingdom, lecturer is a position at a university or similar institution, often held by academics in their early career stages, who lead research groups and supervise research students, as well as teach...
, novelist, playwright, and historian
Historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...
. Born into slavery
Slavery
Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...
in the Southern United States
Southern United States
The Southern United States—commonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, or simply the South—constitutes a large distinctive area in the southeastern and south-central United States...
, Brown escaped to the North in 1834, where he worked for abolitionist causes and was a prolific writer. Brown was a pioneer in several different literary genres, including travel writing, fiction, and drama. His novel Clotel
Clotel
Clotel; or, The President's Daughter is an 1853 novel by U.S. author and playwright William Wells Brown, an escaped slave from Kentucky who was active on the anti-slavery circuit...
is considered the first novel by an African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
and was published in London in 1853.
Lecturing in England when the 1850 Fugitive Slave Law was passed in the US, Brown stayed for several years to avoid risk of capture and re-enslavement. After his freedom was purchased by a British couple in 1854, he returned to the US and the abolitionist lecture circuit. A contemporary of Frederick Douglass
Frederick Douglass
Frederick Douglass was an American social reformer, orator, writer and statesman. After escaping from slavery, he became a leader of the abolitionist movement, gaining note for his dazzling oratory and incisive antislavery writing...
, Wells Brown was overshadowed by the charismatic orator and the two feuded publicly.
Biography
William was born into slavery in LexingtonLexington, Kentucky
Lexington is the second-largest city in Kentucky and the 63rd largest in the US. Known as the "Thoroughbred City" and the "Horse Capital of the World", it is located in the heart of Kentucky's Bluegrass region...
, Kentucky
Kentucky
The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...
. His mother Elizabeth was owned by Dr. Thomas Young and had seven children, each by different fathers. (In addition to William, her children were Solomon, Leander, Benjamin, Joseph, Milford, and Elizabeth.) His father was George W. Higgins, a white planter
Planter
Planter may refer to:*A flower pot or box for plants**Jardinière, one such type of pot*A person or object engaged in sowing seeds**Planter , implement towed behind a tractor, used for sowing crops through a field*A coloniser...
who was a cousin of William's master, Dr. Young. Although Young promised his cousin he would never sell the boy (whom Higgins recognized as his son), William was sold multiple times before he was twenty years old.
William spent the majority of his youth in St. Louis. His masters hired him out to work on the Missouri River
Missouri River
The Missouri River flows through the central United States, and is a tributary of the Mississippi River. It is the longest river in North America and drains the third largest area, though only the thirteenth largest by discharge. The Missouri's watershed encompasses most of the American Great...
, then a major thoroughfare for steamships and the slave trade. He made several attempts to escape, and on New Year's Day of 1834, he successfully slipped away from a steamboat
Steamboat
A steamboat or steamship, sometimes called a steamer, is a ship in which the primary method of propulsion is steam power, typically driving propellers or paddlewheels...
when docked in Cincinnati
Cincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio. Cincinnati is the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located to north of the Ohio River at the Ohio-Kentucky border, near Indiana. The population within city limits is 296,943 according to the 2010 census, making it Ohio's...
, Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
, a free state
Free state
Free state may refer to:* Free state , a loosely defined term used by various states at different times and places to describe themselves...
. He adopted the name of Wells Brown, a Quaker friend, who helped him after his escape by providing food, clothes and some money.
Marriage and family
Shortly after gaining his freedom, Brown met and married Elizabeth Schooner, a free African-American woman. Later he separated from her and they eventually divorced, causing a minor scandal. Together they had three daughters.Move to New York
From 1836 to about 1845, Brown made his home in Buffalo, New YorkBuffalo, New York
Buffalo is the second most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City. Located in Western New York on the eastern shores of Lake Erie and at the head of the Niagara River across from Fort Erie, Ontario, Buffalo is the seat of Erie County and the principal city of the...
, where he worked as a steamboat
Steamboat
A steamboat or steamship, sometimes called a steamer, is a ship in which the primary method of propulsion is steam power, typically driving propellers or paddlewheels...
man on Lake Erie
Lake Erie
Lake Erie is the fourth largest lake of the five Great Lakes in North America, and the tenth largest globally. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and therefore also has the shortest average water residence time. It is bounded on the north by the...
. He used his position to aid escaped slaves to freedom in Canada as a conductor for the Underground Railroad
Underground Railroad
The Underground Railroad was an informal network of secret routes and safe houses used by 19th-century black slaves in the United States to escape to free states and Canada with the aid of abolitionists and allies who were sympathetic to their cause. The term is also applied to the abolitionists,...
. Brown became active in the abolitionist movement in Buffalo by joining several anti-slavery societies and the Negro Convention Movement.
Years in Europe
In 1849, Brown left the United States to travel in the British Isles to lecture against slavery. He stayed in England until 1854. He lectured widely to local antislavery circuits to build support for the US movement. Brown also wanted to learn more about the cultures, religions, and different concepts of European nations. He felt that he needed always to be learning, in order to catch up and live in a society where others had been given an education when young. In his memoir he wrote,“He who escapes from slavery at the age of twenty years, without any education, as did the writer of this letter, must read when others are asleep, if he would catch up with the rest of the world.”In 1849 Brown was selected to attend the International Peace Conference in Paris. By then separated from his wife, he brought his two young daughters with him, to give them the education which he had been denied. Based on this journey, Brown wrote Three Years in Europe: or Places I Have Seen And People I Have Met. His travel account was popular with middle-class readers as he recounted sightseeing trips to the foundational monuments considered the spine of European culture. When lecturing about slavery, he showed a slave collar
Slave collar
Slave collar may refer to:* Collar used to identify and discipline slaves* Collar , collar used in bondage...
as demonstration of its evils. At the Paris Peace Conference, he faced opposition while representing the country that had enslaved him, and confronted American slaveholders on the grounds of the Crystal Palace
The Crystal Palace
The Crystal Palace was a cast-iron and glass building originally erected in Hyde Park, London, England, to house the Great Exhibition of 1851. More than 14,000 exhibitors from around the world gathered in the Palace's of exhibition space to display examples of the latest technology developed in...
.
Abolition orator and writer
Brown gave lectures for the abolitionist movement in New York and MassachusettsMassachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
. He soon focused on anti-slavery efforts. His speeches expressed his belief in the power of moral suasion and the importance of nonviolence. He often attacked the supposed American ideal of democracy
Democracy
Democracy is generally defined as a form of government in which all adult citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. Ideally, this includes equal participation in the proposal, development and passage of legislation into law...
and the use of religion to promote submissiveness among slaves. Brown constantly refuted the idea of black inferiority. Reaching beyond America’s borders, he traveled to Britain in the early 1850s and recruited supporters for the American abolitionist cause. An article in the Scotch Independent reported the following:
"By dint of resolution, self-culture, and force of character, he has rendered himself a popular lecturer to a British audience, and vigorous expositor of the evils and atrocities of that system whose chains he has shaken off so triumphantly and forever. We may safely pronounce William Wells Brown a remarkable man, and a full refutation of the doctrine of the inferiority of the negro."
Due to Brown's reputation as a powerful orator, he was invited to the National Convention of Colored Citizens, where he met other prominent abolitionists. When the Liberty Party
Liberty Party (1840s)
The Liberty Party was a minor political party in the United States in the 1840s . The party was an early advocate of the abolitionist cause...
formed, he chose to remain independent, believing that the abolitionist movement should avoid becoming entrenched in politics. He continued to support the Garrisonian approach to abolitionism, and shared his own experiences and insight into slavery in order to convince others to support the cause.
Literary works
In 1847, he published his memoir, the Narrative of William W. Brown, a Fugitive Slave, Written by Himself, which became a bestseller second only to Frederick DouglassFrederick Douglass
Frederick Douglass was an American social reformer, orator, writer and statesman. After escaping from slavery, he became a leader of the abolitionist movement, gaining note for his dazzling oratory and incisive antislavery writing...
' slave narrative
Slave narrative
The slave narrative is a literary form which grew out of the written accounts of enslaved Africans in Britain and its colonies, including the later United States, Canada and Caribbean nations...
. He critiques his master’s lack of Christian values and the brutal use of violence in master-slave relations. When Brown lived in Britain, he wrote more works, including travel accounts and plays.
Clotel
Clotel; or, The President's Daughter is an 1853 novel by U.S. author and playwright William Wells Brown, an escaped slave from Kentucky who was active on the anti-slavery circuit...
, or, The President’s Daughter: a Narrative of Slave Life in the United States, is believed to be the first novel written by an African American. But, because the novel was published in England, the book was not the first African-American novel published in the United States. This credit goes to either Harriet Wilson's Our Nig (1859) or Julia C. Collins' The Curse of Caste; or The Slave Bride (1865).
Most scholars agree that Brown is the first published African-American playwright. Brown wrote two plays, Experience; or, How to Give a Northern Man a Backbone (1856, unpublished and no longer extant) and The Escape; or, A Leap for Freedom (1858), which he read aloud at abolitionist meetings in lieu of the typical lecture.
Brown continually struggled with how to represent slavery "as it was" to his audiences. For instance, in an 1847 lecture to the Female Anti-Slavery Society of Salem, Massachusetts
Salem, Massachusetts
Salem is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 40,407 at the 2000 census. It and Lawrence are the county seats of Essex County...
, he said, "Were I about to tell you the evils of Slavery, to represent to you the Slave in his lowest degradation, I should wish to take you, one at a time, and whisper it to you. Slavery has never been represented; Slavery never can be represented.
Brown also wrote several historical works, including The Black Man: His Antecedents, His Genius, and His Achievements
The Black Man: His Antecedents, His Genius, and His Achievements
The Black Man: His Antecedents, His Genius, and His Achievements is a book published in 1863 by William Wells Brown which sketches the lives of individuals Brown determined had by their "own genius, capacity, and intellectual development, surmounted the many obstacles which slavery and prejudice...
(1863), The Negro in the American Rebellion (1867) [considered the first historical work about black soldiers in the Civil War], The Rising Son (1873), and another volume of autobiography, My Southern Home (1880).
Later life
Brown stayed abroad until 1854. Passage of the 1850 Fugitive Slave Law had increased his risk of capture even in the free states. Only after the Richardson family purchased his freedom in 1854 (they had done the same for Frederick DouglassFrederick Douglass
Frederick Douglass was an American social reformer, orator, writer and statesman. After escaping from slavery, he became a leader of the abolitionist movement, gaining note for his dazzling oratory and incisive antislavery writing...
), did Brown return to the United States. He quickly rejoined the anti-slavery lecture circuit again.
Perhaps because of the rising social tensions in the 1850s, he became a proponent of African-American emigration to Haiti
Haiti
Haiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island...
, an independent black republic. He decided that more militant actions were needed to help the abolitionist cause.
During the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
and in the decades that followed, Brown continued to publish fiction and non-fiction books, securing his reputation as one of the most prolific African-American writers of his time. He also played a more active role in recruiting blacks to fight in the Civil War. He introduced Robert John Simmons
Robert John Simmons
First Sergeant Robert John Simmons was a Bermudian who served in the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment during the American Civil War....
from Bermuda to abolitionist Francis George Shaw, father of Colonel Robert Gould Shaw
Robert Gould Shaw
Robert Gould Shaw was an American officer in the Union Army during the American Civil War. As colonel, he commanded the all-black 54th Regiment, which entered the war in 1863. He was killed in the Second Battle of Fort Wagner, near Charleston, South Carolina...
, the commanding officer of the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment.
On April 12, 1860, Brown married twenty-five year old Anna Elizabeth Gray in Boston While continuing to write, Brown was active in the Temperance movement as a lecturer; he also studied homeopathic medicine and opened a medical practice in Boston's South End while keeping a residence in Cambridge
Cambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
, Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
's Second Ward until moving to the nearby city of Chelsea
Chelsea, Massachusetts
Chelsea is a city in Suffolk County, Massachusetts, United States directly across the Mystic River from the city of Boston. It is the smallest city in Massachusetts in land area, and the 26th most densely populated incorporated place in the country.-History:...
in 1882.
William Wells Brown died on his birthday in Chelsea, Massachusetts
Chelsea, Massachusetts
Chelsea is a city in Suffolk County, Massachusetts, United States directly across the Mystic River from the city of Boston. It is the smallest city in Massachusetts in land area, and the 26th most densely populated incorporated place in the country.-History:...
in 1884 at the age of 70.
Writings
- Narrative of William W. Brown, a Fugitive Slave. Written by Himself. Boston: The Anti-slavery office, 1847.
- Narrative of William W. Brown, an American Slave. Written by Himself. London: C. Gilpin, 1849.
- Three Years in Europe: Or, Places I Have Seen and People I Have Met. London: Charles GilpinCharles Gilpin (politician)Charles Gilpin was a Quaker, orator, politician, publisher and railway director. Amongst his many causes were the movement to repeal the Corn Laws, to establish world peace through the Peace Society, abolition of the death penalty and the anti-slavery movement, enfranchisement by providing...
, 1852. - The American Fugitive in Europe. Sketches of Places and People Abroad. Boston: John P. Jewett, 1855.
- The Black Man: His Antecedents, His Genius, and His Achievements. New York: Thomas Hamilton; Boston: R.F. Wallcut, 1863.
- The Rising Son, or The Antecedents and Advancements of the Colored Race. Boston: A. G. Brown & Co., 1873.
- My Southern Home: or, The South and Its People. Boston: A. G. Brown & Co., Publishers, 1880.
- The Negro in the American rebellion; his heroism and his fidelity ...
- Brown, William Wells (1815-1884). Three years in Europe, or places I have seen and people I have met. with a Memoir of the author. 1852.
External links
- Clottelle: or the Southern Heroine hypertext from American Studies at the University of Virginia.
- The Louverture Project: William Wells Brown - Toussaint L'Ouverture - from the 1863 book The Black Man, His Antecedents, His Genius, and His Achievements.
- The Louverture Project: Dessalines - A description of Jean-Jacques DessalinesJean-Jacques DessalinesJean-Jacques Dessalines was a leader of the Haitian Revolution and the first ruler of an independent Haiti under the 1801 constitution. Initially regarded as Governor-General, Dessalines later named himself Emperor Jacques I of Haiti...
from the 1863 book The Black Man, His Antecedents, His Genius, and His Achievements by William Wells Brown.