Slavery Figure. His story is one of tragedy, terror and bravery. He was born a slave in slave times. At age 15 he was sold to work in a tobacco factory in Richmond, Virginia. Later he married and had 3 chidren. His wife and children were sold to a plantation in North Carolina and Henry could only watch as his family was shackled and led away. Henry resolved to escape. Henry, with a white abolitionist accomplice, nailed himself into a wooden box measuring 3 feet x 2 feet x 2 1/2 feet. In this container he spent 37 hours, a few of which he was upside down and unable to move. Of course he remained completely motionless and silent, else he be discovered. Arriving in the north, 1849, he was a free man until 1850 when the "Fugitive Slave Act" was passed by the United States Government, at which time he fled to England. Brown was a very enterprising man, wrote 2 books, and developed a theater scenerio depicting slave times, at which he earned a living. He remarried and in 1875 returned to the United States. He took the middle name Box as a tribute to his way to freedom. Brown’s last performance took place in Brantford, Ontario, Canada as stated in a Brantford newspaper on February 26, 1889. Brown is buried in the Necropolis Cemetery, Toronto Municipality, Ontario, Canada.
Slavery Figure. His story is one of tragedy, terror and bravery. He was born a slave in slave times. At age 15 he was sold to work in a tobacco factory in Richmond, Virginia. Later he married and had 3 chidren. His wife and children were sold to a plantation in North Carolina and Henry could only watch as his family was shackled and led away. Henry resolved to escape. Henry, with a white abolitionist accomplice, nailed himself into a wooden box measuring 3 feet x 2 feet x 2 1/2 feet. In this container he spent 37 hours, a few of which he was upside down and unable to move. Of course he remained completely motionless and silent, else he be discovered. Arriving in the north, 1849, he was a free man until 1850 when the "Fugitive Slave Act" was passed by the United States Government, at which time he fled to England. Brown was a very enterprising man, wrote 2 books, and developed a theater scenerio depicting slave times, at which he earned a living. He remarried and in 1875 returned to the United States. He took the middle name Box as a tribute to his way to freedom. Brown’s last performance took place in Brantford, Ontario, Canada as stated in a Brantford newspaper on February 26, 1889. Brown is buried in the Necropolis Cemetery, Toronto Municipality, Ontario, Canada.
Bio by: billcarr
Inscription
Husband
In memory of -
Henry Brown
June 15 1897
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