African-American Author and Historian. He used his literary talents for the abolitionist cause and to record the history of African-Americans. Born a slave near Lexington, Kentucky in 1814, he was the son of a white plantation owner and a slave and grew up near St. Louis, Missouri. Brown served several slave-masters before escaping in 1834 and was helped to obtain his freedom by a Quaker. Brown became a conductor on the Underground Railroad and worked on a Lake Erie steamer ferrying slaves to freedom in Canada. In 1843 he became a lecturing agent for the New York Anti-Slavery Society, soon obtaining a reputation as one of the movement's best orators. Brown later settled in Boston and published his autobiography, "Narrative of William Wells Brown, a Fugitive Slave," in 1847. He obtained a living lecturing on slavery and temperance reform in America and Europe. This inspired his book, "Three Years in Europe," in 1852. In 1853, Brown published "Clotel," a story about President Thomas Jefferson's relationship with a slave mistress named Sally Hemmings which is believed to be the first novel published by an African-American. Brown also wrote a play, "The Escape" (1858) and several historical works including "The Black Man" (1863), "The Negro in the American Revolution" (1867), "The Rising Son" (1873) and another volume of his autobiography, "My Southern Home" (1880). William Wells Brown died in Chelsea, Massachusetts, on Nov. 6, 1884. Despite his literary achievements and his contributions in the struggle for freedom and equality, he was buried in an unmarked grave in the Cambridge Massachusetts Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
African-American Author and Historian. He used his literary talents for the abolitionist cause and to record the history of African-Americans. Born a slave near Lexington, Kentucky in 1814, he was the son of a white plantation owner and a slave and grew up near St. Louis, Missouri. Brown served several slave-masters before escaping in 1834 and was helped to obtain his freedom by a Quaker. Brown became a conductor on the Underground Railroad and worked on a Lake Erie steamer ferrying slaves to freedom in Canada. In 1843 he became a lecturing agent for the New York Anti-Slavery Society, soon obtaining a reputation as one of the movement's best orators. Brown later settled in Boston and published his autobiography, "Narrative of William Wells Brown, a Fugitive Slave," in 1847. He obtained a living lecturing on slavery and temperance reform in America and Europe. This inspired his book, "Three Years in Europe," in 1852. In 1853, Brown published "Clotel," a story about President Thomas Jefferson's relationship with a slave mistress named Sally Hemmings which is believed to be the first novel published by an African-American. Brown also wrote a play, "The Escape" (1858) and several historical works including "The Black Man" (1863), "The Negro in the American Revolution" (1867), "The Rising Son" (1873) and another volume of his autobiography, "My Southern Home" (1880). William Wells Brown died in Chelsea, Massachusetts, on Nov. 6, 1884. Despite his literary achievements and his contributions in the struggle for freedom and equality, he was buried in an unmarked grave in the Cambridge Massachusetts Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Bio by: Curtis Jackson
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