Henry “Box” Brown: Narrative of the Lifeof Henry Box Brown, Written by Himself

Narrative of the Life of Henry Box Brown, Written by Himself is one of many autobiographies composed by former slaves documenting their lives in bondage and their escape to freedom. Henry “Box” Brown was born a slave in Virginia in1815; he escaped slavery in 1849 after being crated in a box (hence his nickname) in Richmond, Virginia, and shipped to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His story, especially the clever method he devised to flee slavery, made him a popular figure in abolitionist circles. Brown and a white abolitionist named Charles Stearns published the first version of Brown’s autobiography, Narrative of Henry Box Brown, Who Escaped from Slavery Enclosed in a Box 3 Feet Long and 2 Wide, Written from a Statement of Facts Made by Himself; With Remarks upon the Remedy for Slavery by Charles Stearns, in 1849 in Boston. Brown revised and reprinted it two years later as Narrative of the Life of Henry Box Brown, Written by Himself, after he had fled to England, fearing reenslavement. The passage of the 1850 Fugitive Slave Act—a federal mandate requiring the return of runaway slaves to their owners—had prompted a mass migration of African Americans to Canada and the United Kingdom. Brown himself spent twenty-five years abroad before returning to the United States in 1875.