Mailed to Freedom

Henry Brown was born into slavery in Virginia around 1815. He worked in a tobacco factory, hiring himself out and keeping a small portion of his wages. He married a woman named Nancy, and together they had three children. His master sold them anyway.

THE BOX

Henry watched his wife and three children be marched away and sold to a minister in North Carolina. He stopped attending church. He stopped eating. He made a decision. With $86 of saved tobacco money, Henry commissioned a wooden crate, three feet long and two feet wide. He drilled small holes for air, packed a flask of water, climbed inside, and was nailed shut on March 29, 1849. The crate was labeled dry goods.

27 HOURS

The box traveled by wagon, steamboat, and railroad from Richmond, Virginia to Philadelphia. At several points it was turned upside down despite the label. Henry lay on his head in total darkness, blood rushing to his skull, saying nothing. Twenty-seven hours later, abolitionists opened the box in Philadelphia. Henry stood up and said, How do you do, gentlemen?

THE PERFORMER

Henry became a celebrated speaker on the anti-slavery circuit. After the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 increased danger for escaped slaves, he moved to England for 25 years, touring with an anti-slavery panorama and reinventing himself as a magician and showman. His escape box became a stage prop. Henry Box Brown died in 1897, a free man, in Canada.