Henry Box Brown was born a slave on the plantation called Hermitage in Louisa County, Virginia. In 1849 with the help of some friends, Henry shipped himself to freedom in a wooden crate to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania through the Adams Express Company.
Lithograph from the 1850s by A. Donnelly
Henry writes in his autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Henry Box Brown, Written by Himself, that he remembered his parents fondly, stating that his mother was the one to instill Christian values into him. After this he even saw his master as God and the young master as Jesus. He believed this since thunder was seen as the voice of God and his master would always come around whenever it thundered to tell them to go inside. He would comment on how nice the rain was for the flowers and would show the children them. In turn, the children believed that he was making it rain so his flowers would grow beautifully.
Henry's mother eventually taught him that there was a worldly God and that their master was not him. Henry seemed to have a brother and a sister, mentioning them as well. At 15, he was sent to live and work at a tobacco plantation. In the autobiography, he describes his owner: "Our master was uncommonly kind, (for even a slaveholder may be kind) and as he moved about in his dignity he seemed like a god to us, but notwithstanding his kindness although he knew very well what superstitious notions we formed of him, he never made the least attempt to correct our erroneous impression, but rather seemed pleased with the reverential feelings which we entertained towards him." He showed an early talent for the tobacco trade, and with a reputation for competence and intelligence, he was eventually entrusted with the responsibility of running errands and relaying messages. This connection to the outside world would prove essential to his escape.
Though not legally recognized, Henry was married to another slave named Nancy. They had three children born into slavery under the partus sequitur ventrem principle. Brown was hired out by his master in Richmond, Virginia, and worked in a tobacco factory, renting a house where he, his wife, and children had lived. His life was filled with unrewarded drudgery, although he had it better than most of his enslaved peers. The loss of freedom later prevented him from living with his wife, Nancy, who was owned by a slave master on an adjacent plantation. She was pregnant with their fourth child when, in 1848, the final straw came when, despite his owner’s promise to allow them to stay if Brown had paid for them, Brown’s pregnant wife and three children were sold to a plantation in North Carolina.
Hours after he had dined with his family at the breakfast table, they were forever torn asunder, the semblance of a life he had built was uprooted. Betrayed, estranged, and dehumanized, Brown had had enough. “I began to get weary of my bonds,” he remembered, “and earnestly panted for liberty…which, by the cruel hand of tyranny, I, and millions of my fellow-men, had been robbed.” He stood with tears in his eyes on the side of the street as he watched 350 slaves in chains walk by him, including his wife with their unborn child and three young children. He could only wish them a tearful last farewell— he was helpless to save them. After months of mourning his loss, Henry resolved to escape from slavery. He was a man of faith and a member of the First African Baptist Church where he sang in the choir. He acknowledged that, through his faith in God, he was given the inspiration and courage to put together a creative plan of escape.
Henry enlisted the help of his choir-member friend, James Caesar Anthony Smith, a free Black who knew Samuel Alexander Smith, a White sympathizer. (They were not related but had the same last name.) Samuel Smith liked to gamble and, for a profit, agreed to help Henry Brown with his plan. The plan that Henry envisioned was for himself to be shipped in a box by rail from Richmond to Philadelphia, a very creative, unique, and dangerous endeavor. Samuel Alexander Smith in turn contacted James Miller McKim, a White abolitionist and seasoned member (along with William Still) of the Philadelphia Anti-Slavery Society.
Together they had devised a plan to have Henry shipped in a box to a free state by the Adams Express Company, known for its confidentiality and efficiency. Brown paid $86 (out of his savings of $166) to Samuel Smith. Smith went to Philadelphia to consult with members of Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society on how to accomplish the escape, meeting with minister James Miller McKim, William Still, and Cyrus Burleigh. He corresponded with them to work out the details after returning to Richmond. They advised him to mail the box to the office of Quaker merchant Passmore Williamson, who was later the man Henry first stayed with after escape, was active with the Vigilance Committee.
On March 29, 1849, he burned his hand to the bone with oil of vitriol (sulfuric acid), in order to be excused from work for the day. He then set himself in the box with the most threadbare of accommodations. He carried a bladder of water, a few biscuits, and a small drill, should he need to make a hole other than the one already provided for ventilation. Along the sides of the box were the instruction, “This side up with care.” The box that Brown was shipped in was 3 feet long by 2 feet 8 inches deep by 2 feet wide and displayed the words "dry goods" on it. It was lined with baize, a coarse woolen cloth, and it was nailed and tied with straps. Brown later wrote that his uncertain method of travel was worth the risk: "if you have never been deprived of your liberty, as I was, you cannot realize the power of that hope of freedom, which was to me indeed, an anchor to the soul both sure and steadfast."
During the trip, Brown's box was transported by wagon, railroad, steamboat, wagon again, railroad, ferry, railroad, and finally delivery wagon, being completed in 27 hours. Despite the instructions on the box of "handle with care" and "this side up," several times carriers placed the box upside-down or handled it roughly. Brown remained still and avoided detection. Throughout his dark, hot, and uncomfortable sojourn, Henry Brown was tossed and thrown about in the box. In his own account, he provides the reader with scenes reminiscent of a perverse comedy.
In one episode, he anxiously overhears a pair of shippers decide to leave his box in storage overnight, only to hear a worker swoop in to insist that as an express package, it must go that day. In another, Brown’s box is packed among cargo vertically so that he is turned upside down, his head and neck bearing the weight of his body. Henry wrote that he “was resolved to conquer or die, I felt my eyes swelling as if they would burst from their sockets; and the veins on my temples were dreadfully distended with pressure of blood upon my head.” At one point, Henry thought that he might die, but fortunately two men needed a place to sit down and, “so perceiving my box, standing on end, one of the men threw it down and the two sat upon it. I was thus relieved from a state of agony which may be more imagined than described.” They turn the box over for a makeshift bench, relieving Henry Brown of his torment. He overhears them wonder what might be inside the box beneath them. One ponders “the mail.” Brown wryly notes that, in fact, there is a “male” inside.
The box was received by William Still, James Miller McKim, Professor C.D. Cleveland, Lewis Thompson and other members of the Philadelphia Vigilance Committee on March 30, 1849, attesting to the improvements in express delivery services. When Brown was released, one of the men remembered his first words upon the box being opened, Brown said, “How do you do, Gentlemen?” then recited a psalm: “I waited patiently on the Lord and He heard my prayer.” He then began to sing the psalm to the delight of the four men present, and was christened Henry “Box” Brown.
A quote from William Still
Samuel Alexander Smith attempted to ship more enslaved from Richmond to Philadelphia on May 8, 1849, but was discovered and arrested. In November of that year, he was sentenced to six-and-one-half years in the state penitentiary. James Caesar Anthony Smith, the free Black, was also arrested on September 25 for attempting another shipment of slaves, but he fared better. The trial that followed resulted in a divided panel of magistrates, and James Caesar Anthony Smith was released and later joined Brown in Boston. The abolitionist movement of the day held two opposing points of view. Frederick Douglass made it clear that Henry Brown’s escape should not be made public, as others could use this same method. However, others thought that the publicity would help the movement, and that it was just too good a story to keep from the growing number of the public who opposed slavery.
Henry Brown was intoxicated with the feeling that freedom brought, and his personality would not allow him to remain quiet about his achievement. He was his own man and a working class individual. He used this miraculous event to make a new life for himself. He also used his great imagination to support himself. In May 1849, Henry appeared before the New England Anti-Slavery Society Convention in Boston, where he left no doubt in the minds of the audience that the enslaved desired freedom. He subsequently toured the region performing his story. He went on to meet other abolitionists and luminaries (William Still, author of The Underground Railroad, helped coordinate Brown’s escape, and later immortalized it in his book). Brown gave lectures to abolitionists and sympathizers all over the northern states. Soon after, he wrote the first version of his autobiography with the help of ghostwriter Charles Stearns, and sold 8,000 copies in two months.
Print from the New York Globe, June 23, 1883
The second was later published in Manchester, England, in 1851 after he had moved there. While on the lecture circuit in the northeastern United States, Brown developed a moving panorama with his partner James C. A. Smith in which he reenacted his own crusade and exhibited 49 canvas scrolls depicting scenes of slavery, from the slave ship to the terrors of the plantation. Attendee Justin Spaulding commended that “the real life-like scenes presented in this panorama, are admirably calculated to make an unfading impression on the heart and memory, such as no lectures, books, or colloquial correspondence can produce.” They separated in 1851. The year of his escape, Brown was contacted by his wife's new owner, who offered to sell his family to him, but the newly free man declined. This was an embarrassment within the abolitionist community, which tried to keep the information private. Brown is known for speaking out against slavery and expressing his feelings about the state of America. In his Narrative, he offers a cure for slavery, suggesting that slaves should be given the vote, a new president should be elected, and the North should speak out against the "spoiled child" of the South.
Unfortunately, it did not take long for Henry Box Brown’s newfound life to destabilize. With the passing of the Fugitive Slave Act on August 30, 1850, it was no longer safe for Brown to remain in the Northern Free States, as he could be captured and returned to Virginia. Therefore, he sailed for England in October 1850. His panorama was exhibited throughout England. In May 1851, Brown’s own “First English Edition” of the narrative of his life was published in Manchester. All, however, was not well for Henry “Box” Brown. He continued to be criticized over finances and for not trying harder to purchase his own family. Thus, Brown left the abolitionist circuit completely and embraced English show business for the next 25 years. In the 1860s, he performed not only his Mirror on Slavery show, but developed alter-egos like the “African Chief,” a supposed descendant of African royalty who wore elaborate garments and jewelry.
Later came his attraction to mesmerism, and Brown’s performing career evolved from political spectacle to magician’s show. Beyond hypnotism, some acts included Houdini-esque escapes from shackles, objects disappearing in boxes, and a sleight-of-hand trick in which a nail in his palm was replaced by an acorn. While in England, Brown married Jane Floyd, a white Cornish tin worker's daughter, in 1855 and began a new family. In 1875, he returned with his family to the U.S. with a group magic act. A later report documented the Brown Family Jubilee Singers. He performed as a magician and continued to climb into his original box as part of his act throughout the eastern United States. Henry Box Brown died in Toronto on June 15, 1897. Tax records and other documents indicate that he continued to perform into the early 1890s, but no performance records have been found. Brown’s last performance is reported to have taken place in Brantford, Ontario, Canada as stated in a Brantford newspaper on February 26, 1889. No later information on Henry “Box” Brown and his family has been discovered.
Henry "Box" Brown's life is a testament to what unwavering courage, perseverance, and creativity can accomplish. That no matter how hopeless we feel in an awful situation through faith and hope, it is possible for not only what's happening around you to change but for you to change what's happening around you.