William Wells Brown (c. 1814 â€" November 6, 1884) was a prominent
African-American abolitionist lecturer, novelist, playwright, and
historian in the United States. Born into slavery in Montgomery
County, Kentucky, near the town of Mount Sterling, Brown escaped to
Ohio in 1834 at the age of 19. He settled in Boston, Massachusetts,
where he worked for abolitionist causes and became a prolific writer.
While working for abolition, Brown also supported causes including:
temperance, women's suffrage, pacifism, prison reform, and an
anti-tobacco movement. His novel Clotel (1853), considered the first
novel written by an African American, was published in London,
England, where he resided at the time; it was later published in the
United States.Brown was an African-American pioneer in several
different literary genres, including travel writing, fiction, and
drama. In 1858 he became the first published African-American
playwright, and often read from this work on the lecture circuit.
Following the Civil War, in 1867 he published what is considered the
first history of African Americans in the Revolutionary War. He was
among the first writers inducted to the Kentucky Writers Hall of Fame,
established in 2013. A public school was named for him in Lexington,
Kentucky.Brown was lecturing in England when the 1850 Fugitive Slave
Law was passed in the US; as its provisions increased the risk of
capture and re-enslavement, he stayed overseas for several years. He
traveled throughout Europe. After his freedom was purchased in 1854 by
a British couple, he and his two daughters returned to the US, where
he rejoined the abolitionist lecture circuit in the North. A
contemporary of Frederick Douglass, Brown was overshadowed by the
charismatic orator and the two feuded publicly.A descendant of
Mayflower passenger Stephen Hopkins through his father, William was
born into slavery in 1814 (or March 15, 1815) near Lexington,
Kentucky, where his mother Elizabeth was a slave (she was of Native
American and Black ancestry). She was held by Dr. John Young and had
seven children, each by different fathers. (In addition to William,
her children were Solomon, Leander, Benjamin, Joseph, Milford, and
Elizabeth.) William was of mixed race; his father was George W.
Higgins, a white planter and cousin of his master Dr. Young. Higgins
formally acknowledged William as his son and made Young promise not to
sell him. But Young did sell the boy and his mother. In the end,
William was sold several times before he was twenty years old.
African-American abolitionist lecturer, novelist, playwright, and
historian in the United States. Born into slavery in Montgomery
County, Kentucky, near the town of Mount Sterling, Brown escaped to
Ohio in 1834 at the age of 19. He settled in Boston, Massachusetts,
where he worked for abolitionist causes and became a prolific writer.
While working for abolition, Brown also supported causes including:
temperance, women's suffrage, pacifism, prison reform, and an
anti-tobacco movement. His novel Clotel (1853), considered the first
novel written by an African American, was published in London,
England, where he resided at the time; it was later published in the
United States.Brown was an African-American pioneer in several
different literary genres, including travel writing, fiction, and
drama. In 1858 he became the first published African-American
playwright, and often read from this work on the lecture circuit.
Following the Civil War, in 1867 he published what is considered the
first history of African Americans in the Revolutionary War. He was
among the first writers inducted to the Kentucky Writers Hall of Fame,
established in 2013. A public school was named for him in Lexington,
Kentucky.Brown was lecturing in England when the 1850 Fugitive Slave
Law was passed in the US; as its provisions increased the risk of
capture and re-enslavement, he stayed overseas for several years. He
traveled throughout Europe. After his freedom was purchased in 1854 by
a British couple, he and his two daughters returned to the US, where
he rejoined the abolitionist lecture circuit in the North. A
contemporary of Frederick Douglass, Brown was overshadowed by the
charismatic orator and the two feuded publicly.A descendant of
Mayflower passenger Stephen Hopkins through his father, William was
born into slavery in 1814 (or March 15, 1815) near Lexington,
Kentucky, where his mother Elizabeth was a slave (she was of Native
American and Black ancestry). She was held by Dr. John Young and had
seven children, each by different fathers. (In addition to William,
her children were Solomon, Leander, Benjamin, Joseph, Milford, and
Elizabeth.) William was of mixed race; his father was George W.
Higgins, a white planter and cousin of his master Dr. Young. Higgins
formally acknowledged William as his son and made Young promise not to
sell him. But Young did sell the boy and his mother. In the end,
William was sold several times before he was twenty years old.
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