Brown as a Freeman
Soon after his arrival in Philadelphia, Brown became an important speaker for the Anti-Slavery Society and was acquainted with another legendary figure who escaped slavery, Frederick Douglass. He received the nickname ‘Box’ during an anti-slavery convention in Boston in May 1849 and used the name Henry Box Brown thereafter. He published the first edition of his book, Narrative of the Life of Henry Box Brown, in Boston in 1849. The second edition was published in Manchester, England in 1851.
Douglass wasn’t happy that Brown revealed the method of escape because he believed it would have proved useful for other runaways. Samuel Smith tried to free more slaves in Richmond in 1849 but was caught and imprisoned for his troubles. Interestingly, Nancy’s new owner contacted Brown in 1849 and offered to sell him his wife and children. Amazingly, Brown refused, and the embarrassed abolitionist community tried to keep this detail a secret.
Brown briefly partnered with James Smith, and during a lecture circuit, the duo created a moving panorama, a popular form of entertainment at the time. The partnership split up in 1851, in part due to the passing of the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850. According to the law, a federal marshal that did not arrest a runaway slave was fined $1,000, even in so-called ‘free’ states. It was possible for a person ‘suspected’ of being a runaway to get arrested without a warrant; nor could they ask for a trial by jury. This wretched law not only resulted in the capture of runaway slaves, but also punished free men and women.
Brown in Britain
Brown felt it was safer to move abroad, so he went to live in England soon after the Fugitive Slave Law was enacted. He spent the next 25 or so years touring Britain with his moving panorama show. Brown made speeches all over Britain during his first decade in the country. He met a woman named Jane Floyd and married her in 1855 whereupon they started a family.
At this stage, he received heavy criticism for not taking the opportunity to purchase his first family. At the time of the American Civil War, Brown left the abolitionist circuit completely and focused on making a name for himself in the world of show business. Brown returned to the United States with Floyd and their children in 1875 and earned a living as a Magician. Part of his stage act involved emerging from the original box he had traveled in to earn his freedom.
Brown went as far as Canada during his return, and his last known stage show took place in Ontario on February 26, 1889. It is likely that he continued performing even though there are no written records. Brown died on June 15, 1897, in Toronto. For the first three decades of his life, Henry Brown was beaten down by the yoke of slavery. However, he refused to be broken and resolved to free himself from the peculiar institution. His escape is one of the most remarkable ever completed by any runaway slave.
Sources For Further Reading:
Encyclopedia Britannica – Anti-Slavery Society
UCONN – The Slave Who Mailed Himself to Freedom
Black Past – Henry “Box” Brown (1816-1889)
The Washington Post – A Symbol of Slavery — And Survival
The Washington Post – Freedom and Slavery, The ‘Central Paradox Of American History’