The Narrative of William W. Brown, a Fugitive Slave (African American) [Paperback]

William Wells Brown (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 27, 2003 | Series: African American

An influential force in the abolition movement and a lasting testimonial to the injustice of slavery, Brown's Narrative was an instant bestseller upon its 1847 publication and remains essential reading. It offers a sincere and moving account of the author's experiences during the first 20 years of his life as a slave in Missouri.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

William Wells Brown (November 6, 1814 – November 6, 1884) was a prominent abolitionist lecturer, novelist, playwright, and historian. Born into slavery in the Southern United States, Brown escaped to the North, where he worked for abolitionist causes and was a prolific writer. Brown was a pioneer in several different literary genres, including travel writing, fiction, and drama, and wrote what is considered to be the first novel by an African American. An almost exact contemporary of Frederick Douglass, Wells Brown was overshadowed by Douglass and the two feuded publicly. William Wells Brown was born into slavery in Lexington, Kentucky. His mother, Elizabeth, was owned by a Dr. Young and had seven children, all with different fathers. (In addition to Brown, her children were Solomon, Leander, Benjamin, Joseph, Milford, and Elizabeth.) Brown's father was George Higgins, a white plantation owner and cousin of the owner of the plantation where Brown was born. Even though Young promised Higgins never to sell the boy, he was sold multiple times before he was twenty years old. Brown spent the majority of his youth in St. Louis. His masters hired him out to work on the Missouri River, then a major thoroughfare for the slave trade. He made several attempts to escape, and on New Year's Day of 1834, he successfully slipped away from a steamboat at a dock in Cincinnati, Ohio. He adopted the name of a Quaker friend of his, who had helped him after his escape by providing him with food, clothes and some money. Shortly after gaining his freedom, he met and married Elizabeth Schooner, a free African-American woman, from whom he separated and later divorced, causing a minor scandal. Together they had three daughters. From 1836 to about 1845, Brown made his home in Buffalo, New York, where he served as a conductor for the Underground Railroad and as a steam boatman on Lake Erie, a position he used to ferry escaped slaves to freedom in Canada. There Brown became active in the abolitionist movement by joining several anti-slavery societies and the Negro Convention Movement. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: Dover Publications (August 27, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0486430979
• ISBN-13: 978-0486430973
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.4 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,664,440 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A wise and intelligent book by a key Black Leader, November 14, 2005

By 

Tony Thomas (SUNNY ISLES BEACH, FL USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Narrative of William W. Brown, a Fugitive Slave (African American) (Paperback)

Today when we think of pre-Civil War African American leaders, Frederick Douglass is remember solely, and perhaps some remember the heroism of Sojourner Truth. However, there were a number of other African American leaders who help lead the struggle for freedom and dignity. Actually, it is rather surprising that so many of them like Douglass and Martin Delany Jr. also wrote.

Brown certainly was one of the major African American political and intellectual leaders of the 19th Century. Not only was he an antislavery activist, but he was one of the first to write works of African American history and he was among the first African Americans to publish a novel, his Clotel, the President's Daughter.

Not only does this narrative provide the usual chilling view of slavery, and what we can celebrate is the usual ability of Black men and women and their supporters to rise above, out wit and out struggle the slave masters, but also some clear political foresight.

Brown's narrative was entered into a discourse that was opened by the publication of Uncle Tom's Cabin about what force would bring an end to slavery. Stowe had put forward the idea of becoming born again in Christ through the evangilical experience inspired by the heroism of slaves, leading to a religious revival that would recognize slavery as the number one sin in the World. Delany proposed a Pan-African cultural revolution to set up a free Black nation that would lead an international slave revolt. Brown's prediction of the solution, and his recognition of the nature of the conflict, not simply between slavery and abolitionism, but between slavery and industrial capitalism, the actual lines of the civil war, was brilliant, prescient, and right.

I enjoyed reading this years ago and wish I hadn't read it yet, so I could have the joy of discovering it again!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars My review of The Narrative of William W. Brown, March 16, 2011

By 

Patrick - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Narrative of William W. Brown, A Fugitive Slave (Paperback)

This is a very good book and a quick read (less than 100 pages). I like learning as much as I can about the institution of African American slavery, and books such as this and the Narrative of Frederick Douglass (my favorite) gives the reader a much clearer and precise account of slavery. I would recommend this book for anyone wanting to broaden their knowledge of history, and wanting to learn how African Americans such as William Brown have contributed so much to this nation.