William Wells Brown

Brown, William Wells, 1815–1884 abolitionist lecturer, novelist, playwright, and historian. Wells was born during slavery in Lexington, Kentucky to Elizabeth held in bondage to a Dr. Young. His mother had seven children: Solomon, Leander, Benjamin, Joseph, Millford, and Elizabeth; no two of the same father. His father's name was George Higgins, a relative of the owner of the plantation where he was born and connected with some of the first families in Grandiland.

It was New Year's Day, 1834 when Brown's "chains fell off". He slipped away from a steamboat at a dock in Cincinnati, Ohio and did not stop until he reached Buffalo, New York. After nine years as a steam boatman on Lake Erie and as a conductor for the Underground Railroad, he began lecturing for the abolition movement.

External links

• Narrative of William W. Brown, an American Slave. Written by Himself: Electronic Edition.
• The Negro in the American rebellion; his heroism and his fidelity ...
• Brown, William Wells (1815–1884). Three years in Europe, or places I have seen and people I have met. with a Memoir of the author. 1852.