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. November 6 is the 310th day of the year (311th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 55 days remaining. ... 1814 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... November 6 is the 310th day of the year (311th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 55 days remaining. ... 1884 (MDCCCLXXXIV) is a leap year starting on Tuesday (click on link to calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a leap year starting on Thursday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar). ... This article is about the abolition of slavery. ... Lecturer is the name given to university teachers in most of the English-speaking world (but not at most universities in the U.S. or Canada) who do not hold a professorship. ... A novel is an extended work of written, narrative, prose fiction, usually in story form; the writer of a novel is a novelist. ... Template:Unsourced A playwright, also known as a dramatist, is someone who writes dramatic literature or drama. ... An historian is someone who writes history, a written accounting of the past. ... The Buxton Memorial Fountain, celebrating the emancipation of slaves in the British Empire in 1834, London. ... Historic Southern United States. ... An African American (also Afro-American, Black American, or simply black) is a member of an ethnic group in the United States whose ancestors, usually in predominant part, were indigenous to Africa. ...

Biography

Brown was born into slavery near Lexington, Kentucky. His mother, Elizabeth, was owned by Dr. Young and had seven children by different fathers (In addition to Brown, her children were Solomon, Leander, Benjamin, Joseph, Millford, and Elizabeth). Brown's father was George Higgins, a white plantation owner and relative of the owner of the plantation where Brown was born. Nickname: Athens of the West Horse Capital of the World Location in the Commonwealth of Kentucky Coordinates: Country United States State Kentucky Counties Fayette  - Mayor Jim Newberry (D) Area    - City 739. ... Official language(s) English[1] Capital Frankfort Largest city Louisville Area  Ranked 37th  - Total 40,444 sq mi (104,749 km²)  - Width 140 miles (225 km)  - Length 379 miles (610 km)  - % water 1. ...

Brown was owned by several slave masters until, on New Year's Day in 1834, he slipped away from a steamboat at a dock in Cincinnati, Ohio. He adopted the name of a Quaker friend of his, obtain his freedom. After nine years 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), Brown began lecturing for the abolition movement in New York City. Nickname: The Queen City Location in Hamilton County, Ohio, USA Coordinates: Country United States State Ohio County Hamilton Founded 1788 Incorporated 1802 (village) - 1819 (city) Government type Strong mayor  - Mayor Mark L. Mallory (D) Area    - City  79. ... Official language(s) None Capital Columbus Largest city Columbus Largest metro area Cleveland Area  Ranked 34th  - Total 44,825 sq mi (116,096 km²)  - Width 220 miles (355 km)  - Length 220 miles (355 km)  - % water 8. ... The Religious Society of Friends, commonly known as Quakers, or Friends, is a religious community founded in England in the 17th century. ... This does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Lake Erie (pronounced ) is the eleventh largest lake on Earth[2] and, of the five Great Lakes of North America, it is the fourth largest by surface area, the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume. ... Abolition is the act of formally destroying something through legal means, either by making it illegal, or simply no longer allowing it to exist in any form. ... Nickname: Big Apple, Gotham, NYC, City That Never Sleeps, The Concrete Jungle, The City So Nice They Named It Twice Location in the state of New York Coordinates: Country United States State New York Boroughs The Bronx Brooklyn Manhattan Queens Staten Island Settled 1676 Government  - Mayor Michael Bloomberg (R) Area...

Abolition orator and writer

With a reputation as one of the abolition movement's best speakers, Brown was soon hired by the American Anti-Slavery Society, where he worked closely with William Lloyd Garrison and Wendell Phillips. After settling in Boston, Brown published his autobiography, Narrative of William W. Brown, a Fugitive Slave (1847). He then lectured on slavery and the temperance movement in Europe, which he wrote about in his travel memoir Three Years in Europe (1852). The American Anti-Slavery Society (1833-1870) was founded by William Lloyd Garrison and Arthur Tappan. ... William Lloyd Garrison William Lloyd Garrison (December 12, 1805–May 24, 1879) was a prominent United States abolitionist, journalist, and social reformer. ... Wendell Phillips Wendell Phillips (29 November 1811 – 2 February 1884) was an American abolitionist, advocate for Native Americans, and orator. ... Nickname: City on the Hill, Beantown, Athens of America, The Hub (of the Universe)1 Location in Massachusetts, USA Counties Suffolk County  - Mayor Thomas M. Menino (D) Area    - City  89. ... A cartoon from Australia ca. ...

Brown's literary works

In 1853 Brown published Clotel; or, The President's Daughter, a novel based on what was at that time considered to be a rumor about Thomas Jefferson fathering a daughter with his slave Sally Hemings. Historians consider this the first novel written by an African American. However, because the novel was published in England, the book is not the first African-American novel published in the United States. This credit goes to one of two disputed books: Harriet Wilson's Our Nig (1859), brought to light by Henry Louis Gates Jr. in 1982; or Julia C. Collins' The Curse of Caste; or The Slave Bride (1865), brought to light by William L. Andrews, an English literature professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Mitch Kachun, a history professor at Western Michigan University, in 2006. Andrews and Kachun document Our Nig as a novelized autobiography, and argue that The Curse of Caste is the first fully fictional novel by an African-American to be published in the U.S.^[1]. Clotel; or, The Presidents Daughter is a novel by William Wells Brown (1815-84), a fugitive from slavery and abolitionist and was published in London, England in December 1853. ... This article is becoming very long. ... Sally Hemings (Shadwell, Albemarle County, Virginia, circa 1773 or 1773 – Charlottesville, Virginia, 1835) was a quadroon slave owned by Thomas Jefferson. ... An African American (also Afro-American, Black American, or simply black) is a member of an ethnic group in the United States whose ancestors, usually in predominant part, were indigenous to Africa. ... Harriet E. Wilson (1829?–1863?)was the first female African-American novelist. ... Henry Louis Gates Jr. ... The term English literature refers to literature written in the English language, including literature composed in English by writers not necessarily from England; Joseph Conrad was Polish, Robert Burns was Scottish, James Joyce was Irish, Dylan Thomas was Welsh, Edgar Allan Poe was American, Salman Rushdie is Indian, V.S... The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is a public, coeducational, research university located in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States. ... History studies the past in human terms. ... Western Michigan University (abbr. ...

However, most scholars agree that Brown is the first published African-American playwright. Brown wrote two plays, The Experience; or, How to Give a Northern Man a Backbone (1856, unpublished and no longer extant) and The Escape; or, A Leap for Freedom (published 1858), which he read aloud at abolitionist meetings in lieu of the typical lecture.

Brown also wrote several historical works, including The Black Man: His Antecedents, His Genius, and His Achievements (1863), The Negro in the American Revolution (1867), The Rising Son (1873), and another volume of autobiography, My Southern Home (1880).

Brown died in Chelsea, Massachusetts. Chelsea City Hall The City of Chelsea is located in Suffolk County, Massachusetts directly across the Mystic River from the City of Boston. ...

See also

• African American literature
• List of African American firsts

The Color Purple by Alice Walker African American literature is literature written by, about, and sometimes specifically for African Americans. ... United States citizens of African descent, African Americans, make up a demographic minority of a national population composed primarily of those of European-Caucasian ancestry. ...

Footnotes

References

• 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.
• Works by William Wells Brown at Project Gutenberg
• African American Registry
• William Wells Brown citation search in Wright American Fiction, 1851-1875
• CLOTEL by William Wells Brown: An Electronic Scholarly Edition edited by Professor Christopher Mulvey
• The Louverture Project: William Wells Brown on Jean-Jacques Dessalines - Excerpt from The Black Man, His Antecedents, His Genius, and His Achievements.