Description
Book Synopsis Henry Box Brown is well known in America for escaping slavery by being packed in a box and mailed from Virginia to Philadelphia. The passing of the Fugitive Slave Act in 1850 made it unsafe for Brown to remain in America. He relocated to England where he had a very successful career, initially as a speaker on abolitionism before he began speaking on other subjects and then branched out into other forms of entertainment, including magic. He married Jane Floyd, who, with their children, appeared in his acts.
This book concentrates on the relatively unknown period of his life in Britain, detailing both how he was received and how he developed as a performer. It is the biography of a brave, intelligent individualist who was always willing to learn and to take chances, becoming the first black man to achieve landmarks in British law and entertainment.
Table of Contents
- Acknowledgments v
- A Note on the Name vi
- Preface 1
- Prologue 9
- Act 1: Liberty 31
- Scene 1: A New Land, a New Life 31
- Scene 2: Wolverhampton, 1852 59
- Scene 3: New Directions 80
- Act 2: Partnership 95
- Scene 4: Love in the West Country 95
- Scene 5: More New Directions 111
- Act 3: Magic 145
- Scene 6: Goodbye to Enslavement 145
- Scene 7: A Home in Manchester 172
- Epilogue 185
- Appendix: Timeline of Henry Box Brown's Life 201
- Notes 229
- Bibliography 249
- Index 255
