Henry Box Brown - From Slavery to Show Business

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.

List of contents

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

A Note on the Name

Preface

Prologue

Act 1: Liberty

Scene 1: A New Land, a New Life

Scene 2: Wolverhampton, 1852

Scene 3: New Directions

Act 2: Partnership

Scene 4: Love in the West Country

Scene 5: More New Directions

Act 3: Magic

Scene 6: Goodbye to Enslavement

Scene 7: A Home in Manchester

Epilogue

Appendix: Timeline of Henry Box Brown's Life

Notes

Bibliography

Index

About the author

Kathleen Chater is an independent scholar. She has written numerous books, articles and reviews on a wide range of historical topics. She lives in London.

Product details

• Authors: Kathleen Chater, Chater Kathleen
• Publisher: Ingram Publishers Services
• Languages: English
• Age Recommendation: from age 18
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 31.08.2020
• EAN: 9781476679228
• ISBN: 978-1-4766-7922-8
• No. of pages: 267
• Dimensions: 152 mm x 229 mm x 14 mm
• Weight: 345 g
• Illustrations: Raster,schwarz-weiss
• Subjects: Non-fiction book > History > Miscellaneous; USA, Modern history to 20th century: c 1700 to c 1900, European History, BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / General, Biography: historical, political & military, HISTORY / Europe / Great Britain / Victorian Era (1837-1901), Biography: arts & entertainment, British & Irish history, United Kingdom, Great Britain, United States of America, USA, History of the Americas, Slavery & abolition of slavery, Biography: arts and entertainment, Biography: historical, political and military, Conjuring & Magic, Conjuring and magic, HISTORY / African American & Black, Slavery, enslaved persons and abolition of slavery