William Wells Brown, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death

    

William Wells Brown

African-American abolitionist lecturer, novelist, playwright, and historian

Date of Birth: 06-Nov-1814

Place of Birth: Lexington, Kentucky, United States

Date of Death: 06-Nov-1884

Profession: writer, historian, novelist

Nationality: United States

Zodiac Sign: Scorpio


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About William Wells Brown

  • William Wells Brown (c.
  • 1814 – November 6, 1884) was a prominent African-American abolitionist lecturer, novelist, playwright, and historian in the United States.
  • Born into slavery in Montgomery County, Kentucky, near the town of Mount Sterling, Brown escaped to Ohio in 1834 at the age of 19.
  • He settled in Boston, Massachusetts, where he worked for abolitionist causes and became a prolific writer.
  • While working for abolition, Brown also supported causes including: temperance, women's suffrage, pacifism, prison reform, and an anti-tobacco movement.
  • His novel Clotel (1853), considered the first novel written by an African American, was published in London, England, where he resided at the time; it was later published in the United States. Brown was a pioneer in several different literary genres, including travel writing, fiction, and drama.
  • In 1858 he became the first published African-American playwright, and often read from this work on the lecture circuit.
  • Following the Civil War, in 1867 he published what is considered the first history of African Americans in the Revolutionary War.
  • He was among the first writers inducted to the Kentucky Writers Hall of Fame, established in 2013.
  • A public school was named for him in Lexington, Kentucky. Brown was lecturing in England when the 1850 Fugitive Slave Law was passed in the US; as its provisions increased the risk of capture and re-enslavement, he stayed overseas for several years.
  • He traveled throughout Europe.
  • After his freedom was purchased in 1854 by a British couple, he and his two daughters returned to the US, where he rejoined the abolitionist lecture circuit in the North.
  • A contemporary of Frederick Douglass, Brown was overshadowed by the charismatic orator and the two feuded publicly.

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