William Wells Brown

Who was William Wells Brown?

William Wells Brown was a prominent African-American abolitionist lecturer, novelist, playwright, and historian. Born into slavery in Lexington, Kentucky, Brown escaped to the North in 1834, where he worked for abolitionist causes and was a prolific writer. His novel Clotel is considered the first novel written by an African American; it was published in London, where he was living at the time. Brown was a pioneer in several different literary genres, including travel writing, fiction, and drama. He has a school named after him in Lexington, and was among the first writers inducted to the Kentucky Writers Hall of Fame.

Brown was lecturing in England when the 1850 Fugitive Slave Law was passed in the US; he stayed overseas for several years to avoid the risk of capture and re-enslavement. After his freedom was purchased in 1854 by a British couple, he and his two daughters returned to the US. He rejoined the abolitionist lecture circuit. A contemporary of Frederick Douglass, Wells Brown was overshadowed by the charismatic orator and the two feuded publicly.