Born enslaved near Lexington, KY, to a slave mother and a slaveholding father, William grew up near St. Louis, MO. Although he was allowed to travel on business for his owner, he hated the idea that he “belonged” to someone else. On New Year’s Day, 1834, he made his break for freedom. He took for himself the name of Wells Brown, the Ohio Quaker who helped him escape to Canada.

Brown worked as a boatman on Lake Erie and a conductor for the Underground Railroad in Buffalo, NY. He lectured against slavery and starting writing about his experiences in Narrative of William W. Brown, A Fugitive Slave, Written by Himself. The book was second in popularity only to the narrative of Frederick Douglass. In addition to a play and numerous historical works, Brown also wrote a novel, “Clotel,” in 1853, about the daughters and granddaughters of President Thomas Jefferson.

“The friends of slaves, the abolitionists, knew I would transport the fugitives free of charge and they never failed to have a group waiting for me when the boat came back to Cleveland. I sometimes had four or five escaping slaves on board at one time. I did this for nine years. In 1842, I helped 69 fugitives across Lake Erie and saw them safely on the soil of Canada.”