William Wells Brown
Personal Information
Description
William Wells Brown (November 6, 1814 – November 6, 1884) was an American abolitionist, novelist, playwright, and historian. Born into slavery near Mount Sterling, Kentucky, 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. -Wikipedia
Books
Narrative of William W. Brown
Narrative of the author's experiences as a slave in St. Louis and elsewhere.
Clotel
The first African American novel, Clotel was published when its author was still legally a slave. This digital edition presents, for the first time together, the full extant texts of the novel's four versions, published between 1853 and 1867. Imaged and coded, the fully searchable texts may be read individually or in parallel and are accompanied by generous biographical, critical, and historical commentary as well as line-by-line annotations and textual collation.
Three Classic African-American Novels
From fugitive slave to free man
William Wells Brown spent the first twenty years of his life mainly in St. Louis and the surrounding areas working as a house servant, field hand, a tavern keeper's assistant, a printer's helper, an assistant in a medical office, and a handyman for James Walker, a Missouri slave trader. During his time with Walker, Brown made three trips up and down the Mississippi River. These trips allowed him to encounter slavery from every perspective and provided experiences he would draw on throughout his writing career.
The travels of William Wells Brown, including The narrative of William Wells Brown, a fugitive slave, and The American fugitive in Europe, sketches of places and people abroad
Clotel & other writings
Includes memoirs, travel writings, fiction, and history.