William Wells Brown 
Narrative of William W. Brown 
Written by Himself

The ‘Narrative of William W. Brown, a Fugitive Slave, Written by Himself’, is a memoir of William Wells Brown published in 1847, which became a bestseller across the United States, second only to Frederick Douglass’ slave narrative memoir. Born into slavery in Montgomery County, 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. He was a pioneer in several different literary genres, including travel writing, fiction, and drama. In his memoir, Brown critiques his master’s lack of Christian values and the customary brutal use of violence by owners in master-slave relations.

About the author

William Wells Brown (c. 1814-1884) was a prominent African-American abolitionist lecturer, novelist, playwright, and historian in the United States. 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. 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.