BROWN, WILLIAM WELLS


Meaning of BROWN, WILLIAM WELLS in English

born 1814?, near Lexington, Ky., U.S.

died Nov. 6, 1884, Chelsea, Mass.

U.S. writer.

Born into slavery, Brown escaped and educated himself, settling in the Boston area. He wrote a popular autobiography, Narrative of William W. Brown, A Fugitive Slave (1847), and lectured on abolitionism and temperance reform. Clotel (1853), his only novel, concerning the descendants of Thomas Jefferson and a slave, was the first novel ever published by an African American. His only play, The Escape (1858), is about two slaves who secretly marry.

Britannica Concise Encyclopedia.      Краткая энциклопедия Британика.