September 1, 1848
A letter to Garrison, from Benjamin F. Hathaway tells of a mob which attacked an anti-slavery meeting. Among the speakers listed: Parker Pillsbury, S.S. Foster, Lucy Stone, and W.W. Brown.
The writer recounts “.. a scene such as I was unwilling to believe human beings, wearing the human form, capable of perpetrating, until convinced by ocular demonstration. Cries of ‘Haul them out’, ‘Down with them,’ ‘Tar and feather him’, ‘Ride him on a rail’,. ‘Pass out that nigger’ with other choice selections from their vocabulary, were preliminaries….”
October 20, 1848
Here it is announced that there is a third edition of Brown’s narrative of his life, with a new preface, containing a letter from Enoch Price, the man who claimed to be the owner of Brown. In the letter Price says that he had paid for $650 for Brown, and now offers to grant him free papers, if Brown or his friends will pay his agent, in Boston, $325. Brown responds, saying in part: “..I cannot accept of Mr. Price’s offer to become a purchaser of my body and soul. God made me as free as he did Enoch Price, and Mr. Price shall never receive a dollar from me, or my friends, with my consent.”
January 12, 1849
William Wells Brown writes to Garrison, telling of the escape of the Crafts, Ellen, 22, William, 24 years of age. “They are now hid away, within 22 miles of Philadelphia, where they will remain until the 6th, when they will leave with me for New England.” Then Brown lists four days when he will lecture about the escape, in Norwich, Ct., in Worcester, Pawtucket, and New Bedford.
July 13, 1849
Notice that, on July 16, under the auspices of the colored citizens of Boston, there will be a presentation of a pitcher to Garrison, after which there will be a farewell to William W. Brown, who is leaving for Europe. The committee of arrangements includes Hilton, Weeden, Morris, Nell, Elizabeth Riley. Event will be at Washingtonian Hall, Bromfield St.
November 2, 1849
The letter to Garrison, is written from London, October 12, and, in part, tells the story of one encounter on board the ship going to England. There were four or five slaveholders on board, among them Judge Chinn, a Louisiana slaveholder, on his way to occupy his post as Consul to Naples. “This Judge Chinn had with him a free colored man as servant, and I was somewhat anxious to know what kind of protection he was to receive in traveling in this country, for you will recollect that I made application to the Hon. John M. Clayton, before leaving America, for a passport, which was refused me. So, upon inquiring of his servant, he showed me his passport, which proved to be nothing less than a regular passport from the hand of the Secretary of State. ……This proves conclusively, that if a colored person wishes the protection of the U. S. government in going into any foreign country, he must not think of going in any other capacity than that of a boot-black. The act of the government , in denying to its colored citizens the same protection that it extends to the whites, is more cowardly, and mean, if possible, than any act committed for years. But it is entirely in keeping with American republicanism…”
December 14, 1849
Writing from London, Nov 23, 1849, Brown addresses his former master, Capt. Enoch Price, of St. Louis, Mo. His closing paragraph includes: “I will not yield to you in affection for America, but I hate her institution of slavery. I love her, because I am identified with her enslaved millions by every tie that should bind man to his fellow-man. The United States has disfranchised me, and declared that I am not a citizen, but a chattel: her Constitution dooms me to be your slave. But while I feel grieved that I am alienated and driven from my own country, I rejoice that, in this land, I am regarded as a man. I am in England, what I can never be in America, while slavery exists there. Sir, you may not be pleased with me for speaking to you in so plain a manner; but in this I have only done my duty. See that you do yours!.”
December 17, 1852
A large meeting of the Glasgow Emancipation Society has given a testimony of “gratitude and approbation” to Mrs. Stowe. Notable among the people on the platform was William Wells Brown.
May 26, 1854
Notice that friends of Brown in England have “kindly contributed the amount necessary to secure his ransom from bondage, so that he can return to his native land without being subjected to the terrible liability of being seized as a fugitive.
December 26, 1856
A notice that Brown will be on his way soon to western New York, and Ohio, “to deliver his inimitable Drama, ‘How to Give a Northern Man a Backbone’ He deserves crowded houses.”
June 3, 1859
The Convention is to be held in Boston on the lst of August. Its purpose is to consider the Moral, Social and Political Elevation of colored citizens; it will pursue suffrage rights, now granted for colored citizens in only five of the Eastern states. The call invites brethren from other than New England states to attend the Convention also. Key signers include William Cooper Nell, Lewis Hayden, William Wells Brown, and John J. Smith.
