William Wells Brown

A Kentucky beginning and a self-made life

William Wells Brown was born into slavery in Kentucky around 1814. As a young man he was taken through Missouri river towns and hired into work that exposed him to the brutal machinery of the domestic slave trade. He escaped to freedom in 1834 and soon became a powerful antislavery lecturer.

Brown’s life joined action with intellect. He assisted people seeking freedom, spoke before audiences in the United States and Europe, studied medicine and wrote across nearly every major form available to a nineteenth-century public figure.

A first in American letters

His 1847 narrative became an influential firsthand account of slavery. In 1853 he published Clotel; or, The President’s Daughter, widely recognized as the first novel published by an African American. His play The Escape; or, A Leap for Freedom made him a foundational figure in African American drama. He also wrote history, travel, biography and medicine.

Those achievements make Brown more than a witness to his century. He helped create a national literature in which Black Americans claimed the authority to tell their own stories, document their history and imagine a freer country.

“How I Got My Name”

After escaping, Brown received help from the Ohio Quaker Wells Brown. In gratitude, he joined his benefactor’s surname with his own name, William. The title of the Chautauqua program uses that personal moment to open a larger story about identity, liberty, education and the power of choosing how the world will know you.

Virgil Covington Jr. as William Wells Brown

Actor and historical interpreter Virgil Covington Jr. portrays Brown for Kentucky Chautauqua. The performance brings together Brown’s wit, determination and vast accomplishments, followed by an audience conversation about the man and his times.

Explore further: Kentucky Humanities Chautauqua · Program description