The Unboxing of Henry Brown

The Unboxing of Henry Brown

Jeffrey Ruggles

248 pages, with 85 black–and–white illustrations.

2003. ISBN 0-88490-200-5 (Cloth) $25.00

The Unboxing of Henry Brown documents the amazing life of Henry Box Brown, the daring fugitive who shipped himself out of slavery in a sealed box. Based on more than a decade of research in the United States and England, author Jeffrey Ruggles’s book tells the dramatic but true story of Brown, an industrial slave in Virginia, an abolitionist activist in New England, and a performer for a quarter-century on the English stage. Ruggles not only provides the most detailed account of the escape story yet published but also tells of Brown's development as a showman while exhibiting his painted panorama, The Mirror of Slavery. Just as Brown used imagery to recount the realities of American slavery, The Unboxing of Henry Brown features a rich collection of images related to his life, his published slave narrative, and his performances—many presented for the first time.

"Ruggles's book is straightforward and effective, the book is lavishly illustrated, and his research is extensive. . . . The Unboxing of Henry Brown should interest academic historians and anyone eager to put a human face on the antislavery story."—Ann Field Alexander, Virginia Magazine of History and Biography  

"The Unboxing of Henry Brown is a fascinating account that should be read by anyone interested in the antislavery movement."—Douglas R. Egerton, Journal of the Early Republic