Black Abolitionist Archive

Title: William Wells Brown

Speaker or author: Brown, William Wells, 1814?-1884

Newspaper or publication: Anti-Slavery Advocate

Anecdoatal speech regarding the speaker's encounter with the Reverend Dr. Richard Fuller, a slaveholding minister from South Carolina. The speaker emphasized the kindness and courtesy he had received from Dr. and Mrs. Fuller during his visit. (Includes MP3 audio file.)

Description of file(s): PDF 2 page, 609 word document (text and images)

Title: William Wells Brown

Speaker or author: Brown, William Wells, 1814?-1884

Newspaper or publication: Anti-Slavery Bugle

Speech regarding the influence of religion and the Church in the continuation of slavery. The speaker noted that "The teaching of religion has always favored slavery," and he noted two theologians who had publicly taught that "...God ordained the institution (of slavery)."

Description of file(s): PDF 3 page, 859 word document (text and images)

Title: William Wells Brown

Speaker or author: Brown, William Wells, 1814?-1884

Newspaper or publication: Anti-Slavery Bugle

The speaker addressed the issues of slave trading and "slave raising," and stressed that the acceptance of these had been passed down from generation to generation. As a mulatto, he believed he offered a type of bridge between races. He related a story of the kindness shown to him in Massachusetts that he hadn't known before, but stressed that this bit of kindness had not stopped him from working to end slavery.

Description of file(s): PDF 3 page, 878 word document (text and images)

Title: William Wells Brown

Speaker or author: Brown, William Wells, 1814?-1884

Newspaper or publication: Anti-Slavery Bugle

The speaker emphasized the prejudice that had come about as a result of slavery. He noted that the prejudice of the times was based on race, not color, and this related directly to slavery, not appearance.

Description of file(s): PDF 2 page, 353 word document (text and images)

Title: William Wells Brown

Speaker or author: Brown, William Wells, 1814?-1884

Newspaper or publication: Anti-Slavery Bugle

The speaker asked for all present to agree that the government had become a conspiracy against freedom. He read an excerpt from a southern newspaper demonstrating the fear of emancipated slaves that the southern states held, and that they used to continue slavery there. He expressed that recent government legislation was compelling those who were fighting for emancipation to take a more radical approach.

Description of file(s): PDF 5 page, 1,438 word document (text and images)

Title: William Wells Brown

Speaker or author: Brown, William Wells, 1814?-1884

Newspaper or publication: Bristol Mercury

Anecdotal speech given before a meeting on American slavery held in Bristol, England. The speaker recounted his own escape to freedom and stories of others who had done the same. He spoke of the horrors and injustices of slavery, and stressed the importance of the support of the British people in the abolition of slavery in the U.S.

Description of file(s): PDF 5 page, 1,626 word document (text and images)

Title: William Wells Brown

Speaker or author: Brown, William Wells, 1814?-1884

Newspaper or publication: Bristol Times

Anecdotal speech given before a meeting on American slavery held in Bristol, England. The speaker recounted stories from his life and the lives of others who had experienced the cruelties of slavery. He spoke of the injustices of slavery, and stressed the importance of the support of the British people in the abolition of slavery in the U.S. (Includes MP3 audio file.)

Description of file(s): PDF 3 page, 995 word document (text and images)

Title: Henry Box Brown

Speaker or author: Brown, Henry Box, b. 1816

Newspaper or publication: Emancipator

Narrative regarding one man's daring escape from slavery by having himself shipped in a crate from Richmond, Virginia, to Philadelphia and freedom.

Description of file(s): PDF 4 page, 933 word document (text and images)

Title: William Wells Brown

Speaker or author: Brown, William Wells, 1814?-1884

Newspaper or publication: Frederick Douglass' Paper

Speech denouncing the Fugitive Slave Bill, and praising the work of the American Anti-Slavery Society in its efforts to end slavery.

Description of file(s): PDF 3 page, 794 word document (text and images)

Title: William Wells Brown

Speaker or author: Brown, William Wells, 1814?-1884

Newspaper or publication: Gateshead Observer

Brief overview of speech regarding the history of slavery from its introduction to the current anti-slavery movement.

Description of file(s): PDF 1 page, 260 word document (text and image)

Title: William Wells Brown

Speaker or author: Brown, William Wells, 1814?-1884

Newspaper or publication: Inquirer

Speech given during a farewell soiree for William Wells Brown on his departure from England. He discussed the fugitive slave laws in the U.S., along with the general injustice of the existence of slavery in a country founded on freedom.

Description of file(s): PDF 1 page, 142 word document (text and image)

Title: William Wells Brown

Speaker or author: Brown, William Wells, 1814?-1884

Newspaper or publication: Inquirer

Brief speech denouncing the effects of the Fugitive Slave Bill. (Includes MP3 audio file.)

Description of file(s): PDF 1 page, 104 word document (text and image)

Title: William Wells Brown

Speaker or author: Brown, William Wells, 1814?-1884

Newspaper or publication: Liberator

Speech describing the speaker's flight from slavery and the abolitionists who helped him along the way. (Includes MP3 audio file.)

Description of file(s): PDF 2 page, 471 word document (text and images)

Title: William Wells Brown

Speaker or author: Brown, William Wells, 1814?-1884

Newspaper or publication: Liberator

Speech regarding England's contribution to the institution of slavery in the U.S. The speaker emphasized the irony of continued slavery even after the slave trade had been outlawed. He noted that some slaveholders inherited slaves from their parents, and continued using "domestic" slave labor even though it was against the law to bring more slaves into the country. England was blamed for starting it, but the U.S. had to be held accountable for continuing this practice.

Description of file(s): PDF 7 page, 2,001 word document (text and images)

Title: William Wells Brown

Speaker or author: Brown, William Wells, 1814?-1884

Newspaper or publication: Liberator

Brief farewell speech given prior to the speaker's departure for the World Peace Convention in Paris. The speaker assured the audience that the World Peace Convention would hasten the complete abolition of slavery. (Includes MP3 audio file.)

Description of file(s): PDF 2 page, 408 word document (text and images)

Title: William Wells Brown

Speaker or author: Brown, William Wells, 1814?-1884

Newspaper or publication: Liberator

Speech delivered before a large meeting in London regarding the status of the anti-slavery movement in the U. S. The speaker was responding to another speaker who insisted that the free people of color living in the eastern states had a better life than those enslaved in the south.

Description of file(s): PDF 6 page, 1,788 word document (text and images)

Title: William Wells Brown

Speaker or author: Brown, William Wells, 1814?-1884

Newspaper or publication: Liberator

Overview of speech delivered in London regarding the political condition of the question of slavery in the U.S. The speaker condemned the recent political actions of Daniel Webster and emphasized that life without liberty is not worth living.

Description of file(s): PDF 2 page, 565 word document (text and images)

Title: William Wells Brown

Speaker or author: Brown, William Wells, 1814?-1884

Newspaper or publication: Liberator

Speech denouncing the Fugitive Slave Bill emphasizing the penalities placed on those who help fugitive slaves and, the cruelties the bill allows to be placed on those who are captured using it.

Description of file(s): PDF 3 page, 656 word document (text and images)

Title: William Wells Brown

Speaker or author: Brown, William Wells, 1814?-1884

Newspaper or publication: Liberator

Speech denouncing the Fugitive Slave Bill. The speaker, however, did see that the negative response stirred up by this legislation would result in a renewed strength and resolve among people of all races for the abolition of slavery. (Includes MP3 audio file.)

Description of file(s): PDF 2 page, 475 word document (text and images)

Title: William Wells Brown

Speaker or author: Brown, William Wells, 1814?-1884

Newspaper or publication: Liberator

Overview of a brief speech dwelling mostly on the effects of prejudice towards the people of color in the northern states. (Includes MP3 audio file.)

Description of file(s): PDF 1 page, 169 word document (text and image)