Aug. 18, 2025

Fire to the Fuel: Henry Box Brown

The wooden box seemed impossibly small – just three feet long, two feet eight inches deep, and two feet wide. But for Henry Brown, it represented something far more significant than its dimensions: the path to freedom.

In March 1849, Brown made the desperate decision to mail himself from slavery in Richmond, Virginia to liberty in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His extraordinary gamble came after suffering the greatest loss imaginable – watching helplessly as his wife Nancy and their three children were sold away to a Methodist minister, marched off in chains never to be seen again. "I followed them with aching heart," Brown later wrote, "but they gave me no word, no glance, though I saw the tears falling from my wife's face like rain."

With nothing left to lose, Brown and two accomplices – a free Black dentist and a white shoemaker with abolitionist sympathies – crafted an audacious escape plan. Shipping himself as "dry goods" with just three air holes and a bladder of water, Brown endured a harrowing 27-hour journey. Despite "THIS SIDE UP" markings, careless handlers repeatedly positioned the box upside down, forcing Brown to endure excruciating periods with his full weight pressing on his neck and head. At several points, he nearly died from the position, once losing consciousness completely.

When abolitionists finally opened the box in Philadelphia, they found Brown alive but exhausted. His successful escape transformed him into "Henry Box Brown," a celebrity in abolitionist circles who published a memoir and spoke publicly about his experiences. Yet his story contains troubling contradictions – while he gained personal freedom, he never attempted to locate or rescue his family. Instead, when the strengthened Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 made America more dangerous for escaped slaves, Brown fled to England, where he spent 25 years as a performer, marrying an English woman and starting a new family.

Brown's wooden crate stands as a powerful symbol of both the desperate measures enslaved people would take to secure freedom and the profound injustice of a system that made such measures necessary. What would you sacrifice for liberty? And once free, what obligations remain to those left behind? Subscribe now to explore more extraordinary stories that challenge our understanding of history and human nature.

Send us a text

Support the show

This website contains affiliate links. This means that if you click on a link and purchase a product, I may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. This helps support the running of this website and allows me to continue providing valuable content. Please note that I only recommend products and services that I believe in and have personally used or researched.

00:16 - Introduction to History Buffoons

00:59 - Frankie's Health Troubles

04:39 - Setting the Scene: America in 1840

11:50 - Henry Brown's Life in Slavery

16:35 - The Box Escape Plan

21:40 - 27 Hours in Transit

33:15 - Freedom and Celebrity

43:20 - Brown's Later Life and Legacy

55:31 - Closing Thoughts and Sign-Off

WEBVTT

00:00:16.131 --> 00:00:23.096
oh, hey there oh, hey there I'm kate I'm bradley and this is History, buffoons.

00:00:23.297 --> 00:00:25.018
The History Buffoons.

00:00:25.981 --> 00:00:31.332
And I am having a Sprite today because bubbles, bubbles.

00:00:31.873 --> 00:00:43.576
Yes, I am having a Coors Banquet, which you may have recognized from our last episode, and the same shirt, hey, you said, be transparent.

00:00:43.576 --> 00:00:49.463
The same shirt, hey, you said be transparent.

00:00:49.482 --> 00:00:53.289
So we are, uh, recording two episodes on the same day, and that's okay, because life is busy, life is hectic.

00:00:53.369 --> 00:00:59.085
You know, I got kids, you got cats, and you know poor frankie I know um.

00:00:59.325 --> 00:01:02.228
So my oldest cat, frankie.

00:01:02.308 --> 00:01:08.444
He's 12, I think because again correct me if I'm wrong nathan had him before you met, right?

00:01:08.965 --> 00:01:11.469
I had him before I met nathan you did.

00:01:11.469 --> 00:01:13.033
Why did I think nathan had him?

00:01:13.072 --> 00:01:16.686
before you met I don't know okay frankie's mine um.

00:01:17.066 --> 00:01:20.073
I had him two years before I met nathan that's what it was.

00:01:20.260 --> 00:01:22.323
Okay, I just I flip-flopped who had him?

00:01:22.323 --> 00:01:22.864
I'm sorry.

00:01:23.846 --> 00:01:28.213
So he started losing hair on his belly months ago.

00:01:28.213 --> 00:01:31.665
And nobody was concerned.

00:01:32.147 --> 00:01:34.305
I was Well, because it wasn't normal.

00:01:34.305 --> 00:01:36.745
And you took him to the vet and was like no, he's all right yeah.

00:01:36.745 --> 00:01:42.287
Wow, that came from the depths.

00:01:42.287 --> 00:01:44.361
That's exactly what I was going to say.

00:01:44.361 --> 00:01:45.864
Wow, that came from the depth.

00:01:45.884 --> 00:01:51.891
That's exactly what I was going to say, but so he was taken to the vet a week and a half ago two weeks ago that sounds right from what you told me.

00:01:51.891 --> 00:01:54.073
And Bonnie too.

00:01:54.073 --> 00:01:55.615
Everyone's fine.

00:01:55.615 --> 00:02:01.793
They were just a checkup, but we're like, yeah, frankie is losing hair on his belly, a little bit in front of his ears.

00:02:02.174 --> 00:02:02.394
Yeah.

00:02:02.719 --> 00:02:04.021
And they're like well, let's recheck his blood.

00:02:04.021 --> 00:02:04.784
And for a little bit, in front of his ears, yeah.

00:02:04.784 --> 00:02:05.450
And they're like well, let's recheck his blood.

00:02:05.450 --> 00:02:07.015
And for a little bit he had some kidney problems.

00:02:07.015 --> 00:02:09.978
We got him on a kidney diet and now his kidneys are just fine.

00:02:10.038 --> 00:02:16.519
So we took him off the diet, which is great yeah and um, they tested his thyroid and they're.

00:02:16.679 --> 00:02:25.187
And because we told him we're like he's hungry all the time, he tries to eat everybody else every other cat's food yep and she's like well he's.

00:02:25.187 --> 00:02:32.550
He's lost like two pounds since the last time I saw him, and if he's that hungry, that shouldn't be the case.

00:02:32.550 --> 00:02:34.086
So let's test his thyroid.

00:02:34.086 --> 00:02:36.366
Yeah, now he's on thyroid medicine.

00:02:36.366 --> 00:02:39.427
Yeah, he's not super consistent with taking it.

00:02:39.427 --> 00:02:44.289
He does Okay, but, um, he's slowing down his eating.

00:02:44.651 --> 00:02:44.911
Yeah.

00:02:44.911 --> 00:02:58.675
Cats can be very fickle when it comes to pills, though, yeah, sometimes it's really hard to get him to take it and now he's losing hair on the side of his body and his legs and he's not like picking at his hair no, it's just going.

00:02:58.675 --> 00:02:59.475
He's going bald.

00:02:59.657 --> 00:03:08.343
Yeah, old age so, um, he had a follow-up appointment with bonnie already scheduled for this coming tuesday, which is the 12th.

00:03:08.343 --> 00:03:11.729
So by the time this air this comes out, it's gonna be passed.

00:03:11.729 --> 00:03:17.628
But right um, so I'll have to give you an update on frankie and what.

00:03:17.628 --> 00:03:18.411
What's going on?

00:03:18.591 --> 00:03:25.164
well, I'd certainly like to know, because frankie's my little buddy, because when we we record up at your place he's always like hey dude, yeah, hey dude, come pet me why haven't you pet me yet?

00:03:25.185 --> 00:03:27.412
yeah, he like he'll yell he's my little buddy, Cause when we we record up at your place, he's always like.

00:03:27.431 --> 00:03:27.932
Hey dude, yeah, come pet me.

00:03:27.932 --> 00:03:28.534
Why haven't you pet me yet?

00:03:28.534 --> 00:03:29.698
He'll yell at me when I walk in the door.

00:03:29.698 --> 00:03:34.308
It's like, don't worry, let me set the podcast podcast bag down and then I'll pet you.

00:03:34.308 --> 00:03:37.067
But he's, he's relentless until he gets his pets from.

00:03:41.710 --> 00:03:45.580
So yeah, he's, he's my favorite yeah, yeah, so we'll see what happens.

00:03:45.820 --> 00:03:51.564
I hope it's nothing and you know, I hope, if it is something, they can at least figure out what it is so they can help him.

00:03:51.564 --> 00:04:09.324
You know, whatever, but yeah, that's never fun, just like, or like you got wicked, who's super fucking skinny, but she is 19 yeah which is an old cat, you know, and she, she seems to be doing just fucking fine yeah, see, that's the thing, other than the hair loss.

00:04:09.885 --> 00:04:15.792
He was doing just fine up until like this week, and then he started like eating less yeah, which is weird especially for him.

00:04:15.792 --> 00:04:25.875
So, yeah, yeah, I hope he's okay okay me too we're gonna go from one depressing story to a depressing story that gets better.

00:04:26.420 --> 00:04:28.749
I hope so, because it's about slavery.

00:04:30.605 --> 00:04:31.249
Oh, Jesus Christ.

00:04:33.281 --> 00:04:35.348
What an uplifting topic.

00:04:35.348 --> 00:04:36.863
Let's get into it.

00:04:36.863 --> 00:04:37.968
Fucking A.

00:04:38.100 --> 00:04:39.346
Okay, I'm going to set the scene.

00:04:39.346 --> 00:04:42.220
We're in America in 1840.

00:04:42.220 --> 00:04:44.588
Similar to last episode.

00:04:45.500 --> 00:04:47.988
I mean, that's where it started Wow.

00:04:48.108 --> 00:04:51.170
Okay, the population is about 17 million people.

00:04:51.593 --> 00:04:53.298
In the States, mm-hmm Okay.

00:04:53.879 --> 00:04:56.629
About one in seven are enslaved.

00:04:56.629 --> 00:05:00.026
Wow, 2.5 million black slaves.

00:05:00.026 --> 00:05:00.949
That's crazy.

00:05:00.949 --> 00:05:05.309
Okay, the president at the time is Martin Van Buren.

00:05:05.309 --> 00:05:10.211
He was booted in the election by William Henry Harrison later that year.

00:05:10.211 --> 00:05:10.732
Okay.

00:05:10.732 --> 00:05:16.771
Jacksonian democracy was still influential.

00:05:16.771 --> 00:05:21.307
Remember Andrew Jackson Sure do Well, we haven't posted that story.

00:05:21.759 --> 00:05:23.887
So maybe don't talk about it, but I do, yes, remember Andrew Jackson.

00:05:23.887 --> 00:05:27.156
So maybe don't talk about it, but I do, yes, remember Andrew Jackson.

00:05:27.156 --> 00:05:29.901
He's on the $20 bill.

00:05:30.704 --> 00:05:34.110
The Jacksonian democracy, Andrew Jackson.

00:05:34.370 --> 00:05:38.201
Oh, do I have to edit that out now, that part?

00:05:38.201 --> 00:05:39.644
Yeah, All right then.

00:05:40.266 --> 00:05:41.447
Now you have to remove that part.

00:05:42.048 --> 00:05:43.571
No, I'm leaving this all fucking in.

00:05:43.571 --> 00:05:44.973
This is all staying.

00:05:45.434 --> 00:05:46.916
Okay for future reference.

00:05:46.916 --> 00:05:48.579
We have one story that we no, I'm leaving this all fucking in, this is all staying.

00:05:48.579 --> 00:05:52.069
Okay For future reference.

00:05:52.069 --> 00:05:53.677
We have one story that we're just kind of hanging on for like, oh shit, we need to put out an episode, yeah.

00:05:53.677 --> 00:05:55.218
And it has to do with Andrew Jackson.

00:05:56.403 --> 00:06:00.242
And it was a little on the shorter side and it wasn't done.

00:06:00.324 --> 00:06:01.386
Well on my part.

00:06:02.127 --> 00:06:04.293
I mean, I won't argue that Shut up, okay.

00:06:07.579 --> 00:06:09.384
So on, well, on my part, I mean, I won't argue that shut up.

00:06:09.384 --> 00:06:09.504
Okay.

00:06:09.504 --> 00:06:12.310
So with the jacksonian democracy, more white men could vote without property, right, okay.

00:06:12.310 --> 00:06:14.134
So, um, the economy was expanding.

00:06:14.134 --> 00:06:16.540
Cotton was a big thing in the south.

00:06:16.540 --> 00:06:18.882
It was booming, powered by slaves.

00:06:18.882 --> 00:06:24.488
The north was industrial, so textiles and railroads and factories.

00:06:24.488 --> 00:06:39.641
Westward expansion, new land, mostly stolen from indigenous people, you know, lots of economic opportunities, yeah.

00:06:39.641 --> 00:06:40.240
So that's where we're at.

00:06:40.240 --> 00:06:51.009
Okay, white men, they're free to vote, they are free to move about, they're free to own land and climb the ladder, if you will, free.

00:06:51.009 --> 00:06:54.632
Black people face discrimination.

00:06:54.632 --> 00:07:00.257
They couldn't vote in most states, often required to carry their own free papers.

00:07:00.257 --> 00:07:11.964
Enslaved people lived under brutal conditions with no rights, could be sold or punished at any moment.

00:07:11.964 --> 00:07:16.415
Indigenous people likely being removed and killed off or pushed into reservations.

00:07:17.036 --> 00:07:29.163
So lots of turmoil this really is an uplifting story I know I am on fucking cloud nine right now I know what the fuck okay.

00:07:29.865 --> 00:07:37.415
So by the late 1840s, american slavery was, like deeply entrenched in the south.

00:07:37.415 --> 00:07:38.259
We all know this.

00:07:38.259 --> 00:07:49.500
Yes, but there was a great abolitionist movement happening, yeah, okay, and enslaved people tried to flee to these free states.

00:07:49.500 --> 00:08:04.490
Yep, but there was such a thing called the fugitive slave act of 1793 I remember this yeah yeah, so it gave slaveholders the right to recover enslaved peoples who fled to free states.

00:08:04.891 --> 00:08:06.714
Because they were just technically property.

00:08:06.714 --> 00:08:12.470
Yes, it's like if you stole a car and hey, my car's over and whatever.

00:08:12.470 --> 00:08:12.750
Now.

00:08:12.971 --> 00:08:13.531
I'm going to go get it.

00:08:13.692 --> 00:08:14.394
I'm going to go get it back.

00:08:14.454 --> 00:08:18.690
Yeah, so it also allowed the slaveholders to go into their free states.

00:08:18.690 --> 00:08:21.658
To retrieve their property, to retrieve their property.

00:08:21.658 --> 00:08:28.064
Yeah, it required local judges and officials to help assist in returning fugitives.

00:08:28.064 --> 00:08:33.653
Wow, and it imposed a 500 fine on anyone who helped a runaway slave.

00:08:33.653 --> 00:08:41.926
Jesus, okay, that'd be a lot of money back then so some of the problems with that there's no trial, there's no jury trial, there's no due process.

00:08:41.946 --> 00:08:58.287
Of course, not many of the free black people were also kidnapped and re-enslaved see, that's horseshit northern states hated being forced to uphold this law can't blame so some of the states passed personal liberty laws.

00:08:58.287 --> 00:09:14.764
Okay, it is state laws that are designed to protect free black people and escaped enslaved people right from being captured and returned to slavery under the fugitive slaves act so they were just basically trying to curb that whole act.

00:09:14.845 --> 00:09:25.220
Yeah, they created their own, yeah so it guaranteed jury trials for alleged fugitive slaves okay, it required proper documentation proving someone was actually a slave right.

00:09:25.220 --> 00:09:30.470
Forbade state officials from helping capture runaways wow good.

00:09:30.470 --> 00:09:43.006
Um banned the use of state jails to hold fugitives right and punished false claims by slave catchers wow okay, yeah, so pretty good well, yeah, I mean they were trying to help.

00:09:43.248 --> 00:09:46.423
Yeah, because they didn't want the slave thing going on anymore.

00:09:46.423 --> 00:09:47.144
Anyway, no.

00:09:47.426 --> 00:09:48.489
So what did the south do?

00:09:48.489 --> 00:09:52.519
They were enraged, blast.

00:09:52.519 --> 00:09:59.003
These are violation of our constitutional rights, they argues.

00:09:59.003 --> 00:10:03.028
They made, they argued that they made slaveholder rights meaningless.

00:10:04.691 --> 00:10:07.235
Good, fuck your slaveholder rights.

00:10:09.341 --> 00:10:12.364
But it added fire to the fuel, fuel to the fire.

00:10:12.364 --> 00:10:12.947
There we go.

00:10:13.360 --> 00:10:15.644
I think the name of the episode is Fire to the Fuel.

00:10:15.644 --> 00:10:20.134
It's gotta be.

00:10:20.340 --> 00:10:23.370
It added to the start of the Civil War.

00:10:23.721 --> 00:10:24.730
Right, of course it did.

00:10:25.011 --> 00:10:28.784
Yes, right, of course it did yes, okay.

00:10:31.190 --> 00:10:32.172
She's just tapping a key.

00:10:32.172 --> 00:10:33.234
She's not really typing anything.

00:10:35.500 --> 00:10:37.063
She does that a lot to make her look smart.

00:10:37.083 --> 00:10:40.932
Okay, so in response to this law, yeah, you don't have to speak so fast, you're not catching up here.

00:10:42.419 --> 00:10:43.149
In response To this law.

00:10:43.190 --> 00:10:43.736
You're not catching up here.

00:10:43.736 --> 00:10:43.980
In response.

00:10:47.990 --> 00:10:48.452
To this law.

00:10:48.452 --> 00:10:59.673
Abolitionists and free black communities formed the Underground Railroad Secret networks to help fugitives reach free states in Canada.

00:10:59.673 --> 00:11:04.225
Why don't they call it Subways?

00:11:04.225 --> 00:11:05.269
Subways wasn't a thing yet.

00:11:06.720 --> 00:11:12.241
Could, have been so major I'm not talking about the sandwich shop I'm talking about.

00:11:12.241 --> 00:11:13.768
I know they have underground railroads.

00:11:13.768 --> 00:11:16.586
I had to make sure you knew that.

00:11:18.400 --> 00:11:19.424
Sub sandwich sounds good.

00:11:19.687 --> 00:11:21.784
Right, I'm kind of hungry now.

00:11:24.659 --> 00:11:34.748
Major Northern cities had, like these, vigilance, vigilante committees yeah secret groups that coordinated shelter, transportation and protection for escapees.

00:11:34.748 --> 00:11:52.255
Yeah, and for those escapees like henry brown henry brown henry brown was born as a slave around 1815 on a plantation in Louisa County, Virginia, Virginia.

00:11:52.255 --> 00:11:53.197
Yes, All right.

00:11:53.197 --> 00:12:00.833
His early life, in his words, was comparatively free from physical abuse.

00:12:00.833 --> 00:12:04.933
His last master even allowed decent food, clothing and some earnings.

00:12:04.933 --> 00:12:07.711
Oh, his last master even allowed decent food, clothing and some earnings.

00:12:07.711 --> 00:12:08.498
Oh, wow.

00:12:08.619 --> 00:12:10.447
Yeah, that's rare for those days yeah.

00:12:10.900 --> 00:12:25.894
So one of the clear signs that Henry box had a slightly less bubbles slightly less hellish experience than most slaves came from his fashion, actually.

00:12:27.059 --> 00:12:28.224
Do you have a nice hat?

00:12:28.283 --> 00:12:29.488
What yes?

00:12:29.488 --> 00:12:40.087
Oh so while delivering grain with his brother to a granary in a nearby County, the local slaves like stopped and like ooh and odd over these two men.

00:12:40.087 --> 00:12:43.931
The Brown brothers were wearing shoes oh, that had to be rare.

00:12:43.931 --> 00:12:45.224
They had vests.

00:12:45.224 --> 00:12:47.110
They had hats.

00:12:47.110 --> 00:12:48.162
They have a pocket watch.

00:12:48.162 --> 00:12:53.644
They'd never seen enslaved people wear these items before oh, I mean because they usually got fucking rags.

00:12:53.703 --> 00:13:00.945
Yeah, so yeah they actually had like a somewhat quote-unquote decent master, yeah you know.

00:13:00.945 --> 00:13:12.625
But when their first master was on his deathbed, the boys were summoned, okay, and they thought, as soon as he dies, we are free.

00:13:13.640 --> 00:13:15.565
They thought that they would be free.

00:13:15.586 --> 00:13:16.307
They thought that.

00:13:16.587 --> 00:13:17.370
Wow Are they wrong.

00:13:18.312 --> 00:13:21.206
Instead, the dying man said quote be good boys.

00:13:21.206 --> 00:13:23.572
Maybe not quote, but I'm saying it's quote.

00:13:23.572 --> 00:13:24.333
Wow, Be good boys.

00:13:24.333 --> 00:13:26.018
Maybe not quote, but I'm saying it's quote.

00:13:26.018 --> 00:13:29.009
Wow, Be good boys and obey my son.

00:13:30.320 --> 00:13:34.448
Yeah, because it's just getting passed on, because again, unfortunately at that time it's property.

00:13:34.448 --> 00:13:38.331
So just because one guy dies doesn't mean you're free.

00:13:38.493 --> 00:13:39.946
Yeah, so here's the new boss.

00:13:39.946 --> 00:13:41.886
Henry, at the time, was 13.

00:13:42.201 --> 00:13:47.804
There's a really good who song and the line in the song is meet the new boss same as the old boss.

00:13:47.804 --> 00:13:51.917
It's so fucking true yeah, yeah, it's really sad.

00:13:52.018 --> 00:14:02.066
How true those words are yeah because it's still a boss yeah it's the same bullshit so brown spent the next few years working in a tobacco factory in richmond, virginia.

00:14:02.066 --> 00:14:13.191
Okay, he worked 14 hours a day in summer, 16 hours a day in winter and he busted his butt to try to impress his master, william Barrett.

00:14:13.191 --> 00:14:16.688
Which is the son of the last one, yeah, it kind of worked.

00:14:16.688 --> 00:14:26.620
His efforts earned him a new suit, a bit of like spending money, a little spending money, and it kind of put off the whip a little bit well that's good.

00:14:26.681 --> 00:14:29.089
I mean, you don't prefer not to have that?

00:14:29.168 --> 00:14:35.966
yeah so by the mid-1830s, henry bound brown hit his 20s and he fell in love with a woman.

00:14:35.966 --> 00:14:48.974
They they met um through their church, I believe her name was nancy okay and she was um was an enslaved woman for a local banker.

00:14:49.475 --> 00:14:49.775
Okay.

00:14:50.760 --> 00:14:54.669
And both him and Nancy asked permission to marry.

00:14:54.669 --> 00:14:55.251
Oh, wow.

00:14:55.251 --> 00:14:59.389
Yeah, so, and they were allowed to.

00:14:59.389 --> 00:15:07.306
Well, I mean, like their version of being married, it wasn't legal, it wasn't like they didn't have papers or anything, but they were married in their eyes.

00:15:07.386 --> 00:15:11.200
Yeah yeah, how did that work with having two different owners?

00:15:11.200 --> 00:15:17.764
I guess that they allowed that so like because obviously one's living here, one's living there, so they actually did buy a house.

00:15:17.865 --> 00:15:19.429
Well, not buy a house, they're renting a house.

00:15:19.429 --> 00:15:24.270
Okay, so Brown did everything he could to kind of keep his little family together.

00:15:24.270 --> 00:15:33.293
So he paid fifty dollars a year to nancy's owner okay to convince him not to sell her off oh wow.

00:15:33.433 --> 00:16:01.168
So it's like, hey, keep her here, gotcha fifty dollars a year is approximately two thousand dollars, so not much no, but I'm sure his wages were very minimal yeah so I mean that could have been a lot of saving, oh yeah, yeah, but he had to save a shit ton to get to fifty dollars yeah so good on him to do that, to keep the the missus around and then he paid 72 a year to rent a home.

00:16:01.448 --> 00:16:03.971
Wow, so that was about three thousand dollars.

00:16:03.971 --> 00:16:12.051
So, okay, um, by like the 18th, like mid to late 1840s.

00:16:12.051 --> 00:16:15.000
Yeah, they ended up with three children and she was pregnant with their fourth.

00:16:15.019 --> 00:16:17.504
Excuse me, do you have their names?

00:16:17.504 --> 00:16:25.869
No, they do not last long in this story because you don't talk about them or because they died.

00:16:26.370 --> 00:16:27.052
I don't talk about them.

00:16:27.052 --> 00:16:30.626
August 1848.

00:16:30.626 --> 00:16:31.328
What the fuck?

00:16:31.328 --> 00:16:36.067
Henry Brown was working at the tobacco factory in Richmond and he got word.

00:16:36.067 --> 00:16:40.044
Nancy and their three children were about to be sold.

00:16:41.730 --> 00:16:43.033
But what about the $50?

00:16:44.821 --> 00:16:46.003
Doesn't matter anymore.

00:16:46.003 --> 00:16:50.472
The bargain wasn't upheld clearly and I mean they had.

00:16:50.472 --> 00:16:52.365
They had close to what?

00:16:52.365 --> 00:16:53.687
Eight years together, then.

00:16:53.687 --> 00:16:55.874
That's enough, or maybe even more.

00:16:55.874 --> 00:17:08.048
It was mid 1830s when they met right, and then this is 1848 but just think about what that owner could get for a female and three children Were they three boys.

00:17:08.048 --> 00:17:08.803
Do?

00:17:08.803 --> 00:17:09.305
You don't know.

00:17:10.203 --> 00:17:13.202
But still the mother and three children.

00:17:13.202 --> 00:17:15.250
Was she pregnant at this time?

00:17:15.250 --> 00:17:21.190
So here's three and a half children basically, plus this mom.

00:17:21.190 --> 00:17:24.068
Give me a good price they'll be yours.

00:17:24.480 --> 00:17:27.222
I mean, that's just fucking wild, I mean they, they.

00:17:27.222 --> 00:17:30.411
They never try to run away, they never misbehave, they.

00:17:30.411 --> 00:17:32.641
They actually had a quote-unquote.

00:17:32.641 --> 00:17:47.234
Decent situation right, um, compared to like some other slaves but the owner is just trying to make some money yeah, so um he, so they were um to a Methodist minister from North Carolina.

00:17:49.021 --> 00:17:50.267
And where were they currently?

00:17:50.800 --> 00:17:52.104
Richmond Virginia.

00:17:52.125 --> 00:17:52.645
Virginia Right.

00:17:52.665 --> 00:17:53.067
Virginia.

00:17:53.067 --> 00:17:54.330
Right, right, right, yes.

00:17:54.330 --> 00:18:03.701
So Brown rushed to the slave traders auction pen and there she was, his wife and his three children, shackled, terrified and waiting to be shipped off.

00:18:03.701 --> 00:18:05.403
Right and his three children, shackled, terrified and waiting to be shipped off.

00:18:05.403 --> 00:18:12.967
He arrived just in time to witness Nancy standing with her children, all of them in chains, waiting to be marched out of Richmond.

00:18:12.967 --> 00:18:19.912
Wow, brown tried to follow them, walking beside his wife and children as far as he could, he said.

00:18:19.912 --> 00:18:28.717
Nancy never once looked at him, not because she didn't love him, but because it was so overwhelming with grief and fear.

00:18:29.038 --> 00:18:29.798
She would have broke down.

00:18:30.819 --> 00:18:34.770
She would have broke down and that would make like the goodbye even harder.

00:18:34.830 --> 00:18:35.152
Harder.

00:18:35.152 --> 00:18:36.183
Yeah, no, I get that.

00:18:37.440 --> 00:18:46.712
In his words he said, quote I followed them with aching heart, but they gave me no word, no glance, though I saw the tears falling from my wife's face like rain.

00:18:46.712 --> 00:18:47.333
End quote.

00:18:48.994 --> 00:18:49.576
That's wild.

00:18:49.960 --> 00:18:57.451
Eventually, he was forced to stop as they were herded away, and that was the last time he ever saw them, ever Damn yeah.

00:18:57.451 --> 00:18:59.884
So he said.

00:18:59.884 --> 00:19:04.767
Quote having lost what little joy in my life offered, I began to plan an escape.

00:19:04.767 --> 00:19:05.589
End quote.

00:19:06.099 --> 00:19:07.346
Was he going to go try and find them?

00:19:07.941 --> 00:19:09.425
He actually never tried.

00:19:10.209 --> 00:19:10.308
Oh.

00:19:11.141 --> 00:19:12.160
And we can talk about that later.

00:19:13.885 --> 00:19:14.669
That seems weird.

00:19:15.640 --> 00:19:25.922
He said go and get a box and put yourself in it, okay what who?

00:19:25.922 --> 00:19:28.125
Did he say this to himself?

00:19:28.125 --> 00:19:37.457
He's thinking I'm gonna go get a box, I'm gonna put myself in it oh, so he's gonna unalive himself no, brown went to a church friend named james c smith.

00:19:37.457 --> 00:19:40.644
There are two smiths so I'm gonna try to keep them separate for you.

00:19:40.644 --> 00:19:46.803
Um, no relation to each other, okay james, it is a common name it is james smith.

00:19:46.803 --> 00:19:52.862
Uh, was a church friend yeah he was living in richmond, virginia, as a free man.

00:19:53.703 --> 00:20:02.763
He's african-american, he was a dentist oh, wow okay so regular old doc holiday yeah, so it could have been.

00:20:03.045 --> 00:20:04.887
He had manumission this, this guy.

00:20:04.887 --> 00:20:06.676
Why is he free in richmond, virginia?

00:20:06.676 --> 00:20:07.298
Right, right, so it's possible.

00:20:07.298 --> 00:20:07.940
It was manumission, this guy.

00:20:07.940 --> 00:20:09.001
Why is he free in Richmond Virginia?

00:20:09.001 --> 00:20:09.663
Right, right, so it's possible.

00:20:09.663 --> 00:20:10.203
It was manumission.

00:20:10.203 --> 00:20:12.688
Which is the owners freeing the enslaved people?

00:20:12.688 --> 00:20:17.663
If you recall, I do, oh God, what's her name?

00:20:17.663 --> 00:20:18.645
Oh my God, oh my God.

00:20:18.685 --> 00:20:20.198
Oh my God, I can picture the.

00:20:21.362 --> 00:20:21.943
The poet.

00:20:22.163 --> 00:20:25.442
Yeah, oh man.

00:20:30.434 --> 00:20:30.796
Phyllis wheatley.

00:20:30.836 --> 00:20:32.077
Yes, oh look at your brain.

00:20:32.077 --> 00:20:33.520
Phyllis wheatley, the poet she had, she was manumist.

00:20:33.520 --> 00:20:34.984
Look at the big brain on manumist, whatever.

00:20:35.005 --> 00:20:45.277
Yeah, um, it could also be that james smith um was able to buy his own freedom somehow, or he was born free, we're not really sure like if both of his parents were free, born free.

00:20:45.336 --> 00:20:46.738
Free like a Bruce Springsteen song?

00:20:46.738 --> 00:20:47.439
No, maybe not.

00:20:47.439 --> 00:20:47.818
Anyways.

00:20:47.818 --> 00:20:48.619
Born to be wild.

00:20:48.619 --> 00:20:50.240
That's not his song.

00:20:50.240 --> 00:20:50.642
Cool.

00:20:51.122 --> 00:20:57.067
So by 1840, Virginia actually had about 58,000 free black people.

00:20:57.067 --> 00:20:59.390
We don't need to circle around back to born to be wild.

00:21:00.230 --> 00:21:04.000
Born to run is Bruce Springsteen Got it.

00:21:04.121 --> 00:21:04.742
I can sleep now.

00:21:06.037 --> 00:21:12.922
No, you can't because you have to finish this fucking episode brown also went to sam smith.

00:21:13.021 --> 00:21:24.303
Samuel smith, okay, he was james smith, sam smith samuel smith is a white shoemaker from massachusetts who lived in richmond, virginia okay.

00:21:24.564 --> 00:21:26.547
Is it important that he's from Massachusetts?

00:21:27.788 --> 00:21:28.630
It's context.

00:21:31.717 --> 00:21:34.163
Just like the kids' names.

00:21:34.163 --> 00:21:34.805
Sip your bubbles.

00:21:38.035 --> 00:21:39.934
He used to be a slaveholder himself, but he sympathized with Brown.

00:21:40.154 --> 00:21:41.541
He saw the error of his ways.

00:21:42.555 --> 00:21:45.942
And Brown offered Samuel all of his savings to help.

00:21:45.942 --> 00:21:48.863
It was about $50 50.

00:21:48.863 --> 00:21:49.945
Here's some money.

00:21:49.945 --> 00:22:05.769
The three men devised a plan get a box, ship henry brown to pennsylvania, directly to the anti-slavery society office in philadelphia they're gonna have like, uh, some sandwiches in there for him, or I mean?

00:22:06.009 --> 00:22:21.681
no, cut some holes, hopefully a little bit, what the fuck so it's like dude be quiet jay miller mckim of the anti-slavery society was arranged to receive this shipment package.

00:22:21.681 --> 00:22:27.829
A letter came for him asking to help Brown before Brown was ever shipped out.

00:22:27.829 --> 00:22:31.673
So they like corresponded and they had this arrangement.

00:22:31.673 --> 00:22:32.054
Okay.

00:22:32.054 --> 00:22:34.423
So McKim agreed, though he had caught.

00:22:34.423 --> 00:22:38.125
He and his colleagues like understood like this is serious business.

00:22:38.125 --> 00:22:41.220
If we get caught we could face prison.

00:22:41.560 --> 00:22:43.039
Oh yeah, if he dies.

00:22:43.536 --> 00:22:44.721
What the hell are we going to do with the body?

00:22:45.615 --> 00:22:47.382
Bury it in the box.

00:22:48.476 --> 00:22:48.715
So do you?

00:22:48.736 --> 00:22:49.757
think like the box shows up.

00:22:51.098 --> 00:22:52.500
Hello, they actually do.

00:22:52.500 --> 00:22:56.547
Oh shit, hello, did you make it?

00:22:56.707 --> 00:22:57.749
Hello.

00:22:58.169 --> 00:22:58.871
Okay so.

00:23:01.195 --> 00:23:03.002
Jesus Christ Anyways.

00:23:03.835 --> 00:23:12.287
Brown commissioned a carpenter to build a sturdy, sturdy wooden crate just big enough for him to sit curled in oh fuck, he doesn't even get to lay down.

00:23:13.431 --> 00:23:15.076
Oh so it's kind of like tyrian lannister.

00:23:15.076 --> 00:23:16.845
Do you have to push his own shit out of the box?

00:23:16.845 --> 00:23:18.913
Yeah, well, that's what he did.

00:23:18.933 --> 00:23:20.336
I mean, that's what he did in game of thrones.

00:23:20.336 --> 00:23:47.147
So brown personally specified the dimensions for his most comfortable sitting fit three feet long, two feet eight inches deep and two feet wide, like an extra large wardrobe box from like home depot do you have any type of dimensions on on brown, like his height or anything weight, anything like that?

00:23:47.147 --> 00:23:57.362
I don't, but I do have a picture that I'm in the insert of a replica um of the box, but it tiny there's a bug floating around and it's really fucking annoying.

00:23:58.305 --> 00:24:04.701
I can't get it to go away so the box was lined with baize cloth what's baize?

00:24:04.701 --> 00:24:14.104
So it's a coarse woolen cloth that feels like felt a little bit, but it's rougher and more durable and it can also like muffle sound.

00:24:14.125 --> 00:24:24.596
The sound quite a bit so, which is very helpful in this smuggling a body yeah, and they had about three air holes just three, well, better than zero.

00:24:24.596 --> 00:24:28.266
I mean, yeah, did they mention at all where the air holes were?

00:24:28.626 --> 00:24:44.942
no, they did label the boxes dry goods and wrote on it this side up with care well, good thing, because he didn't want to be on his head and neck the whole fucking oh, but nobody knows how to read apparently well, it is the 1840s.

00:24:44.942 --> 00:24:53.266
So so, on the morning of his boxing, of his departure, his boxing, he needed an excuse to miss work.

00:24:53.747 --> 00:24:56.413
Could you ever see like unboxing videos on youtube?

00:24:56.413 --> 00:24:58.880
Oh yeah that would be quite the unboxing video.

00:24:59.040 --> 00:25:14.301
Oh yeah, that would be fucked up that's the first tiktok video right there hey, it's a man so he had a friend deliberately pour oil of vitriol on his hand, which is sulfuric acid.

00:25:14.301 --> 00:25:16.566
Why to?

00:25:16.566 --> 00:25:17.848
To get him out of work.

00:25:17.848 --> 00:25:20.493
Oh, did you miss that part?

00:25:20.493 --> 00:25:23.078
Yeah, sorry oh, the morning of his boxing.

00:25:23.078 --> 00:25:26.765
He needed something to get him out of work I, I'm sorry I did not.

00:25:27.026 --> 00:25:27.506
That's okay.

00:25:27.506 --> 00:25:39.136
Attention to that so they poured oil of vitriol or sulfuric acid on his hand, burn his hand so he could be like look, master, I can't work exactly so exactly, so he says quote that's.

00:25:39.136 --> 00:25:40.721
That's fucking dedication.

00:25:40.780 --> 00:25:50.260
I gotta that's fine um so in his own words he says quote I got a friend to pour it on me so that I might get my hands sufficiently burnt and enable me to stop work.

00:25:50.621 --> 00:25:53.467
End quote that's just like that crazy.

00:25:53.467 --> 00:25:55.898
Could you imagine wanting to do that?

00:25:55.898 --> 00:26:02.598
I mean, I understand the situation, so I I get that but, fuck that, that, that that would hurt, good lord.

00:26:02.598 --> 00:26:06.344
I mean again he's, he's, he's's all in to not go find his family.

00:26:07.265 --> 00:26:16.746
So he climbed into his box and the co-conspirators sealed the box, they nailed it and they bound it with five strong hickory hoops for reinforcement.

00:26:16.885 --> 00:26:17.667
What's a hickory hoop?

00:26:17.755 --> 00:26:25.409
Like basically those hoops that keep barrels together made out of hickory Okay, you know what I'm talking about.

00:26:25.409 --> 00:26:26.420
There's like five.

00:26:27.615 --> 00:26:32.048
I mean, they're usually metal but yeah, yeah yeah so this one is made out of hickory gotcha, okay.

00:26:32.048 --> 00:26:48.231
So brown says, quote I took with me a bladder filled with water to bathe my neck with in case of too great heat and with no access to the fresh air except three small gimlet holes.

00:26:48.231 --> 00:27:02.326
Wow, samuel smith the white shoemaker, yeah, then delivered the precious cargo to the adams express office, paying shipping for what was declared as dry goods.

00:27:02.326 --> 00:27:03.569
I did not see.

00:27:03.569 --> 00:27:04.718
This is.

00:27:04.718 --> 00:27:15.978
Most of this information is coming from henry brown's own book oh, so you ended up writing a book, so you didn't that's why I have so many quotes you didn't see a bill of lading for this.

00:27:16.318 --> 00:27:31.750
No package, no so brown brown's route from richmond to philadelphia involved wagons, right railroad cars, a steamboat, and none of them handled the package well Properly.

00:27:31.750 --> 00:27:42.650
So it was labeled to keep it upright, and with care, but careless handlers turned it into like a rolling coffin so to speak.

00:27:42.650 --> 00:27:44.722
They don't fucking care, they don't fucking care.

00:27:45.154 --> 00:27:54.818
Like you said, A they probably couldn't read because of the times it was very common that people couldn't read, so they're like what is this gibberish on the side of this box?

00:27:54.818 --> 00:27:58.875
Fuck that means nothing yeah, get it on the boat, bro, you know I mean.

00:27:58.875 --> 00:28:00.761
So yeah, I totally understand that.

00:28:00.761 --> 00:28:03.451
And then, plus, they just didn't fucking care.

00:28:03.451 --> 00:28:06.538
No, they don't care if there's fine china in this shit.

00:28:06.559 --> 00:28:12.645
So so Brown left Richmond at about 8 am Okay On March 23rd 1849.

00:28:13.288 --> 00:28:14.614
23rd 1849.

00:28:14.614 --> 00:28:14.714
Okay.

00:28:15.055 --> 00:28:19.106
So almost immediately the box was loaded sideways.

00:28:20.056 --> 00:28:22.681
So he would like head this way, kind of thing.

00:28:22.701 --> 00:28:25.346
Okay, and then Upside down, upside down, okay, and then.

00:28:26.449 --> 00:28:26.910
Upside down.

00:28:27.029 --> 00:28:27.672
Upside down.

00:28:27.672 --> 00:28:30.902
Fuck Onto a dray wagon.

00:28:30.902 --> 00:28:35.734
Do you remember what a dray wagon is from the children's blizzard of 1888?

00:28:35.974 --> 00:28:38.941
I do vaguely yeah A wagon with no sides, essentially.

00:28:38.941 --> 00:28:39.763
Yeah, basically.

00:28:41.375 --> 00:28:45.121
Brown felt all of his weight drop onto his head and shoulders.

00:28:45.181 --> 00:28:52.181
That's what I was worried about, because having that pressure on your neck for an extended period of fucking time Ouch, oh my God, that's got to hurt.

00:28:53.255 --> 00:29:00.607
As the wagon jolted to the train depot, he struggled to remain silent while his neck and his head throbbed Sure.

00:29:00.607 --> 00:29:11.007
He said, quote I was put on my head, my eyes were almost swollen out of their sockets and the veins all might on my temple seemed ready to burst.

00:29:11.267 --> 00:29:14.560
End, quote that sounds horrible that sounds fucking terrible.

00:29:15.375 --> 00:29:18.924
So transferred from wagon to rail baggage car.

00:29:19.185 --> 00:29:19.426
Yeah.

00:29:19.555 --> 00:29:22.564
The box landed right side up for a little time.

00:29:22.865 --> 00:29:25.079
Oh, thank goodness, that had to be a fucking relief for him.

00:29:25.280 --> 00:29:30.343
But, oh dear, his crate was moved again onto the Potomac River steamboat.

00:29:30.674 --> 00:29:30.955

Fire to the Fuel: Henry Box Brown

Recent Episodes