Henry “Box” Brown, the magician who journeyed across time.

Henry Box Brown (c. 1815 - June 15, 1897) was an enslaved man from Virginia who, at the age of 33, escaped to freedom by shipping himself in a wooden crate to abolitionists in Philadelphia in 1849. He briefly became a renowned abolitionist speaker in the northeast United States until the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 increased pressure to capture escaped enslaved people, forcing him to move to England for 25 years.

In England, Brown toured with an anti-slavery panorama and became a magician and showman. He remarried and started a family with an English woman, Jane Floyd, while his first wife, Nancy, remained in slavery. He returned to the U.S. in 1875, continuing to work as an entertainer by performing magic, oration, and mesmerism. His final years were spent in Toronto, where he passed away in 1897.

Born into slavery in 1815 or 1816, Brown was first married to Nancy, who was also enslaved on the same plantation. After his master sold Nancy and their three children, he collaborated with two men to arrange his audacious escape. Using personal savings, he paid one of the men to ship him in a box to the abolitionist, Passmore Williamson, in Philadelphia. Despite the difficult journey during which the box was often handled roughly, Brown managed to avoid detection.

Once freed, Brown played a significant part in the abolitionist movement, known for openly expressing his thoughts on slavery and advocating for major changes in America, including advocating for enslaved people to vote. Many saw his escape as a testament to the efficiency and confidentiality of the mail system, which was utilized by abolitionist organizations and could ship virtually anything.

However, after the Fugitive Slave Law was passed, Brown moved to England over safety concerns. There, he joined the British show circuit while still advocating against slavery with his panorama. After the start of the Civil War, Brown left the abolitionist circuit and started performing magic under various stage names. He married in England, and he and his English family returned to the U.S. in 1875, where he resumed his performances with a group magic act. He continued to perform into the early 1890s, with the last known performance in Canada in 1889. He died in Toronto in 1897.