African American History - Henry Box Brown

On March 29, 1849, Louisa County native, Henry Brown, a Richmond slave squeezed his 5-foot-8-inch, 200-pound frame into a wooden crate 3 feet long, 2 feet wide and 2.6 feet deep. He and his co-conspirators sealed Brown into a wooden crate and placed it on a train bound for Philadelphia. After twenty-six hours, Brown arrived at the office of the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society, where he was unboxed, alive and free.

After his wife and children were sold to a different slave owner, Henry Brown claimed to have received a "heavenly vision" to "mail [himself] to a place where there are no slaves." With the help of James C. A. Smith and a sympathetic white storekeeper named Samuel Smith (no relation), Brown devised a plan to have himself shipped to a free state by Adams Express Co. Brown paid $86 (out of his savings of $166). Despite the instruction "handle with care" and "this side up," several times during the 27-hour journey, carriers placed the box upside-down or handled it roughly. Brown was able to remain still enough to avoid detection

When Brown was released, one of those present remembered his first words as "How do you do, gentlemen?" He then sang a psalm from the Bible he had previously selected for his moment of freedom.