WILLIAM WELLS BROWN (c.1814-1884)
Author
William Wells Brown
Courtesy of: Wellesley College
Had several firsts as an African American author:
first playwright; first novelist; and first travel
writer. Every genre of his writing—fiction, history,
drama, poetry, and memoir—related to his activism
as an abolitionist and as an advocate for African
American social equality and advancement in U.S. society.
Born enslaved near Lexington, Kentucky, Brown liberated
himself from slavery in 1834.
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