Title The many resurrections of Henry Box Brown / Martha J. Cutter

Published Philadelphia : University of Pennsylvania Press, [2022]

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Description 1 online resource (x, 354 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates) : illustrations (some color) Contents Introduction. The many resurrections of Henry Box Brown, the man who mailed himself to freedom -- Slavery and freedom in US visual culture : the performative personae of William Wells Brown, William and Ellen Craft, Frederick Douglass, and Sojourner Truth -- Becoming Box Brown, 1815-1857 -- Performing fugitivity : Henry Box Brown on the nineteenth-century British stage, 1857 -- Performing new panoramas, mesmerism, spiritualism, and second sight, England, 1857-1875 -- Canada, the United States, and beyond : performing slavery and freedom, 1875-1897 -- The absent presence : Henry Box Brown in contemporary museums, memorials, and visual art -- Playing in the archives : Box Brown in contemporary children's literature and visual poetry -- Coda. The resilience of Box Brown and the afterlives of slavery Summary On March 23, 1849, Henry Brown climbed into a large wooden postal crate and was mailed from slavery in Richmond, Virginia, to freedom in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. "Box Brown," as he came to be known after this astounding feat, went on to carve out a career as an abolitionist speaker, actor, magician, hypnotist, and even faith healer, traveling the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada until his death in 1897.The Many Resurrections of Henry Box Brown is the first book to show how subversive performances were woven into Brown's entire life, from his early days practicing magic in Virginia while enslaved, to his last shows in Canada and England in the 1890s. It recovers forgotten elements of Brown's history to illustrate the ways he made himself a spectacle on abolitionist lecture circuits via outlandish performances, and then fell off these circuits and went on to reinvent himself again and again. Brown's stunts included creating a moving panoramic picture show about his escape; parading through the streets dressed as a "Savage Indian" or "African Prince"; convincing hypnotized individuals that they were sheep who would gobble down raw cabbage; performing magic, dark séances, and ventriloquism; and even climbing back into his "original" box to jump out of it on stage.In this study, Martha J. Cutter analyzes contemporary resurrections of Brown's persona by leading poets, writers, and visual artists. Both in Brown's time and in ours, stories were created, invented, and embellished about Brown, continuing to recreate his intriguing, albeit fragmentary and elusive, story. The Many Resurrections of Henry Box Brown fosters a new understanding not only of Brown's life but of modern Black performance art that provocatively dramatizes the unfinished work of African American freedom Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index Notes Description based on online resource; title from digital title page (viewed on October 28, 2022) Subject Brown, Henry Box, 1815 or 1816- -- In literature Brown, Henry Box, 1815 or 1816- -- In mass media SUBJECT Brown, Henry Box, 1815 or 1816- fast Subject African Americans in the performing arts -- History -- 19th century Slavery in mass media -- History -- 19th century African Americans in popular culture. Fugitive slaves -- United States. African American abolitionists -- United States SOCIAL SCIENCE / Ethnic Studies / African American Studies African American abolitionists African Americans in popular culture African Americans in the performing arts Fugitive slaves Literature Mass media Slavery in mass media United States Genre/Form History Form Electronic book ISBN 0812298640 9780812298642

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