The Man who Mailed Himself to Freedom | Henry Box Brown

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  • čas pƙidĂĄn 7. 06. 2020
  • Welcome to Forgotten Lives! In today's episode, we are looking into the life of Henry Box Brown a man who escaped slavery in a crate, later becoming a magician!
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Komentáƙe • 358

  • @ForgottenLives
    @ForgottenLives  Pƙed 4 lety +26

    Today's sponsor: healthymindset2u.com/home/ols/products/anti-theft-backpack-with-usb
    Remember to use the code forgottenlives for 30% off! At this moment there is only UK delivery!

    • @ELKE-
      @ELKE- Pƙed 4 lety +2

      Thank you FLives! Congrats on your Sponsor! I thought i was later! Had bit nap after extra night work. Will enjoy now!

    • @wyldflwr
      @wyldflwr Pƙed 4 lety +3

      Congratulations on getting a sponsor!!!đŸ‘đŸ‘đŸ‘â€đŸ§ĄđŸ’›

    • @Felicia790
      @Felicia790 Pƙed 4 lety +1

      Thank you! I enjoyed this true historic story

    • @lanacampbell-moore6686
      @lanacampbell-moore6686 Pƙed 4 lety

      Thank You😊

  • @steveg8029
    @steveg8029 Pƙed 4 lety +48

    His motivation to escape was because his family got sold and now when he had the opportunity to buy his family he declines. That shows you the type of man he is.

  • @brendaholliday6866
    @brendaholliday6866 Pƙed 4 lety +117

    I'm familiar with this story about Henry "Box" Brown but I didn't know that he didn't try to obtain his first family's freedom. It's a very interesting story about what people will endure to have "freedom." Even if he didn't want his first family back in his life at the very least he could have helped them to get their freedom, period!

    • @Pheonix934
      @Pheonix934 Pƙed 4 lety +8

      Hi, Brenda-- he fought very hard for his family. I encourage you to listen to another retelling of the story czcams.com/video/57S529x3uNY/video.html 34:52 mark

    • @rianalauren
      @rianalauren Pƙed 3 lety +10

      i agree he should have helped them to freedom

    • @pureblack3363
      @pureblack3363 Pƙed 3 lety +3

      @@rianalauren Sounds easy

    • @GraavyTraain
      @GraavyTraain Pƙed 2 lety +5

      You’re white aren’t you?

    • @susanadams2119
      @susanadams2119 Pƙed 2 lety +3

      It was not safe for him to return to the South.He was wanted,and an escaped slave!!!!!

  • @briansmith9439
    @briansmith9439 Pƙed 4 lety +34

    In his 1849 narrative, Brown states that he obtained permission to marry Nancy which he did. They were together for 12 years though she was sold several times. After she and the children were taken but not yet shipped to North Carolina he tried to find someone who would buy them before being transferred south but he could not find anyone that would do so. He does not say whether he had the money to make the purchase or was expecting to borrow it. After gaining his freedom he used his growing popularity to collect the $1200 needed to purchase his wife and children. He does not say why he ultimately did not do so which is at odds with the pages he dedicated to retelling the anguish and heartache he felt at their loss with the 1851 edition of his Narrative greatly expanded. He tells of walking with her for 4 hours, hand-in-hand, with her wrapped in heavy chains before their final separation. The transcribed version of the 1851 edition I read did not mention the fund to buy his wife and children. He died June 15, 1897 and is buried in Toronto’s Necropolis Cemetery. His second wife Jane died from a fall on June 6, 1924 in Kane, Pennsylvania and their daughter Annie died on April 13, 1971 in Pennsylvania.

    • @ForgottenLives
      @ForgottenLives  Pƙed 4 lety +3

      Some very nice details, thanks!

    • @rebekahlikesmusic2723
      @rebekahlikesmusic2723 Pƙed 2 lety +1

      Thank you for sharing those details

    • @nailahdawkins
      @nailahdawkins Pƙed rokem

      đŸ™đŸŸ Thank you for sharing your knowledge, the update, and detailed information for myself and others to read, research, and learn from 😃 đŸ“šđŸ§ đŸ‘©đŸŸâ€đŸ’» .

  • @misssluttypants84
    @misssluttypants84 Pƙed 4 lety +18

    I love his courage! The only thing I was truly sad for was that other slaves couldn't mail themselves to freedom like he did, because once they told his story, the authorities started checking every box much more closely!

  • @BriefCaseOfficial
    @BriefCaseOfficial Pƙed 4 lety +53

    What an amazing story and what an inspirational man, sad about leaving his family in North Carolina

  • @sleepygirlzzz6547
    @sleepygirlzzz6547 Pƙed 4 lety +109

    Was going so good until he didnt try to get his family back, that's just cruel, those poor kids 😔

    • @lianafrancees9280
      @lianafrancees9280 Pƙed 4 lety +14

      May be he got signals that this was a maybe a trap? Instead of really the chance to have his family back? We will never know.

    • @sleepygirlzzz6547
      @sleepygirlzzz6547 Pƙed 4 lety +25

      @@lianafrancees9280 we'll never know but we do know he didnt even try

    • @black12212
      @black12212 Pƙed 3 lety +7

      I thought the same thing

    • @emmagreen6087
      @emmagreen6087 Pƙed 3 lety +10

      I agree. I was really impressed with him until that.

    • @shevaunbryant8554
      @shevaunbryant8554 Pƙed 3 lety +19

      You do realize there was absolutely no way to know where his family was, if they were still alive and if they had been kept together (in most cases they wouldn't have been). Stop using your modern concept of "love" to judge this man

  • @maryjaneme2675
    @maryjaneme2675 Pƙed 4 lety +92

    That's sad that he didn't save his family. Even if he didn't want to be with them, he had the opportunity to set them free.

    • @valerief1231
      @valerief1231 Pƙed 4 lety +29

      What? His family was sold and sent to North Carolina. You have to remember that black people were treated much worse then the family goat, or chickens. He couldn’t just go Willy Nilly marching upon the door steps of his wife’s owners and demand her and his children back. Can you imagine not even being able to see a doctor because of your skin color? It wasn’t until 1865 that President Abraham Lincoln abolished slavery. With that being said, it wasn’t like “ok, everyone is free, let’s all be equals now” hell, if you watch the news, IT STILL isn’t fixed. (RIP George Floyd) So this man didn’t have liberty until he left the country. He was able to fall in love again, but make no mistake, a man that burned himself and mailed himself in a box is a man that was determined to change things for the betterment of that family he was robbed of.
      The white man has a lot of nerve in all honesty. Being white myself I cannot imagine boarding a ship, sailing to “The new world” killing the people that were already here, then making deals in Africa to buy their sons, daughters, wives and children under the guise of hope and a bright future only to for them to become slaves. Each and every one of those first depraved pilgrims that landed at Plymouth Rock have a lot of explaining to do. You’ve been taught about Thanksgiving where the Indians (called that because dumb ass Christopher Columbus thought he was in fecking India 😏) and Pilgrims sat down and broke bread together. Yeah, but did were you taught that the pilgrims contaminated blankets with syphilis and then GIFTED those blankets to the Indians? Such a nice Christian thing to do.
      Can you even imagine being crammed in a box for all those hours and traveling approximately 250 miles? My luck I would have pee’d my pants in the first half hour!

    • @BigLisaFan
      @BigLisaFan Pƙed 4 lety +13

      @@valerief1231 Actually it was smallpox, not syphilis.
      As for slaves from Africa, it was often their own people, usually from different tribes who sold them to the whites.
      I am white too. I do not feel I have to apologize for the actions of my race many, many years ago. They lived in different times, with different thoughts and ideas. As a species, I feel we all have a very long way to go before we begin to accept each other as equals irrespective of skin or religion. Maybe it will never happen, who knows? I only am responsible to myself and my Creator for my actions. I treat people as I would like to be treated. It is up to them, as individuals, how they respond to that.
      With that being said, let the name calling begin. Doesn't bother me. I have been called many names over the years by people, often anonymously, but not been called a name by anyone better than me.

    • @ahnraemenkhera7451
      @ahnraemenkhera7451 Pƙed 4 lety +1

      Agreed. Very sad. And even more sad is the precedent set by indirect example & repeated by F. Douglass, H. Craft, Pearl Bailey, Sammy Davis, Jr., Quincey Jones, OJ Simpson, et al, which did nothing to produce Justice.
      [Btw, syphillis did wipe out many Native American people, it has been documented, in the former Sandwich Islands (South Pacific), & South & Central Americas, & North American regions where the Spanish & French held territories. Throughout British, Portugal & Dutch rule, no native people were legally classified as “people.”]
      Individuals are “assigned” the task from their birth into the genus phylum species homo
      sapien sapien of producing Justice: just outcomes & balance between all Life on planet earth.
      To the extent that they do so, they are of value, they are of Truth. To the extent that they cause mistreatment, directly or indirectly, they operate against the order of Nature & against the order of Truth, Justice & Correctness (in all our dealings) logically, set by its Creator. đŸ––đŸœđŸ™đŸœđŸŒ±

    • @personincognito3989
      @personincognito3989 Pƙed 4 lety +13

      @@valerief1231 I think you missed the part of the video where the slave owner of his wife and children approached him and gave him the opportunity to buy them

    • @misssluttypants84
      @misssluttypants84 Pƙed 4 lety +6

      @@personincognito3989 the price was a price he could not afford.

  • @onceagain7586
    @onceagain7586 Pƙed 4 lety +30

    He should not have left his family in slavery.

  • @franreid8203
    @franreid8203 Pƙed 4 lety +69

    Creep, should have liberated his family. Selfish man.

    • @ellyelly9654
      @ellyelly9654 Pƙed 4 lety +15

      Agree to a point, but slaves could not buy slaves. That was a ploy to get his money and most likely be recaptured.

    • @migue4793
      @migue4793 Pƙed 4 lety +7

      And there were also some asshats in the north that would capture blacks and sell them back to the south illegally, and these people were known to be extremely cruel. So Brown had to be extremely careful and its good he went to England where things are much better.

    • @mariposaorofusionfoodchann7573
      @mariposaorofusionfoodchann7573 Pƙed 3 lety +1

      Exactly, he never even helped other people!

  • @virginiavarble7818
    @virginiavarble7818 Pƙed 4 lety +12

    He had an impressive life! And I applaud his ingenuity in his escape! But why did he abandoned his family to slavery, that was a cold thing to do to your own flesh and blood!

  • @aubreyshelton6331
    @aubreyshelton6331 Pƙed 4 lety +73

    Wait a minute.....he didn't buy his family back????ummmm....noooo... he's dead wrong

    • @racheallange2056
      @racheallange2056 Pƙed 4 lety +17

      I was like why not when I heard that ....It really broke my heart...Just so sad...He had a way of saving his family ..then didn't.....ugh ...I was in tears...I can't even imagine how his wife and children felt....My heart goes out to them....How could he do that!?

    • @sarah3796
      @sarah3796 Pƙed 4 lety +7

      😬 I guess we don’t know the full story or what you would do in such circumstances

    • @___LC___
      @___LC___ Pƙed 4 lety +4

      Perhaps he thought he could do more to free all the slaves with that money or perhaps the price was beyond his means.

    • @misssluttypants84
      @misssluttypants84 Pƙed 4 lety +8

      HIS FAMILY SLAVE MASTERS WANTED A VERY EXPENSIVE PRICE THAT HE COULD NOT AFFORD.

    • @ellyelly9654
      @ellyelly9654 Pƙed 4 lety +7

      Lots of Slaves had to sacrifice ever seeing their loves again after escaping. It was highly risky to let any Slave Master and Slave Bounty hunters know an escaped Slave residence or hiding. The Fugitive Slave law was big business for Bounty hunters.

  • @OWOT-re5jf
    @OWOT-re5jf Pƙed 4 lety +29

    He ditched his family? Oh, Henry!

  • @audreymuzingo933
    @audreymuzingo933 Pƙed 3 lety +5

    LOL, picturing someone trying to do this in the Christmas 2020 postal nightmare present time.

    • @MrChrissybaba
      @MrChrissybaba Pƙed 3 lety +1

      Mess around he still be in the mail right now lol 😂

  • @davidbrown8303
    @davidbrown8303 Pƙed 4 lety +14

    My ancestors used to be part of the underground railroad.

  • @martinhenderson1359
    @martinhenderson1359 Pƙed 4 lety +6

    A trip down memory lane... I worked at a YMCA camp and we had a box prop for a living history demonstration...Henry Brown’s story.

  • @MsJ32
    @MsJ32 Pƙed 4 lety +8

    I really appreciated the courage and strength it took for the beginning of the story. When you got to the part that he didn't try to help his family it made me sick at my stomach. What an ass!

  • @clairewycoff3205
    @clairewycoff3205 Pƙed 4 lety +12

    I feel bad for his first set of kids

  • @ThankHeaven
    @ThankHeaven Pƙed 3 lety +26

    He didn't save his family and just remarried. That is very sad.

  • @mileshigh1321
    @mileshigh1321 Pƙed 4 lety +16

    Great history! His story would be interesting to read! There has to be more to the part about not getting his family back too.(People like to judge without having all the details! ) The 2 men who flipped the box over and sat on it, don't realize that they saved him! Thanks!

  • @ruthymorales7208
    @ruthymorales7208 Pƙed 4 lety +19

    Let me just say that this is the FIRST time I've EVER heard of this man's story!!! I never knew that someone in the days of slavery had done something so life changing and dangerous and important!!! He was definitely blessed and I'm so glad to have learned of this. Like I said before, THESE are the kind of stories that I LOVE hearing and learning about. Although not every story has a happy ending, but thank you for this. Especially with all that's going on, racism unfortunately has not been completely overcome or eradicated. We've come along way as a peopld, but the hatred and racism is still there! We as a new generation should make sure we teach our children and bury deep ONCE AND FOR ALL the word racism , or ANYTHING to do with it. I went off on a tangent, sorry
    .lol...thanks for another great videi!!!

  • @pattybecerra5733
    @pattybecerra5733 Pƙed 3 lety +3

    The end just blew me !!!! All that and he left his family in slavery to create a panorama themed on slavery but yet he left his family enslaved,shame on him ,that was a sad ending!

  • @pandorasbox4238
    @pandorasbox4238 Pƙed 4 lety +6

    He refused to buy his wife and children their freedom, then moved to England, remarried and had more kids? WTF? Something about that is just wrong. I mean, unless the guy was trying to lure him back to slave states or charging an insane amount, there's no justification for that. Especially since he knew what their life was like - including his children's. While his story is certainly fascinating, I find him and his morals lacking. That was 5 people who could have been freed and may have made a significant impact in the world, if given that chance.

  • @arimax888
    @arimax888 Pƙed 4 lety +36

    Omg he REFUSED to grant his family the freedom he almost died for! What a cruel man. Even if you didn't want them he could've at least tried to help them

    • @enilehcodramramlised8716
      @enilehcodramramlised8716 Pƙed 3 lety +5

      RightđŸ€”đŸ˜’

    • @shevaunbryant8554
      @shevaunbryant8554 Pƙed 3 lety +1

      You do realize there was absolutely no way to know where is family was, if they were still alive and if they had been kept together (in most cases they wouldn't have been). Stop using your modern concept of "love" to judge this man

    • @zoey7393
      @zoey7393 Pƙed 3 lety +11

      @@shevaunbryant8554 his family’s owner contacted him and ask if he wanted to buy his wife and children and he said no.

    • @ShadaeABrown
      @ShadaeABrown Pƙed 2 lety +2

      @@zoey7393 let’s turn our outrage to the people who actually thought they should own people.

    • @kylataylor3088
      @kylataylor3088 Pƙed měsĂ­cem

      There’s deep reasons behind every decision Henry made. We’re talking slavery times in all of his situations. Imagine if he went to where his family was to buy them back? I’m sure whoever sent him the offer had a malicious plan. Never know how many racist people hated Henry and wanted him dead bc of what he had done. Henry seemed to be really smart and gave each of his ideas some thinking. He probably saved his own life by declining the offer to get his family back.

  • @missesvee5132
    @missesvee5132 Pƙed 4 lety +23

    I was so happy for him until he left his own flesh and blood to continue to endure slavery. THAT IS NOT A HERO, THAT IS A ZERO. What a creep. đŸ‘ŽđŸ»đŸ‘ŽđŸ». Great video, thank you đŸ‘đŸ»

  • @cadillacdeville5828
    @cadillacdeville5828 Pƙed 4 lety +5

    I couldn't leave my child. If I had a way to get my family back I would. My son is 18 now. I tell you, carrying him for 9+ months and raising him WASN'T enough time with him. He's in the army now.

    • @mynameisstolen
      @mynameisstolen Pƙed 2 lety

      hope u and your son will still be in contact in the future!

  • @davidcutts9079
    @davidcutts9079 Pƙed 4 lety +16

    "Family? What family?!?" -- da' Box.

  • @wendymudkins668
    @wendymudkins668 Pƙed 4 lety +11

    Slavery is a stain on many countries that will never go away I personally could never keep any one as a slave great video very informative

    • @williamegler8771
      @williamegler8771 Pƙed 4 lety +2

      You say you never keep a slave.
      That is an admirable statement but you are judging people by the standards of the 21th century.
      Slavery was a fact in the 19th century.
      The growing abolitionist movement showed that people were becoming increasingly uncomfortable it and eventually outlawed it.

  • @Nocturna
    @Nocturna Pƙed 4 lety +12

    Wow! what a story! I was hoping to hear he would try save his family...still the horrors he had to endure! so sad.

  • @UmBelenense
    @UmBelenense Pƙed 4 lety +6

    Deserves a movie

  • @minskybrown8634
    @minskybrown8634 Pƙed 3 lety +1

    Thank you for creating these videos. I particularly enjoy the range of diversity in them.
    This one is an incredible & ingenious tale that ought to be a modern legend, what a Man!
    Fantastic!

  • @kristens1113
    @kristens1113 Pƙed 4 lety +28

    He spoiled the chance for other slaves to mail themselves to freedom because he wanted the notoriety AND he didn't get his family. Naw screw him!! He wasn't a hero he was a jerk who just so happened to be born a slave.

    • @HolyRan187
      @HolyRan187 Pƙed 3 lety +3

      Wow.

    • @rebekahlikesmusic2723
      @rebekahlikesmusic2723 Pƙed 2 lety

      I can't judge this man.

    • @ameliavanderveere8708
      @ameliavanderveere8708 Pƙed rokem

      Did u not hear the video narrator state that it was the abolitionists, who wanted 2boost their pub- lic &financial support, by publicising Henry's jour- ney. They were dissuaded from doing so, but the cat was already out of the bag! Thus, the ancillary persons were eventually caught, de- tained &convicted as ac- complices. So much 4dis- cretion!

  • @berenicewaters4096
    @berenicewaters4096 Pƙed 4 lety +3

    Fabulous video. What such an amazing incredible story of survival. Thanks for the upload.

  • @ninamarie7176
    @ninamarie7176 Pƙed 4 lety +4

    For abandoning his family and leaving his children in slavery while FULLY knowing the types of things that could and would happen to them he is a massive fail. He didn’t deserve his fame and should only be used as a bad example of a human being. He should be forgotten. **burns his finger off to get out of slavery to leave his children and wife in slavery**👎

  • @edwinbuelatv9147
    @edwinbuelatv9147 Pƙed 4 lety +9

    Oh my God, agt brought me here his story was almost perfect if he managed to freed his FAMILY, HE HAS FOUR CHILDREN. I cant judge things way back, but when you have a Family, you and your family Becomes one.

    • @fifimsp
      @fifimsp Pƙed 3 lety +1

      We may not know the asking price, or what the total circumstances were. If he was asked to "come and get them" and people knew it was a trap. Maybe he never even liked the wife much. WE don't know but yeah, overall it does seem like a shit move, but...like I said, we don't know all the circumstances.

  • @dmknight08
    @dmknight08 Pƙed 4 lety +40

    I can’t respect any person that could knock any woman up 4x then essentially ditch her and the children to slave owners after being offered a chance to get them back. People who really love their families would’ve done anything to get their loved ones back. That’s just too messed up. That’s not any man worth remembering for any other reason than the comedy of being mailed in a box.

    • @anyaw340
      @anyaw340 Pƙed 3 lety +13

      The true villains are the slaveholders who put these *people* in these types of convoluted, inhumane situations in the first place - not the enslaved people who had to work within a system that treated them as property. Did you forget the part of the story where Brown had been paying 50 dollars a year to his family's slaveholder, while still a slave himself, because he had been promised that the slaveholder would not sell his family? He had therefore already been tricked once before. There is also nothing comedic about an enslaved man having to mail himself to freedom.

    • @saritajones1570
      @saritajones1570 Pƙed 3 lety +2

      @@anyaw340 👏🏿

    • @tamikaruskin2345
      @tamikaruskin2345 Pƙed 3 lety +2

      selfish as hell

    • @delvindouglass
      @delvindouglass Pƙed 3 lety +1

      @@anyaw340 well said.....

    • @delvindouglass
      @delvindouglass Pƙed 3 lety +6

      Says a person who's ancestry NEVER had to deal with slavery.....

  • @primesspct2
    @primesspct2 Pƙed 4 lety

    Woo hoo a new sponsor and the back pack looks awesome! I wouldn't mind having one of those!! Thank you for the excellent life of "Box" Brown! A Truly inspiring man! We all should cherish the freedoms we have in this day and age, and never take them for granted. He surely strove for a better future for himself and his fellow man!

  • @ltg1734
    @ltg1734 Pƙed 3 lety

    Thank you â˜ș so much for all of your content you have my support !!!â˜ș❀❀

  • @Natashaz48
    @Natashaz48 Pƙed 4 lety +1

    Thank you for the inspiring, timely and fascinating story of Henry Box Brown!

  • @sarah3796
    @sarah3796 Pƙed 4 lety +3

    Oh my god this should be made into a film

  • @winnifredforbes8712
    @winnifredforbes8712 Pƙed 4 lety +58

    OK. Not so much a hero. He left his family in slavery and remarried? You lost me there!

    • @mssugamoma
      @mssugamoma Pƙed 4 lety +5

      First thing I thought!! He actually sounded like a selfish person and had the nerve to remarry and come back to the hell whole of the us during slavery

    • @lpronovost84
      @lpronovost84 Pƙed 3 lety

      Me to

    • @tisadarien5282
      @tisadarien5282 Pƙed 3 lety

      That's EXACTLY whar I THOUGTH i DESPISE him an i dont even know him COWARD Period

  • @monte4955
    @monte4955 Pƙed 4 lety

    Awesome story as always FL. Really enjoy these. Thanks for researching and putting together. 👍

  • @thelittletrujillo7932
    @thelittletrujillo7932 Pƙed 4 lety +11

    Shame he should be respected but from me he’s not. I feel so bad for his family, knowing how he preached for equality and was getting famous and rich BUT wouldn’t help his own who he claimed to love........ !?!?!?

  • @mariposaorofusionfoodchann7573

    He was making money but couldn't free his first family from slavery?? I wonder what reasons he really had!

  • @nicolevarnam2290
    @nicolevarnam2290 Pƙed 4 lety +2

    What a Cool Story👍 So Glad he was able to escape to Freedom💙Wish he would have got his Family back. Thanks for Awesome Workâ€đŸ˜‰

  • @sharonbowers9929
    @sharonbowers9929 Pƙed 3 lety

    Amazing tale. Thank you.

  • @ThestorytellerofKatunga
    @ThestorytellerofKatunga Pƙed 4 lety +22

    He was selfish , deadbeat and self centered.

    • @anyaw340
      @anyaw340 Pƙed 3 lety +3

      He was an enslaved man. He did not enslave his wife and children. Never forget who the true villains are; they're the slaveholders and society who placed people like Henry and his families in these barbaric positions in the first place. Henry had already been burned once before, when he was paying his family's slaveholders annually to never sell them, despite still being enslaved himself. It may be that he distrusted the word of yet another slaveholder looking to profit off of his family members. These arrangements - whereby free blacks purchased family members' freedom - were rarely enforced by the courts, and freed blacks were often sold right back into slavery. Enslaved people were also accustomed to moving on without their family members because they had no choice. Here one minute, gone the next. What to you may seem like a gut-wrenching, cold-hearted act was just another day in the life of an enslaved individual. He also wouldn't have had the money to purchase his family. Purchasing just one slave was the equivalent of buying a house in today's money - especially if that slave was young and/or of child-producing age, like Henry's family members were.

    • @andrepettersson175
      @andrepettersson175 Pƙed 3 lety

      @@anyaw340 other people being bad dosen't make said persons actions less bad.
      It's not a zero sum game.

  • @BC-uo9so
    @BC-uo9so Pƙed 3 lety +3

    I wonder why he didn’t try to save his previous family. Or even try to find them after slavery was abolished. Sad

  • @anniej1834
    @anniej1834 Pƙed 4 lety +10

    Fascinating man shame about the wife and children he left behind thanks 4 sharing this story i love your channel stay safe and I'll see u next week 😀

  • @ForgottenLives
    @ForgottenLives  Pƙed 4 lety +18

    Many people asked about the marriage. His first marriage wasn't legally recognised!

    • @prettyinpinky5937
      @prettyinpinky5937 Pƙed 4 lety +15

      Forgotten Lives don’t get why no one knows that. Slaves weren’t allowed to marry so they jumped the broom.

    • @winnifredforbes8712
      @winnifredforbes8712 Pƙed 4 lety +17

      Doesn't matter. Legal or not, he had children.

    • @prettyinpinky5937
      @prettyinpinky5937 Pƙed 4 lety +7

      Winnifred Forbes that’s not why he’s answering that question, he’s answering on the legality of his 2nd marriage as people keep asking how he got married and wasn’t arrested for bigamy. Calm down

    • @paulettestennis7976
      @paulettestennis7976 Pƙed 3 lety

      Does not matter he made ,a commitment to her , lived with her and four children ( last not born before they were sold) He earned money but did not use it to buy back his family. THAT was his first responsibility to get His family then make it legal if it was not.

  • @HypatiaMuse
    @HypatiaMuse Pƙed 4 lety +1

    I've read some of the memoirs of former slaves, but don't recall ever hearing this story- thanks for sharing this amazing history as usual.

  • @gardengeek903
    @gardengeek903 Pƙed 4 lety +2

    I am enjoying this channel. Some stories I know already like this but others are new to me .

  • @London263
    @London263 Pƙed 4 lety +1

    Amazing story, thank you

  • @ELKE-
    @ELKE- Pƙed 4 lety +4

    What amazing man! Hard and sad life though! Loved to listen this story FLives. Great work on the video! Thank you so much.

    • @ELKE-
      @ELKE- Pƙed 4 lety +1

      Did enjoy your narration as always! Thank you for this incredible story. 8ads👍

    • @ELKE-
      @ELKE- Pƙed 4 lety

      Just relisten the video on my morning here. Thank you so much!

    • @ForgottenLives
      @ForgottenLives  Pƙed 4 lety +1

      @@ELKE- Thanks for leaving comments on each video :)

    • @ELKE-
      @ELKE- Pƙed 4 lety

      @@ForgottenLives My pleasure, and you are always very welcome! Thank you

  • @ImCarolB
    @ImCarolB Pƙed 3 lety +1

    This reminds me of a museum in Berlin, Germany, where they have exhibits on the amazing and often dangerous and risky ways people escaped from the east to the west.

  • @markjamison9677
    @markjamison9677 Pƙed 4 lety +4

    Hmmmmm he ditch his family and had the money and opportunity to secure their freedom but didn’t go figure .

  • @rufousdederp
    @rufousdederp Pƙed 4 lety +4

    I always look forward to your videos đŸ€—

  • @rianalauren
    @rianalauren Pƙed 3 lety

    fascinating in its inception and exception. wonderful way to do it.

  • @kerrygleeson4409
    @kerrygleeson4409 Pƙed 4 lety +1

    Thanks for sharing another great story 👍🇩đŸ‡ș👀

  • @carriemarsh1634
    @carriemarsh1634 Pƙed 4 lety +8

    I’m glad to see you’ve got a sponsor! Good on you! I remember hearing a bit about Brown as a child in school, but your research goes much farther in depth than what I remember learning. There are a few things some people need to realize about this time period. First of all, slaves didn’t marry in the traditional sense. There was no ceremony, no legality to the union, and no control over the fate of your own life and the lives of your spouse or any children of the union. You and/or your family members could be sold off for any reason at any time, and there were many other horrible things that happened to these poor souls during their lifetime. Second, I wonder how much the slave owner wanted for Brown’s family. Considering there was the wife and four children, and at that time period slaves commanded top dollar, I wonder if he was told a price that he didn’t think he’d ever accrue in his lifetime. It sounds pretty cold for it to be presented that he ‘declined’ to buy them, but that may have been gossip, not the truth. Once again you give us an interesting, unique story of a life lost to most in the annals of time, well chronicled, and delivered with aplomb. Thanks! I look forward to your next forgotten life!

    • @ruthymorales7208
      @ruthymorales7208 Pƙed 4 lety +1

      I also believe there were extenuating circumstances that hindered him from being able to "buy back" his family. He didn't seem like the kind of man who would have done something like that especially with how much he suffered for them when they were sold. That was basically the whole catalyst to his escape! I'm glad that there are people who think with common sense!

    • @Oldschoolways168
      @Oldschoolways168 Pƙed 3 lety

      No excuse, he sucks.

  • @CrimeBustersUK
    @CrimeBustersUK Pƙed 4 lety +3

    Another fantastic story - I need a new backpack so thank you for the recommendation. CB

  • @Violets6991
    @Violets6991 Pƙed 3 lety +1

    If he was so determined to get his family back it could be the price the slave owners asked for was extortionate as they used to sell each family member individually. It’s truly awful that they weren’t given their freedom.

  • @isbsey
    @isbsey Pƙed 3 lety +2

    I wonder what happened to his first wife and children? I'm disappointed that he was a deadbeat to them. Even if she had taken up with another man thinking she'd never see Henry again, he should have supported his 4 children, morally

  • @solcitoguzmancito7605
    @solcitoguzmancito7605 Pƙed 3 lety +1

    Awesome video! I like your channel. Many blessings for you. đŸ‘đŸœđŸ˜ƒ

  • @KrissyJay777
    @KrissyJay777 Pƙed 3 lety +16

    For the record, Henry made multiple failed attempts to save his wife. Those cowards stole everything they could from that man while stringing him along making him think they could save his wife.
    Stop passing judgment and understand he was a slave as well and he did all that he could.

    • @vonbook1973
      @vonbook1973 Pƙed 3 lety +8

      He received an offer to purchase them to freedom -- and he declined. And knew he was wrong because he then tried to keep it a secret. So, "multiple failed attempts" where??? Stop caping for no-count men.

    • @KrissyJay777
      @KrissyJay777 Pƙed 3 lety +1

      @@vonbook1973 im good on the negativity but he had no way in affording to keep them while being robbed from his owners point blank and period. Go read his memoir

    • @Oldschoolways168
      @Oldschoolways168 Pƙed 3 lety +5

      @@KrissyJay777 He's a liar. He wanted to start over.

    • @dagarnertn
      @dagarnertn Pƙed 2 lety +1

      Thank you for this! The way it was said in the video made me think he had moved on to a new woman or something and just left his family in slavery. That’s terrible they strung him along.

    • @KrissyJay777
      @KrissyJay777 Pƙed 2 lety

      @@Oldschoolways168 negative..
      .

  • @The_Planted_Eye_1
    @The_Planted_Eye_1 Pƙed 3 lety

    Great account of his story. I remember hearing about his story but not to this level of detail. Sad about his family but can't really criticize him without knowing the details. I am sure there was a price for obtaining his family and that may or may not have been a deterrent. If they wanted him to come get them personally would have also been a problem. Hopefully they were able to survive and gain their freedom after the Civil War. Anyway, thanks for providing such an abundance of quality content.

  • @janetcw9808
    @janetcw9808 Pƙed 4 lety +1

    Thanks for the story, never heard of it before.
    Poor first family. 😔
    Good wishes to you and followers Worldwide Xxx đŸ™đŸŒ ❀ 🍀 đŸ—ș 🏮󠁧󠁱󠁳󠁣󠁮󠁿

  • @oldmanfromoc7684
    @oldmanfromoc7684 Pƙed 4 lety +3

    Great story, lots of history!

    • @osayiobaigbo1366
      @osayiobaigbo1366 Pƙed 3 lety

      Someone said to read his memoir. His memoir would tell the story to suit him. He abandoned his family. Period.

  • @mosconi4539
    @mosconi4539 Pƙed 4 lety +18

    A man who doesnt save his family is worth S. .... in my opinion.

    • @ElevationBowling
      @ElevationBowling Pƙed 3 lety

      Its easy to judge a man whose shoes you’ve never worn

  • @UnconditionalSurrenderG
    @UnconditionalSurrenderG Pƙed 4 lety +3

    I remember reading about Henry Box Brown when I was a kid

  • @nancyM1313
    @nancyM1313 Pƙed 4 lety +4

    Thank you.đŸ‡ș🇾
    I am glad that those who did not know this true story can learn it here.
    Peace out.

    • @ELKE-
      @ELKE- Pƙed 4 lety +2

      Hi Nancy! Incredible story isn't? Traveling inside the box! Loved when he came out of the box: " How do you do gentlemen!" Hope you are well! Good night😇💕😮

    • @bdsaints1986
      @bdsaints1986 Pƙed 4 lety +1

      K

    • @nancyM1313
      @nancyM1313 Pƙed 4 lety +2

      @@ELKE-🍀 Hey ElkeđŸ˜ƒđŸ€˜đŸ€

  • @MooreFam624
    @MooreFam624 Pƙed 3 lety +10

    Brown escaped, he didn't deserve the accolade bestowed to him. He never returned to help any of the people in chains. And your all uptight about him not getting his family back... They stop coming to his mind

  • @cadillacdeville5828
    @cadillacdeville5828 Pƙed 4 lety

    I'm late but here 😁. Thank-you as always đŸ‘đŸ€—

  • @migue4793
    @migue4793 Pƙed 4 lety +2

    You should do one on Princess Qajar from Persia. She should be talked about more. She was outspoken, and at the time considered beautiful. She also wore western clothes and was very fashionable.

    • @ForgottenLives
      @ForgottenLives  Pƙed 4 lety +1

      Will look her up, thanks!

    • @migue4793
      @migue4793 Pƙed 4 lety

      @@ForgottenLives i just learned about her by accident a couple days back. From what I found she's very interesting figure in history.

  • @swedishpiggi
    @swedishpiggi Pƙed 4 lety +2

    My God this is terrible! No human should be treated like this!
    How did he pee and poop? And not die from dehydrate?
    I always love Your stories!
    Hugs from Sweden

    • @ForgottenLives
      @ForgottenLives  Pƙed 4 lety +1

      I suppose he held it in or had to do it in his small box! Thanks as usual :)

  • @Gen-X_Dirtbag
    @Gen-X_Dirtbag Pƙed 4 lety +3

    This is a historically rich and wonderful story!! Thank you Forgotten LivesđŸ€©

  • @bettyjames4155
    @bettyjames4155 Pƙed 4 lety +3

    Henry was crazy resourceful to escape that way. Too bad he didn't save his family though. I wonder if the slave owner was asking for too much money.

  • @elizabethspedding1975
    @elizabethspedding1975 Pƙed 4 lety

    A very brave man, its good that there were some decent people who helped him.
    I hope that statue in Bristol, never gets put back.

  • @curtisthomas2670
    @curtisthomas2670 Pƙed 2 lety

    Fun fact: in the early 20th century the US Postal Service's package delivery wasn't entirely clear on what could and couldn't be mailed. Several people used the vagueness to mail their kids as stamps were much cheaper than a railway ticket. (They didn't have to hide them in a box!)
    One woman mailed her six-year-old daughter from her home in Florida to her father’s home in Virginia. At 720 miles, it was longest postal trip of any of the children, and cost 15 cents in stamps.
    The postal service eventually clamped down on the practice.

  • @reedmorris6559
    @reedmorris6559 Pƙed 4 lety +5

    After hearing he did not save his family..what a beast of a man. Curse him

  • @paulettestennis7976
    @paulettestennis7976 Pƙed 3 lety +2

    Well lost all admiration when he REFUSED to at least get his family's freedom.. He loved the attenrion he got. So much for his broken heart over the loss of his family. He is definetly a fair weather friend. Can you imagine the deep heart felt loss his wife and children felt when told he refused to help them. The ,abandonment would be awful and knowing he was free and went on enjoying his life. The gall of him to remarry. I wonder after the war and he came back here if his first children tried to contact him. Sorry but this man's,story is not worth mentioning as something unique.

  • @sheilayoung8007
    @sheilayoung8007 Pƙed 4 lety +2

    What an amazing man!

  • @derpinplayer1147
    @derpinplayer1147 Pƙed 2 lety

    learning about this in yr 5! :D

  • @kali3665
    @kali3665 Pƙed 4 lety +2

    In the director's commentary in the movie CSA, which I enjoyed greatly, they bring up Brown. His experience inspired a similar described scene set in the present day where a modern-day slave escapes in a FedEx box (or ConEx in the film). :-)

  • @juliahamilton2282
    @juliahamilton2282 Pƙed 4 lety

    I do love these and you present the very well

  • @janbadinski551
    @janbadinski551 Pƙed 4 lety +2

    He could have bought his first 'wife', set everyone free and legally married her. He didn't. That's just not right, especially that his wife and children were still in slavery. Self centered creep.

  • @entretienrgt514
    @entretienrgt514 Pƙed 4 lety +2

    Why didn't Smith deliver the crate himself?

  • @MsDisneylandlover
    @MsDisneylandlover Pƙed 3 lety +2

    That was nothing but god that was with him

  • @rogerevans9214
    @rogerevans9214 Pƙed 4 lety +1

    very smart to get away from slavery free dom at last very very good one sorry he did not get his family well done love this one very very nice story

  • @nicoleperron3315
    @nicoleperron3315 Pƙed 4 lety +8

    Good for him, it certainly was ingenious. But why wouldn't he buy his family back???
    If he was religious, marriage is for life, then to happily marry again well that's bigamy.
    I can't help but feel sorry for his first wife, of course she could have been an evil she monster from hell. Would love to hear her perspective on this. It's so wrong that families were split up like this, stuff like this should never have happened in the first place. No one should own anyone.

    • @prettyinpinky5937
      @prettyinpinky5937 Pƙed 4 lety +3

      Slaves were never allowed to legally marry, just jump the broom and that was never performed by a priest, just someone on the plantation. If you’re American and you don’t know that, it’s sad considering I’m African and I do

    • @nicoleperron3315
      @nicoleperron3315 Pƙed 4 lety +2

      @@prettyinpinky5937 hi I'm Canadian and no I didn't know that but even jumping the broom would that not be considered a marriage by him?

    • @nicoleperron3315
      @nicoleperron3315 Pƙed 4 lety

      @@prettyinpinky5937 in 1793 Upper Canada (Ontario) passed the anti slavery act. In PEi complete abolition of slavery in 1825.
      The Imperial abolition was 1834.
      After that we had the Underground Railroad which was a positive moment in Canadian history.😊 and that we learn in school, not so much the American history.

    • @lilmaxAlarcxn
      @lilmaxAlarcxn Pƙed 4 lety

      Wtf troll much.. ingenious how we've been taken into your wicked plot. Lmao cheers

    • @quanbrooklynkid7776
      @quanbrooklynkid7776 Pƙed 4 lety +2

      @@prettyinpinky5937 I still don't matter he should have got his family back

  • @burstitdown9440
    @burstitdown9440 Pƙed 2 lety

    omg this makes boxie brown from AQTH so much more funny

  • @bethanys.arbaugh9572
    @bethanys.arbaugh9572 Pƙed 2 lety

    What a brave man.

  • @MsDisneylandlover
    @MsDisneylandlover Pƙed 3 lety

    This was good

  • @getyourlife
    @getyourlife Pƙed 4 lety +2

    great story! this should be a movie. staring Denzel..but why didnt he come for his family?? hmmmmmm

  • @nancydaniel4716
    @nancydaniel4716 Pƙed 4 lety +1

    Great man đŸ‡șđŸ‡žâœïžđŸ‘

  • @emilyalexander228
    @emilyalexander228 Pƙed 4 lety +14

    Wow. His story was so inspiring... until he DIDN’T rescue his wife and CHILDREN. What a d~bag. It’s like finding out that Ghandi was crawling into bed with his niece.
    Men are a real disappointment.

  • @jennijennifer5129
    @jennijennifer5129 Pƙed 4 lety +1

    He may have tried to get his first family back. But they were "owned" by the neighbouring slave owner, who obviously didn't care about a black man's family, If he did try, he could have been unsuccessful. Also the owner may have resold the family to somewhere else unknown.

  • @SonyaLCH
    @SonyaLCH Pƙed 2 lety +1

    People are more upset that he didn't want to buy his family back than they are that his family was considered property for sell in the first place.

    • @TheNecessaryEvil
      @TheNecessaryEvil Pƙed měsĂ­cem

      Are u as mad that Africans taught Europeans how to do the slave game? đŸ€·đŸżđŸ§â˜•ïž

  • @xyzsame4081
    @xyzsame4081 Pƙed 3 lety +2

    11:48 the same year he emerged from his box the new owner of his family contacted Brown. ... Well he would not have had the money, would he ? and it begs the question if a white person buying the enslaved family on his behalf would have been safe (they would be suspected as being an abolitionist, so all bets were off).

  • @fifimsp
    @fifimsp Pƙed 3 lety

    Wow. This guy is hardcore! My favorite line is that slave owners got worried that others would start sending themselves to freedom. Dude, at that point you might want to start questioning your actions. If somebody is willing to stuff their ass into a box to get away from you, maybe you aren't providing such a hot life. LOL. Also, I think that Williamson guy that he was suppose to address himself to was kind of nice looking.