Three Years in Europe: Or, Places I Have Seen and People I Have Met Contributor(s): Brown, William Wells (Author), Farmer, William |
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ISBN: 1108075622 ISBN-13: 9781108075626 Publisher: Cambridge University Press OUR PRICE: $44.64 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: September 2014 |
Additional Information |
BISAC Categories: - History | United States - 19th Century - Travel | Europe - Western |
Dewey: 914.04 |
Series: Cambridge Library Collection - Slavery and Abolition |
Physical Information: 0.78" H x 5.5" W x 8.5" (0.98 lbs) 350 pages |
Themes: - Chronological Period - 19th Century - Cultural Region - Western Europe |
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
Publisher Description: William Wells Brown (1814?-84) was uncertain of his own birthday because he was born a slave, near Lexington, Kentucky. He managed to escape to Ohio, a free state, in 1834. Obtaining work on steamboats, he assisted many other slaves to escape across Lake Erie to Canada. In 1849, having achieved prominence in the American anti-slavery movement, he left for Europe, both to lecture against slavery and also to gain an education for his daughters. He stayed in Europe until 1854, since the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 had made it possible that he could be taken back into slavery if he returned. Meanwhile, he had begun to write both fiction and non-fiction, and this account of his travels in Europe, prefaced by a short biography, was published in 1852. Brown was able to return to the United States in 1854, when British friends paid for his freedom. |