William Wells Brown

The Black Man: His Antecedents, His Genius, and His Achievements William Wells Brown

In making his case for the intellectual and moral equality of negroes at a time when the majority of white society believed otherwise, William Wells Brown presents more than 50 portraits of African Americans who, in the face of prejudice and slavery, managed to make a difference.

Called at the time of its 1865 publication "the best account of the ability of the Negro ever put in print" and "an incontestable argument," the book's clarity, vision, and the author's own enormous achievements make it an essential slice of black history that could make the same claims today, more than 140 years later.

Born into slavery, American author WILLIAM WELLS BROWN (1814-1884) escaped to the North where he became a prominent abolitionist lecturer, novelist, playwright, and historian. His novel, Clotel: or, The President's Daughter, is considered by historians to be the first novel written by an African American. His other works include The Negro in the American Rebellion and The Escape; or, A Leap for Freedom.