# William Wells Brown: An African-American Life

Ezra Greenspan will discussed his book "William Wells Brown: An African American Life." Brown (1814-1884) was born a slave and kept functionally illiterate until he was 19, when he escaped. He became an agent of the Underground Railroad, an antislavery activist and a self-taught writer and orator. In 1853 Brown wrote "Clotel," the first novel by an African American. It is a fictionalized account of the fate of Thomas Jefferson's black daughters and was controversial in its day.

- Kind: Talk
- Year: 2014
- By: Library Of Congress. Center For The Book
- Genres: History
- Archive: [Library of Congress](https://www.loc.gov/item/2021689510/)
- Licence or status: Rights statement at the Library of Congress (as the archive states it)
- Credit: Library of Congress
- Who can watch: Teens profiles and older (the archive gives no rating; placed by Invisible Network from its collection and subjects)

[Watch now](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/watch/archive/loc/2021689510?play=1)