The Disappearing Man

“Go and get a box and put yourself in it.”

Henry Brown heard these words, but he didn’t know if he could believe them. Avoice was telling Henry, a slave from Virginia, to climb into a wooden box and mail himselfto freedom.The Disappearing Man is based on a true story—one of the most incredible escapeattempts in the history of the Underground Railroad. In 1849, with the help of two friends,Henry Brown was placed in a box marked THIS SIDE UP WITH CARE. Then he was shippedfrom Richmond to Philadelphia, a harrowing, 27-hour ordeal at the mercy of cargo handlersand rogues of all sorts.This was the ultimate disappearing act. He intended to make a man disappear inRichmond and miraculously reappear in Philadelphia.

He aimed to turn a dead man into a living man, a slave into a free man.