On March 23, 1849, Henry Brown, an enslaved man from Richmond, Virginia, escaped by having himself shipped in a wooden crate via the Adams Express Company to Philadelphia, a journey of 27 hours. Brown, who had been inspired by the example of other escapees, enlisted the help of a free Black man and a white shoemaker to pack him into a box measuring 3 feet long, 2 feet wide, and 2.5 feet deep, with only a small air hole and some provisions. Upon arrival, he emerged to freedom and adopted the name Henry Box Brown, becoming a celebrated abolitionist speaker and performer. His daring escape captured the public imagination and highlighted the extreme measures enslaved people would take to obtain their freedom.

Henry Box Brown's escape has been the subject of numerous poems, songs, and dramatic performances, symbolizing the ingenuity and desperation of freedom seekers. His story appears in the works of poets such as Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and in the abolitionist literature of the 1850s. Brown's own narrative, published in 1851, is a classic of the slave narrative genre, and his life has continued to inspire contemporary writers and artists.