# 6 THE ESCAPE A LEAP TO FREEDOM
| Author : | William Wells Brown MOUNT STERLING, KY |
| Artist : | Enrique Gonzalez LEXINGTON, KY |
| Sponsor : | LexArts Board |
William Wells Brown (1814-1884): The Escape A Leap To Freedom
Playwright, journalist, novelist, and historian William Wells Brown was born a slave on a Montgomery County, Ky., farm near Mount Sterling where his mother was a slave and his father the slave owner’s cousin. At age three, he was brought to Marthasville in Warren County west of St. Louis. After sixteen more years of enslavement, he escaped in 1834 to free territory in Ohio and educated himself. He is best known for his popular 1847 autobiography, Narrative of William W. Brown, a Fugitive Slave, Written by Himself. His 1858 five-act play The Escape A Leap To Freedom was the first play published by an African American and relates the story of two slaves from different owners who marry in secrecy but are revealed by a bi-racial slave. The ensuing events ultimately lead to a dramatic, successful escape to Canada.
Enrique Gonzalez:
BOOKBENCHESLEX.ORG
My inspiration for the book bench is William Wells Brown’s play, The Escape. It’s a story of love, freedom, and the struggles of African Americans in the pre-Civil War era. The main characters are front and center with a backdrop of wings of freedom. The North Star is a symbol of the guiding force illuminating their path to safety. Enrique Gonzalez, a native of Venezuela, now lives and paints in Lexington, Ky.