Mail Week: Henry Brown Escaped From Slavery By Mailing Himself To Philadelphia

Cool Weird Awesome with Brady Carlson

This week we're re-delivering some of our favorite episodes about letters, packages and deliveries. In this episode from March 2021, Henry Brown escapes slavery from a Virginia plantation in a very unusual way: he arranged it so he could hide in a small wooden box that was sent to Pennsylvania. Plus: a paramedic rescues a doctor from a fiery car crash, 30 years after that same doctor had helped the paramedic survive as a newborn.

⁠Slavery cost him his family. That’s when Henry ‘Box’ Brown mailed himself to freedom.⁠ (Washington Post)

⁠Little Known Black History Fact: Henry ‘Box’ Brown⁠ (Black America Web)

⁠OC Paramedic Helps Rescue Doctor Who Saved His Life as Baby; Pair Reunited⁠ (KTLA)

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