On March 23, 1849, Henry Brown climbed into a large postal crate and was mailed from slavery in Richmond, Virginia, to freedom in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. "Box Brown," as he came to be known, went on to carve out a career as an abolitionist speaker, actor, magician, hypnotist, and faith healer. This is the first book to show how subversive performances were woven into Brown's entire life, from his early days practicing magic in Virginia to his last shows in Canada and England in the 1890s.