Battle of Backbone Mountain

Add links

Frances Jane Scroggins Brown (15 April 1819 - 16 April 1914)[1] was an African American Underground Railroad station operator.[2] Brown's daughter, Hallie Quinn Brown, co-founded the National Association of Colored Women (NACW).[3]

Early life

Frances Scroggins was born into slavery in Winchester County, Virginia,[4][2] She was freed by one of her grandfathers - a white Revolutionary War officer and plantation owner.[5] Scroggins worked as an indentured servant until her employer moved to Cincinnati, Ohio.[2]

From around 1839, she boarded in the home of James Wilkerson, a freedman who ran a safehouse in the city.[2] During this time, she witnessed enslavers attempting to capture those fleeing slavery, helping to secure their freedom.[2] In one instance, an enslaver attempted to "claim" Scroggins, furious that she had helped an enslaved woman to escape through the Cincinnati network.[2] Known for singing mournful songs by the roadside, Scroggins was called "Crazy Jane".[2]

In about 1840 or1841, she married Thomas Arthur Brown of Frederick County, Maryland, who purchased his freedom in 1843.[4][2] Thomas Brown worked as a steward on the Mississippi River, and was said to have been the first black express agent in the nation.[6]

Underground Railroad

The couple settled in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, at a residence called Monongahela House.[2][7] The Brown house in Pittsburgh became a frequent stop for enslaved people fleeing to Canada on the Underground Railroad.[4] There, aided by a network including freedman physician Martin Robinson Delany and the Reverend Lewis Woodson, they offered food, shelter, and directions onward to safety.[2]

In 1864, because of Frances' poor health, the family moved to Chatham, Ontario, Canada, returning to the US in 1870.[4] The family then settled in Wilberforce, Ohio, where they built Homewood Cottage.[4][8]

Family and legacy

One of the Browns' six children,[9] Hallie Quinn Brown, went on to become a prominent educator and elocutionist, who helped to pioneer African American women's clubs.[10] In biographies of their daughter, the couple are described as having been "learned and passionate about education".[11] Thomas Brown was known as the "walking encyclopedia", while Frances was said to have been very involved with Wilberforce University, where she acted as an unofficial counselor to students.[11][12]

In Women of Ohio, it was written that:

Mr. and Mrs. Brown exerted a definite influence for good upon the community and “Ma” Brown, as she was affectionately called, lived serenely and did her alms quietly to the ripe age of ninety-five years.[13]

In Front Line of Freedom, Keith P. Griffler numbered Frances Scroggins Brown as "among America’s forgotten children of the revolution", part of "the front line of the struggle against American slavery."[7]

In 2023, Frances Scroggins Brown was included in The Day-Breakers, by poet Michael Fraser, which imagines the lives of Black soldiers who fought for the Union during the American Civil War.[14][15]

References

  1. ^ Brown, Hallie Q. (1926). Homespun heroines and other women of distinction. Xenia, O.: Aldine Pub. Co.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Snodgrass, Mary Ellen (2008). The Underground Railroad : an encyclopedia of people, places, and operations. Internet Archive. Armonk, N.Y. : M.E. Sharpe. ISBN 978-0-7656-8093-8.
  3. ^ "Frances June Scroggins Brown portrait". Ohio Memory.
  4. ^ a b c d e "Brown, Hallie Quinn (c. 1845–1949) | Encyclopedia.com". www.encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 2023-06-02.
  5. ^ "Today in History - March 10". Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA. Retrieved 2023-06-02.
  6. ^ Divisions, Schomburg Center Research. "Research Guides: African American Women Writers of the 19th Century: Brown-Bush". libguides.nypl.org. Retrieved 2023-06-02.
  7. ^ a b Griffler, Keith P. (2010). Front Line of Freedom: African Americans and the Forging of The Underground Railroad in the Ohio Valley. University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 978-0-8131-3008-8.
  8. ^ Lyman, Darryl (2000). Great African-American women. Internet Archive. New York : Gramercy Books. ISBN 978-0-517-16216-3.
  9. ^ Trolander, Imogen Davenport, ed. (1994). Women of Greene County. Internet Archive. Women's History Project of Greene Country, Inc.
  10. ^ "Hallie Quinn Brown | African American Educator, Activist & Author | Britannica". www.britannica.com. Retrieved 2024-01-24.
  11. ^ a b Nartey, Stephen (2023-02-17). "The extraordinary story of Hallie Brown, who visited plantations to teach Black children denied education during slavery". Face2Face Africa. Retrieved 2023-06-02.
  12. ^ "Our Legacy". Hallie Q. Brown Community Center. 2014-05-31. Retrieved 2024-01-24.
  13. ^ Neely, Ruth; Ohio Newspaper Women's Association (1900). Women of Ohio; a record of their achievements in the history of the state;. Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center. [Springfield, Ill.] S. J. Clarke Publishing Company.
  14. ^ Fraser, Michael (2022). The Day-Breakers. Internet Archive. Windsor, Ontario: Biblioasis. ISBN 978-1-77196-483-8.
  15. ^ "The Day-Breakers". Biblioasis. Retrieved 2024-01-24.
source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frances_Jane_Scroggins_Brown