The Escape; or, A Leap for Freedom

play by Brown

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July 23, 2026

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The Escape; or, A Leap for Freedom is the first published play by an African American, written by William Wells Brown in 1858. This melodrama, featuring comic elements, centers on two slaves who secretly marry. Brown, a writer and abolitionist, was also the first African American to publish a novel, Clotel (1853). He escaped slavery in 1834 and dedicated his life to lecturing on abolitionism and temperance reform. His works, including The Escape, draw on themes familiar to readers of fugitive slave narratives.12

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Black theater
William Wells Brown’s The Escape; or, A Leap for Freedom (1858) was the first Black play published, but the first real success of an African American dramatist was Angelina W. Grimké’s Rachel (1916).
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William Wells Brown’s The Escape; or, A Leap for Freedom (1858) was the first Black play published, but the first real success of an African American dramatist was Angelina W. Grimké’s Rachel (1916).
Read More

William Wells Brown
…only published play is The Escape; or, A Leap for Freedom (1858), a melodrama, with notable comic moments, about two slaves who secretly marry. Brown’s historical writings include The Black Man (1863), The Negro in the American Rebellion (1867), and The Rising Son (1873). His final book, My Southern Home…
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…only published play is The Escape; or, A Leap for Freedom (1858), a melodrama, with notable comic moments, about two slaves who secretly marry. Brown’s historical writings include The Black Man (1863), The Negro in the American Rebellion (1867), and The Rising Son (1873). His final book, My Southern Home…
Read More

African American literature
Prose, drama, and poetry
…the first African American play, The Escape; or, A Leap for Freedom, based on scenes and themes familiar to readers of so-called fugitive slave narratives. In the late 1850s Martin R. Delany, a Black journalist and physician who would later serve as a major in the Union army during the…
Read More
…the first African American play, The Escape; or, A Leap for Freedom, based on scenes and themes familiar to readers of so-called fugitive slave narratives. In the late 1850s Martin R. Delany, a Black journalist and physician who would later serve as a major in the Union army during the…
Read More