William Wells Brown — American Activist died on December 29, 1884

William Wells Brown was a prominent African-American abolitionist lecturer, novelist, playwright, and historian in the United States. Born into slavery in Montgomery County, Kentucky, near the town of Mount Sterling, Brown escaped to Ohio in 1834 at the age of 20. He settled in Boston, where he worked for abolitionist causes and became a prolific writer. His novel Clotel, considered the first novel written by an African American, was published in London, where he resided at the time; it was later published in the United States... (wikipedia)