In 1849, Henry Brown, enslaved in Virginia, had friends ship him in a wooden crate to Philadelphia, in a state where slavery was banned.
The box was marked “this side up,” but carriers often set it upside down. Brown kept still and wasn't discovered.
After 27 hours on wagons, trains and a steamboat, anti-slavery activists opened it. One remembered Brown's first words: “How do you do, gentlemen?”