Edward Everett Brown

Edward Everett Brown
Born1858
Dover, New Hampshire, United States
DiedJanuary 14, 1919(1919-01-14) (aged 60–61)
Boston, Massachusetts, United States
Burial placePine Hill Cemetery, Dover, New Hampshire, United States
EducationDartmouth College, Boston University School of Law
Occupation(s)Lawyer, author, orator, civil servant
RelativesNellie Brown Mitchell (sister)

Edward Everett Brown (1858 – January 14, 1919) was an American lawyer, author, civil servant, and orator in Boston, Massachusetts. In 1899, he helped draft anti-lynching legislation, and advocated for civil rights. He was a Republican.[1]

Early life and education

Edward Everett Brown was born on 1858 in Dover, New Hampshire, to parents Martha A. (née Runnels) and Charles J. Brown.[1] Two of his sisters were singers, Nellie Brown Mitchell and Edna E. Brown.[1][2] He graduated from Dover High School in 1878.[3]

Brown studied at Dartmouth College, where he studied French and Latin and was an orator. He gave a speech on genius that received plaudits. He then studied law under New Hampshire judge John H. White. He continued his studies at Boston University Law School and worked in the law office of ex-governor William Gaston along with ex-mayor of Boston Edwin Upton Curtis.[1]

He married and held social functions at his home. His home was at 16 Fountain Street in the Roxbury neighborhood of Boston.[4]

Career

Brown was admitted to the Massachusetts Bar in 1884. In 1885, Brown and friend George C. Freeman were denied entrance to a roller skating rink in Boston, called Highland Rink; Brown and lawyer James Harris Wolff took the rink owner David H. McKay to the Roxbury Municipal Court for racial discrimination and violating a 1865 state law from the Reconstruction-era.[5][6] They won the case, and brought additional cases forward against the rink a year later.[5][6]

In 1886, he became a partner at the law firm Walker, Wolff, and Brown, led by Brown, Edwin Garrison Walker, and James Harris Wolff, and it was Boston's first "colored" law firm.[1][7]

Brown was a member of the Wendell Phillips Club, and founding president of the Crispus Attucks Club in Boston.[5] He was first vice president of the National League of Boston.[1]

Brown wrote the book, "Sketch of the Life of Mr. Lewis Charlton, and Reminiscences of Slavery" (c. 1870, Daily Press Print) about Lewis Charlton, a formerly enslaved person who became a school founder, and temperance advocate.[8][9]

He worked as the Boston Deputy Health Commissioner, and at the time of his death the Boston Deputy Collector.[4][10]

Death

Brown died on January 14, 1919.[11] His burial was at Pine Hill Cemetery in Dover, New Hampshire.[4] A marker honoring him and his sister is on the New Hampshire Black Heritage Trail.[12]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f "Edward Everett Brown 1899". The Colored American. November 25, 1899. p. 1 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. ^ Downey, K. C. (2024-02-21). "NH siblings — one a singer and inventor, and the other a lawyer — were civil rights activists". WMUR-TV (video, article). Retrieved 2025-01-11.
  3. ^ Mayor's Address, and Annual Report of Receipts and Expenditures. Dover, New Hampshire: The Marshall Press, Printers. 1909. p. 324 – via Google Books.
  4. ^ a b c "Funeral for Edward Everett Brown". The Boston Globe. January 12, 1919. p. 15 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ^ a b c Burstein, Andrew (2024-04-23). Longing for Connection: Entangled Memories and Emotional Loss in Early America. JHU Press. p. 285. ISBN 978-1-4214-4830-5 – via Google Books.
  6. ^ a b Neal, Anthony W. (January 14, 2015). "James Harris Wolff: Civil War veteran, prominent Boston attorney". The Bay State Banner. ISSN 1946-6730. Retrieved 2025-01-11.
  7. ^ Massachusetts Legal History: A Journal of the Supreme Judicial Court Historical Society. The Society. 1999. p. 122.
  8. ^ "Lewis Charlton and Edward Everett Brown, edited by Sketch of the Life of Mr. Lewis Charlton, and Reminiscences of Slavery".
  9. ^ "Edward Everett Brown | The Online Books Page". onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu.
  10. ^ Du Bois, William Edward Burghardt (1919). "Edward "Ed" Everett Brown". The Crisis. Crisis Publishing Company. p. 65 – via Google Books.
  11. ^ "Obituary for Edward Everett Brown". The New York Age. 1919-01-18. p. 2. Retrieved 2025-01-11 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ^ "NH Black Heritage Trail will unveil new marker in Dover Saturday". New Hampshire Public Radio. July 14, 2023.