Brown Fellowship Society 333Th e Brown Fellowship Society has been examined
in numerous historical studies of race and identity in the
American South. Because the preamble to the organiza-
tion’s Rules and Regulations indicated that the members
were “free brown men,” many historians have cited the BFS
as an instrument through which Charleston’s mulatto elite
separated themselves into a separate societal stratum from
darker-skinned free people of color. In particular, they
argue that the BFS helped to establish a racial pecking order
in the Lower South that was contrary to the racial solidarity
that existed among blacks in the Upper South and North in
the 19th century. However, others suggest that the use of
the term “brown” should not be taken so literally; they note
that “brown” was used only to distinguish the organization
from another, older organization that existed at St. Philip’s,
the “Fellowship Society,” made up of white members of the
congregation.
Among the tenets of the society was the notion that
no controversy should be broached under the umbrella of
the BFS or during the members’ monthly meetings. Even
in the wake of the Civil War, factions of the organization
struggled to maintain this policy of avoiding any contro-
versial topic from crossing into the BFS meetings. Aft er the
Denmark Vesey incident in 1822, Charleston’s free people
of color were banned from meeting as organizations—with
the exception of the BFS. A review of their minutes by local
authorities deemed the organization nonthreatening, and
they were allowed to continue with their activities. An early
19th-century historian, Charlestonian Th eodore Dehon
Jervey, praised the excellent environment that the pre–
Civil War Charleston had provided for African Americans
exemplifi ed by the freedom and superior actions of mem-
bers of the Brown Fellowship Society as compared to free
people of color in the North. In his proslavery argument,
the BFS was proof that the system of slavery and Charles-
ton’s treatment of the free people of color in its community
had worked.
Th e Brown Fellowship Society fl ourished throughout
the 19th century, although the society changed its name to
the Century Fellowship in 1893. Aft er 1916, the BFS con-
tinued to meet, although it conducted business only on a
limited basis. In 1990, the Brown Fellowship Society cel-
ebrated its bicentennial.
See also: Benevolent SocietiesJane M. AldrichIn 1854, Brown quietly returned to the United States
aft er members of the Anti-Slavery Society purchased his
freedom. He continued his literary career, fi nishing a drama
and a play before the Civil War. During the war, he helped
recruit African American soldiers for the Union Army, in-
cluding some for the celebrated 54th Massachusetts infan-
try. Before the war was over, Brown turned his talents to
history, writing three major volumes in black history that
were intended to debunk the myth of racial inferiority. His
life, indeed, is a testament to the achievements of African
Americans, and he was looked upon as a latter-day Benja-
min Banneker. Brown worked as a physician in the Boston
area for the fi nal two decades of his life.
See also: Abolition, Slavery; American Anti-Slavery Soci-
ety (AASS); Douglass, Frederick; Fugitive Slaves; Jeff erson,
Th omas; Slave Culture; Underground Railroad
Robert GudmestadBibliography
Brown, William Wells. Th e Black Man: His Antecedents, His Ge-
nius, His Achievements. New York: Th omas Hamilton, 1863.
Brown, William Wells. Clotel; or Th e President’s Daughter. Ed.
Robert S. Levine. Boston: Bedford St. Martin’s, 2000.
Brown, William Wells. Narrative of William W. Brown, a Fugitive
Slave. Boston: Anti-Slavery Offi ce, 1847.
Farrison, William Edward. William Wells Brown: Author and Re-
former. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1969.
Brown Fellowship Society
Th e Brown Fellowship Society (BFS) was formed in Charles-
ton, South Carolina, in 1790 and was initially intended to
serve as a burial association. Black members of St. Philip’s
Episcopal Church could take part in religious worship and
the Episcopal Church’s sacred rites, but as people of color,
they could not be buried in its cemetery. As a result, a group
of elite men of color formed the Brown Fellowship Society
to establish a cemetery and provide death benefi ts for its
members and their families. Over time, however, the orga-
nization also evolved into an elite men’s society. Members
were involved in educational and cultural pursuits—for ex-
ample, the Holloway Family Scrapbook, which holds mem-
ories of one of the organization’s most prominent families
and contains clippings that promote concerts and other cul-
tural events held during the mid- to late 1900s at the BFS
Fellowship Hall, next to the organization’s cemetery.