Henry Brown of Springfield, Illinois, is best known to history as the Black man who led Lincoln's horse on the day of Lincoln's funeral. But Henry Brown was much more than that.... #presidentsday @CCP_org @ALPLM @illinoisIHLC @HopeCM @NWIHistorian @nu_hgso #BHM 
Born in North Carolina in 1823, Brown left home as a young person and migrated to Ohio and Ind. before settling in Ill. He and Mary Ann King fell in love in 1847. "A mutual admiration and a matrimonial engagement was the result of their first meeting," a county history recorded.
An A.M.E. minister, Henry Brown presided over a church in Springfield but frequently traveled to other churches. He and Mary Ann had ten children together. Brown served as a delegate to the first statewide Black political convention: Chicago, Oct. 1853. coloredconventions.org/black-illinois…
In 1873, Henry Brown was the featured speaker at a celebration of the 15th Amendment in Springfield. Much had changed since the days of slavery, he said, but he feared "that we may not obtain our rights under law." For more on Brown & his world, check out: coloredconventions.org/black-illinois…
Tune in to #IllinoisBlackConventions for more in coming days on our new web exhibit: Black Organizing in Pre-Civil War Illinois: Creating Community, Demanding Justice. @KaplanHum @NorthwesternU @chipublib @ChicagoMuseum @TheTRiiBE coloredconventions.org/black-illinois…
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