Torrance Harvey recreates the life of runaway slave John F. Brown, seen here writing in his diary.
By Nancy Peckenham
A history teacher at Newburgh Free Academy who is also a professional actor has found the perfect blend of his life’s passions playing the role of a runaway slave who settled along the Hudson River in the early 1800s.
Torrance Harvey, who plays James F. Brown in a documentary film and in Living History performances that will begin later this year, has been a hip hop dancer and dramatic actor on an Oprah Winfrey-produced television show but he says that playing Brown could be the most important role of his life.
Torrance Harvey Interprets the Life of A Runaway Slave
Harvey says that when he first learned about Brown’s life at Mount Gulian, now an historic site in Beacon, he thought of his own family’s history, one that he can trace back to a slave on a North Carolina plantation in 1853. “This story is about the human elements of slavery,” Harvey said in a recent interview. “It was very emotionally taxing to be a runaway slave, to be humble.”
The story of James F. Brown shatters many of the pre-conceptions of race relations before the Civil War. Brown was a slave living in Maryland where his owners had promised him freedom, then denied it. Brown had some independence even in slavery and had earned money to purchase the freedom of his wife, Julia. The two planned a life together once he was freed.
From Escaped Slave to Noted Horticulturalist
In an eloquent letter to his owner, using the words he likely learned in church, Brown said he was escaping by ship and promised to pay back any money he owed. “I want to do justice for myself and for others,” he wrote.
Torrance Harvey reads the letter Brown wrote to his slave master explaining why he had to flee.
In the Hudson Valley, Brown became a servant of the wealthy Verplanck family, gaining skills as a horticulturalist and consulting with the famous landscape architect Andrew Jackson Downing in Newburgh.
Brown’s Diary Opened a Window to His World
Throughout his life in the Hudson Valley, Brown kept a dairy that serves as the basis on a new book by Dr. Myra Young Armstead, entitled “Freedom’s Gardener: James F. Brown, Horticulture, and the Hudson Valley in Antebellum America.”
On Saturday, February 4, Dr. Armisted will join Harvey at the Mount Gulian Historic Site where she will talk about her book in which Brown’s life illuminates the concept of freedom as it developed in the United States in the early national and antebellum years.
The Living History productions, featuring Harvey and other local actors, will explore chapters in Brown’s life at Mount Gulian, including his relationship with the mistress of the household, Mary Anna Verplanck. Brown earned the right to vote once he owned property nearby but Verplanck, a wealthy landowner, never could vote because she was a woman.
Another production will examine the relationship between James and a younger Verplanck son who, at age 21, trained and led African-American Union soldiers in the Civil War.
To play the character, Harvey says he tried to understand how it would feel to be born into slavery, with families torn apart, while at the same time breaking stereotypes of what that experience was like for different people, like Brown.
John F. Brown Book Premiere This Saturday
Mount Gulian’s Executive Director Elaine Hayes was key to creating the Living History productions that re-create James F. Brown’s life and time. She says that local libraries, historical societies and other groups interested in hosting a performance should contact her at Mount Gulian at (845) 831-8172
The book premiere will be held at 1 pm on Saturday, February 4 at Mount Gulian Historic Site, located at 145 Sterling St. in Beacon. For info, call 845-831-8172 or email info@mountgulian.org.
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