Thomas Brown

Allowed to purchase his freedom, Thomas Arthur Brown was the son of a Scottish woman who owned a Maryland plantation and the plantation's Black overseer. He was well educated and at some point became known as 'Mr. Brown, the walking encyclopedia.' He along with his wife, also formerly enslaved, was actively involved in the Underground Railroad.

His daughter, Hallie Q Brown earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Wilberforce University and later became Dean of Women at Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. She helped found the National Association of Colored Women (NACW), was elected Secretary of Education of the African Methodist Episcopal Church in 1900 and served as the 7th National President of the NACW.

Her parents commitment to the cause would later influence the organizations Brown founded and participated in.

Ohio Historical Society