John Brown (c. 1810-1876) also known by his slave name of Fed, was born into slavery in Virginia and was moved at age ten to North Carolina where he was separated from his mother. He was moved to Georgia where he worked some years on a cotton farm in Milledgeville under harsh conditions.

After several attempts Brown finally managed to escape and moved round the country, eventually sailing to England in 1850 where he worked as a carpenter in London. He contacted the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society and in 1855 he dictated the book Slave Life in Georgia: A Narrative of the Life, Sufferings, and Escape of John Brown, a Fugitive Slave, Now in England. This remains one of the few descriptions of slave life in the south.

Brown married a local woman and remained in London until his death.