An SMU professor visited campus Thursday to discuss the life, travels and cultural significance of one of the most important authors in American history.

William Wells Brown is considered one of the most significant writers of African-American history, but he was a runaway slave for a large period of his life.

Dr. Ezra Greenspan, an SMU professor in the English department, is an expert on the life of Brown and the author of the biography “William Wells Brown: An African-American Life.” Greenspan talked about Brown with graduate and doctoral students in English.

Brown was the first African-American to publish a novel. His novel, “Clotel,” became a model for future African-American writers. Yet, Brown could not even publish his book in his home country.

Heidi Hakimi-Hood, a doctoral student in English, said that Brown lived in times that were hard for an African-American to be successful.

“He wrote under extreme circumstances that I would hope no one else would have to endure,” Hakimi-Hood said. “He wrote at a time when he wasn’t welcome in his own country. He wasn’t even allowed to have his own American passport.”

Born into slavery, Brown fled northward to the free states early in his life. As a successful orator and lecturer on slavery and human rights, he took his family to England for a lecture series.

Brown remained abroad because, as a runaway slave, he could have been captured and returned to slavery under the 1850 Fugitive Slave Act. He was still considered a runaway slave at the time.

Brown had to exile himself to England in order to avoid returning home to the slavery. He published “Clotel” while living in London.

Samantha Allen, a graduate instructor in the Department of English, invited Greenspan to speak. Allen said authorship of literature was not so simple in a time where the nature of race was so complex.

“From William Wells Brown’s life, we can learn more about the complexities of race and authorship during the 19th century,” Allen said in an email.

In 1854, a British couple bought Brown’s freedom, and he returned with his family to the United States.

Greenspan said he knew Brown’s story had to be told.

“A life story that spanned the depths of slavery and ended in international renown… This is the subject for a biography,” Greenspan said.