After retiring from his maritime work, he settled in a community of free Blacks in the lower Manhattan district of New York City.
[2] The African Grove featured music, theatrical and occasionally outdoor entertainment until officials closed it down in 1821.
The last record performance of the African Theatre was on Mercer and Houston Street in January 1824.
[4] It was not until after the American Civil War that all-Black theatre companies began to emerge again.
It is thought that Brown may have had first hand experience of the Carib Wars when he worked as a ship's steward at the time of the Atlantic slave trade.