James Miller McKim was the organizational linchpin — the person who had received Samuel Smith’s advance communication, who had coordinated the committee’s preparations, who was present at the opening of the box. He was also, in subsequent years, a central figure in the antislavery movement’s political evolution, eventually becoming involved in the Republican Party’s antislavery wing.
These three men, along with several others who were present at the opening of the box, represented a specific kind of institution: well-organized, well-funded by abolitionist standards, experienced, and deeply aware of their own legal exposure. The morning of March 24, 1849 was, for them, both an extraordinary moment and one that fit into the normal operations of their committee’s work.
## The Song and What It Said
When Henry Box Brown emerged from the crate and sang, he was not performing for an audience that had come to see a show. He was in a private office, surrounded by half a dozen people who had been waiting anxiously since the previous night. The song was private, or as private as any documented moment can be. And yet it has become one of the most commented-upon details of the entire story.
The song was based on the 40th Psalm. The King James version of that psalm opens: ‘I waited patiently for the Lord; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry. He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings. And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God.’ The psalm continues through expressions of gratitude for deliverance and ends with a petition for continued protection.