Sometimes there comes a crack In time itself,
Sometimes the earth is torn by Something blind,
Sometimes an image that had Stood so long,
It seems implanted as the polar Star
Is moved against an unfathomed Force
That suddenly will not have it.
—Stephen Vincent Benet,
“John Brown’s Body”
Sometimes the earth is torn by Something blind,
Sometimes an image that had Stood so long,
It seems implanted as the polar Star
Is moved against an unfathomed Force
That suddenly will not have it.
—Stephen Vincent Benet,
“John Brown’s Body”
Justin Panson
The painting in the National Portrait Gallery will freeze you in your tracks. If you stare into the eyes of the bearded man with the piercingly intense gaze it will scare and disturb you, especially those of us leading comfortable easy lives. This painting is one of the iconic images of the abolitionist John Brown that reinforces the mythology that Brown was a “madman.” The basic facts of his story suggest as much—the delusion of thinking a small band could tactically prevail in the capture of a major U.S. military armory for the purpose of freeing slaves—the bravery and deathwish idealism to knowingly give your life to free the black race from the genocide of slavery.
The painting in the National Portrait Gallery will freeze you in your tracks. If you stare into the eyes of the bearded man with the piercingly intense gaze it will scare and disturb you, especially those of us leading comfortable easy lives. This painting is one of the iconic images of the abolitionist John Brown that reinforces the mythology that Brown was a “madman.” The basic facts of his story suggest as much—the delusion of thinking a small band could tactically prevail in the capture of a major U.S. military armory for the purpose of freeing slaves—the bravery and deathwish idealism to knowingly give your life to free the black race from the genocide of slavery.
A more accurate and nuanced version of the story is that John Brown very much understood exactly the game he was playing and especially the larger symbolic value of his doomed desperado mission. This symbolic value became apparent almost immediately after the raid, with the fluky election of Lincoln, followed by the southern secessionists attacking Fort Sumter. At the same time, Brown’s raid forced mainstream northerners to confront their own inaction and ambivalence on the slavery question.
Per an interview with his son Salmon many years later: “‘Father’s idea in his Harper’s Ferry movement was to agitate the slavery question. Not to create an insurrection. The intention of the pikes was to strike terror—to make agitation.’ This disturbance, Salmon said, would spark the great conflict Brown believed was necessary to end slavery. ‘He wanted to bring on the war. I have heard him talk of it many times.’” (from the Horwitz biography)
Brown further understood that racial justice would not occur without a war, this at a time when Abraham Lincoln and northern abolitionists were willing to merely continue an uneasy truce with the South within the existing boundaries of the slavery question. Brown’s very last recorded thoughts clearly show this understanding: ”A jail guard, Hiram O’Brannon, had asked the famous prisoner for his autograph. Instead, as Brown exited the jail on the morning of his execution, he handed O’Bannon a scrap of paper bearing a few lines of his distinctive, oddly punctuated script: ‘I John Brown am now quite certain that the crimes of this guilty, land: will never be purged away; but with Blood.’” (also from Horwitz)
Per an interview with his son Salmon many years later: “‘Father’s idea in his Harper’s Ferry movement was to agitate the slavery question. Not to create an insurrection. The intention of the pikes was to strike terror—to make agitation.’ This disturbance, Salmon said, would spark the great conflict Brown believed was necessary to end slavery. ‘He wanted to bring on the war. I have heard him talk of it many times.’” (from the Horwitz biography)
Brown further understood that racial justice would not occur without a war, this at a time when Abraham Lincoln and northern abolitionists were willing to merely continue an uneasy truce with the South within the existing boundaries of the slavery question. Brown’s very last recorded thoughts clearly show this understanding: ”A jail guard, Hiram O’Brannon, had asked the famous prisoner for his autograph. Instead, as Brown exited the jail on the morning of his execution, he handed O’Bannon a scrap of paper bearing a few lines of his distinctive, oddly punctuated script: ‘I John Brown am now quite certain that the crimes of this guilty, land: will never be purged away; but with Blood.’” (also from Horwitz)
In his combat with the racists, first in Kansas and then at Harper’s Ferry, Brown employed well-considered layers of strategy, tactics and advanced planning. However, he was always struggling with the limited resources of a small group going up against the might of the entrenched power structure.
In his combat with the racists, first in Kansas and then at Harper’s Ferry, Brown employed well-considered layers of strategy, tactics and advanced planning. However, he was always struggling with the limited resources of a small group going up against the might of the entrenched power structure.
John Brown was fearless and straight talking right to the gallows a month after his raid. In that month-long period, his impact grew because of his articulate and unflinching statements about the deeper reasons for the raid. An interesting element to the story is that the redneck southerners that captured and hanged him, even these racists, respected Brown’s badassedness in the raid and his fearlessness in captivity afterward.
Brown well understood the muchisimo of the American character. In an 1851 document he offered advice to Northerners on the best ways to resist the Fugitive Slave Act: “Nothing so charms the American people as personnel bravery….The trial for life of one bold and to some extent successful man, for defending his rights in good earnest, would arouse more sympathy throughout the nation than the accumulated wrongs and suffering of more than three millions of our submissive colored population.”
Brown well understood the muchisimo of the American character. In an 1851 document he offered advice to Northerners on the best ways to resist the Fugitive Slave Act: “Nothing so charms the American people as personnel bravery….The trial for life of one bold and to some extent successful man, for defending his rights in good earnest, would arouse more sympathy throughout the nation than the accumulated wrongs and suffering of more than three millions of our submissive colored population.”
To be a martyr is to transcend fear and personal interest, standing resolute in the face of danger or death for the sake of truth, justice, or faith. Martyrs are remembered not only for what they gave up but for what they stood for—ideals that inspire and galvanize future generations.
The list of American martyrs includes inspiring figures across many causes that span civil rights, labor struggles, indigenous rights, social justice, free speech and journalistic freedom. The names on this list are hallowed: Abraham Lincoln, Dr. King, Joe Hill, Roberto Clemente, Elijah Lovejoy, Harvey Milk, Viola Liuzzo, Medgar Evers, Marie Curie, The Ludlow Massacre Victims, the Haymarket Martyrs, and others, depending on how strict your definition is. But clear and away at the top of this list has to be John Brown. His life story is practically definitional to the concept of martyrdom.
The list of American martyrs includes inspiring figures across many causes that span civil rights, labor struggles, indigenous rights, social justice, free speech and journalistic freedom. The names on this list are hallowed: Abraham Lincoln, Dr. King, Joe Hill, Roberto Clemente, Elijah Lovejoy, Harvey Milk, Viola Liuzzo, Medgar Evers, Marie Curie, The Ludlow Massacre Victims, the Haymarket Martyrs, and others, depending on how strict your definition is. But clear and away at the top of this list has to be John Brown. His life story is practically definitional to the concept of martyrdom.
John Brown remains a complex figure because of his essential contradiction between madman and an immortal genius who understood the larger mission in a pivotal historical moment. It is not a stretch to say he single handedly prompted the civil war, which you could say actually began at Harpers Ferry and not at Fort Sumner South Carolina.
I would argue there are very few figures in American history who single handedly changed the course of events and shaped the country, and so in this sense I put Brown on par with the very greatest immortals of U.S. history: Lincoln, Washington, Jefferson, Franklin, Theodore Roosevelt, Meriwether Lewis, Orville Wright. Some may say this is overreach. Regardless, none can dispute the Moral clarity by which Brown saw the genocide of slavery as evil. He was a hero beyond bravery or clarity of morals—he was a figure playing on a much bigger chessboard that he himself clearly understood and documented in real time.
I would argue there are very few figures in American history who single handedly changed the course of events and shaped the country, and so in this sense I put Brown on par with the very greatest immortals of U.S. history: Lincoln, Washington, Jefferson, Franklin, Theodore Roosevelt, Meriwether Lewis, Orville Wright. Some may say this is overreach. Regardless, none can dispute the Moral clarity by which Brown saw the genocide of slavery as evil. He was a hero beyond bravery or clarity of morals—he was a figure playing on a much bigger chessboard that he himself clearly understood and documented in real time.
John Brown’s fight in a broader sense is not over, the black race waiting for full emancipation from 150 years of continued violence and subjugation, economically, electorally and in all facets of life. Nonetheless, the John Brown story is about the ability for one individual to make a difference, and the extraordinary bravery and vision of its singular protagonist.
John Brown’s body lies a-mouldering in the grave…
He’s gone to be a soldier in the army of the Lord,
His soul is marching on!
—Julia Ward Howe
“Battle Hymn of the Republic”
He’s gone to be a soldier in the army of the Lord,
His soul is marching on!
—Julia Ward Howe
“Battle Hymn of the Republic”
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