6 Interesting Facts About John Brown,

the White Abolitionist Who Led a

Slave Uprising
By
Ricky Riley

The Beginning
John Brown (May 9, 1800 Dec. 2, 1859) was a white abolitionist who led a rebellion
against slavery in the United States. Brown was born to a religious family from
Connecticut who despised the institution of slavery. He fathered 20 children with
various women from around the country.

The Catalyst
Brown was constantly moving from one state to the next. In 1837, Brown was living
in the Ohio town of Franklin Mills, where he came to know the work of abolitionist
Elijah Lovejoy. That year was a major catalyst for Brown. At that time, he was
bankrupt and struggling to get back on his feet. Lovejoy was murdered because of
his abolitionist work on Nov. 7, 1837. According Southern Illinois University archives,
his violent death greatly stimulated abolitionist feeling throughout the North. Brown
proclaimed, Here, before God, in the presence of these witnesses, from this time, I
consecrate my life to the destruction of slavery!

John Brown, Frederick Douglass and Black Allies

Brown was influenced by the life story of Frederick Douglass. In 1847, the two met in
Springfield, Illinois, where Brown designed his plan to free enslaved Black people
across the country. In 1849, Browns abolitionism was still taking shape. He moved
into an all Black neighborhood created in North Elba, New York. He wanted to be
a kind father to them. So he brought some land and farmed it. Even though he
had good intentions, he clearly wanted to be a white savior to Black people that he
saw as children. He also was a leader of the League of Gileadites, an organization
that protected runaway enslaved Black people from the Fugitive Slave Act.

The Kansas-Nebraska Act

On May 30, 1854, the Kansas-Nebraska Act opened the door for the spread of
slavery beyond the south and into the west. Senator Stephen Douglas of Illinois was
the main architect of the bill, which allowed the new settlers of these territories to
choose if they wanted slavery within the territory. This concept of popular
sovereignty eventually led to violence between pro-slavery and anti-slavery settlers.
By 1855, Brown and his five sons were active in the fight against pro-slavery
settlers. The following year, in retribution for an attack, Brown went to a pro-slavery
town and killed five of its settlers.

Attack on Harpers Ferry

Brown headed back east to wage an anti- slavery war in Virginia. He met with
Harriet Tubman to recruit Black fighters and gather financial support from major
white abolitionists. Brown did not have the support of Douglass and Douglass
encouraged Black people to not join him. On Oct. 16, 1859, Brown and his five sons,
along with 16 other fighters, raided a federal arsenal at the Harpers Ferry. The plan
was to hold many of the people in the area captive to inspire a great rebellion. The
group held 40 towns people but Brown was captured by future Confederate
General Robert E. Lee.

Legacy
On Dec. 2, 1859, Brown was executed by hanging. Many historians believed that
Browns actions and the election of Abraham Lincoln sparked the secession of South
Carolina. Browns raid made whites fearful of an impending Black rebellion,
poisoning of water sources, and other terrorist acts. While southern whites hated
him, northern white abolitionists supported his passion for the abolition of slavery.
Henry David Thoreau in his speech, Plea for Captain John Brown, stated, He did not
recognize unjust human laws, but resisted them as he was bid No man in America
has ever stood up so persistently and effectively for the dignity of human nature.
Brown was allowed to say a few things in his Nov. 2nd trial. Here are Browns last
words:

I believe to have interfered as I have done in behalf of His despised

poor, was not wrong, but right. Now, if it be deemed necessary that I
should forfeit my life for the furtherance of the ends of justice, and
mingle my blood further with the blood of my children, and with the

blood of millions in this slave country whose rights are disregarded by

wicked, cruel, and unjust enactments, I submit: so let it be done.
French writer Victor Hugo wrote on Dec. 2 on behalf of Brown, proclaiming:

Politically speaking, the murder of John Brown would be an

uncorrectable sin. It would create in the Union a latent fissure that
would in the long run dislocate it. Browns agony might perhaps
consolidate slavery in Virginia, but it would certainly shake the whole
American democracy. You save your shame, but you kill your glory.
Morally speaking, it seems a part of the human light would put itself out,
that the very notion of justice and injustice would hide itself in darkness,
on that day where one would see the assassination of Emancipation by
Liberty itself.