The second Hidden History project focused on the life and impact of John Brown. The 6 day festival commemorated John Brown on the 150th anniversary of his death. John Brown is best known for his attack on Harpers Ferry, an action seen as sparking the Civil War. John Brown was chosen for the 2nd edition of the Hidden History project due to his fierce devotion to the freedom of all peoples regardless of race, gender, religion, or sexual orientation.
Festival Highlights
The festival celebrating John Brown lasted between November 29th-December 5, 2009. In total, Moonstone helped conduct 10 different events around the city. Notable events included My Lord What a Mornin…Vigil for John Brown- A living History program held at Shiloh Baptist Church, A conversation on the Legacy of John Brown with Charles Blockson and Dr. Molefi Kete Asante at Temple University, and John Brown, Abolitionist: The Man Who Killed Slavery, Sparked the Civil War, and Seeded Civil Rights, A talk by David S. Reynolds at Drexel University. Other exhibits, panel discussions, and shows were held at the African American Museum of Philadelphia, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, National Archives at Philadelphia, and Mother Bethel Church.
Charles Blockson
Dr. Molefi Kete Asante
David S. Reynolds
Moonstone Press released a newspaper entitledJohn Brown: 150 years later with the event itinerary for the festival. The press release also included an article about who John Brown was and his significance in America’s History. The newspaper also highlighted John Brown’s Philadelphia connections, including a timeline of his work around Philadelphia.
John Brown’s Life
John Brown was born May 9, 1800 in Connecticut. From a young age, he questioned the social norms he witnessed around him. At the age of 12 while delivering cattle to General William Hull’s army during the war of 1812, he witnessed a young slave being abused. He was shaken by what he had seen and thus began Brown’s struggle against slavery.
In 1851, John Brown organized the League of Gilead in Springfield Massachusetts. The League of Gilead was an armed group pledged to free slaves who were caught by slave catchers in the north. The League was formed in response to the Fugitive Slave Act, an act which gave slave owners federal law enforcement powers to find escaped slaves and return them to the south. These slave catchers often abused this power, arresting any black person who couldn’t prove their freedom.
John Brown was also active in the Underground Railroad helping escaped slaves reach Canada. He was friends with other abolitionists like Harriet Tubman and Fredric Douglass. In the 1850s Brown took up arms to defend Kansas as a free state when pro slavery influence began to grow. The Mural “Tragic Prelude” is displayed across from the Governor’s office in Topeka, Kansas.
In 1858 John Brown held a convention in Canada. Organized by a White man, Attended by mostly African Americans, Brown laid out a plan to wage a gorilla war that would wipe out slavery. The goal was to raise a black army and trigger an African American Revolution. Brown and some colleagues took action on October 16th, 1859 with an attack on a federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry. This was the third largest slave revolt in the history of the United States, behind the 1811 German Coast Uprising and Nat Turner’s rebellion in 1831. In result John brown was captured, tried, and hung by the State of Virginia on December 2, 1859.
Historical Significance
John Brown is most known for his attempt in 1859 to start a liberation movement among slaves at Harpers Ferry, Virginia. Though the raid was unsuccessful, its impact is never doubted.
I have no doubt that our seeming disaster will ultimately result in the most glorious success, I have been whipped, but I am sure I can recover all the lost capital by only hanging a few moments by the neck -John Brown after his capture in 1859.
John Brown took the first action of the civil war, demonstrating a will to fight for the failed promise of the declaration of independence, that “all men should be created equal.” To some John Brown was a terrorist. To others he was seen as a martyr.
Some 1800 years ago, Christ was crucified. This morning, Captain Brown was hung. He is not old Brown any longer; he is an angel of light. – Henry David Thoreau.
John Brown was some southern whites worst nightmare, he was a fearless, intelligent, white abolitionist that was set on arming slaves and bringing down white southern society. They were right to be afraid, ultimately through his work… and death the southern slave empire crumbled.