John Brown Town Hall

Hello all. My name is John Brown. I was born May 9th, 1800 in Torrington, Connecticut. I was born into a Calvinist household where my family struggled to stay alive and well. I have witnessed and been apart of hardships my entire life, growing up poor and being a bystander to the greatest travesty of our time- Slavery. When I was 12, I witnessed an African American boy being beaten. A 12 year old boy. That ain’t right. And all because of his skin? That ain’t right. I kept that event in the back of my mind my entire life.

A portrait of John Brown

I worked with the Underground Railroad and formed the League of Gileadites in 1851 in Illinois to prevent any more African Americans from being taken due to the outrageous enactment of the Fugitive Slave Act. Since the League was formed,  0, and I mean 0 blacks have been taken back as slaves. The reason for the success? The threat of violence.
Look at the history of our nation. We have passed laws to slow slavery. Where have we gotten with those? We have petitioned the government to end slavery. Where have we gotten with those? Violence however, violence has gotten us far. Look at the Revolutionary War. We tried to be peaceful by boycotting unjust laws, such as the Stamp Act. But to no avail, we were just taxed harder. When we fought back, however, we achieved great strides towards freedom, and eventually won it. Now we’re going down the path of non peaceful means to achieve freedom for blacks? No, I will not stand by and wait. These men are all talk; What is needed is action - action! 

I, John Brown, am quite certain that the crimes of this guilty land will never be purged away but with blood.

That is why in 1855, me and my five sons traveled to Kansas to support the anti-slavery vote there due to the passing of the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854. And for those who believe that I am all talk and no action, me and my five sons absolutely slaughtered 5 pro-slavery men in 1856 in Kansas, if you can even call a man who is for slavery a man. After I brutally murdered those savages, I went and freed some slaves from a Missouri settlement in 1858, where I guided them through the Underground Railroad so they could have their freedom in Canada. However, I wanted blood. 

John Brown and his sons participating in "Bleeding Kansas"

That is why in 1859, on October 16th, I led around 20 men on a mission with one goal: to start the slave rebellion. We raided Harpers Ferry Federal arsenal with the goal of arming the slaves to start the rebellion against the establishment of slavery. We failed. I was arrested by Robert E. Lee, and then later hung. My death on the gallows was “as glorious as the cross”.

As I sit in Heaven and watch down upon our nation, I am angered at our ignorance as a nation. At our blindness to the plague that is slavery. When will we stand up and fight for blacks’ rights given to them in the Declaration of Independence? When will we say enough is enough? With that said, I ask this Town Hall to continue my work until slavery is outlawed across all of America. Join my cause, and together we can outlaw the travesty of slavery.