By Julie Brooks, '08

Vicki Gooch, '08

and Dave Ciulla, '08

“Brown rose during the funeral (of Rev. Elijah Lovejoy) to publicly consecrate his life to the destruction of slavery,” said Dr. Norman K. Dann, who presented Brown for induction.

Dr. Norman K. Dann, professor emeritus at Morrisville State College, announces John Brown's induction at the National Abolition Hall of Fame on Jan. 31. Brown was the first of four inducted into the hall of fame.

Photo by Nicole Davis, '08

John Brown dedicated his life to freeing slaves and securing equality for all.

He was born on May 9, 1800 into a very strict and religious family Torrington, Ct. In 1805 his family moved to Hudson, Ohio. Seeing the beating of a young slave boy set Brown up for a life of helping African Americans.

Brown married and moved to Pennsylvania, where he tried and failed at several business endeavors. His failures eventually brought him back to Hudson, Ohio. He got a hold of The Liberator, a black newspaper written by William Lloyd Garrison.  The paper was one of the many influences in his new role as an abolitionist.

On Nov. 7, 1837 Rev. Elijah Lovejoy, a journalist who wrote about abolition, was brutally wounded by thrown stones and then murdered by gunshot. Lovejoy had housed his new press at Winthrop Gilman’s factory. When the townsfolk found out, an angry mob formed and killed him. “Brown rose during the funeral to publicly consecrate his life to the destruction of slavery,” said Dr. Norman K. Dann, who presented Brown for induction.

Brown reached out to African Americans in many ways, such as giving land to fugitive slaves. He also participated in the Underground Railroad and helped establish the League of Gileadites in 1851. The League of Gileadites was an organization that worked to protect escaped slaves from slave catchers.

Along with participating in popular events that furthered the cause of abolition, Brown contributed on the smallest of scales. Brown and his wife agreed to raise a young black boy. Despite already being a father to 20 children, Brown and his wife took him in as one of their own.

John Brown believed that it was God’s will for him to end slavery. Years of segregation and racism had left him a “hardened soul to racism everywhere” said Dann.

Brown, unlike many of the well- known abolitionists, felt that words had no power in ending slavery and equalizing America. He felt the only way to end slavery was by force. He demonstrated this belief on Oct. 16, 1859 when he and a group of followers successfully executed a raid on the federal armory at Harper’s Ferry in Virginia. They took over the armory causing an all-out panic in the rebel states. The mere idea that slaves might begin to fight back was enough to set every slave-owning southerner into frenzy. 

The south reacted with vengeance and sent soldiers led by Robert E. Lee to regain Harpers Ferry. By the time Brown surrendered, he had lost 10 of his 21 men. Upon his surrender Brown, along with his fellow survivors, was immediately tried and eventually executed for treason.

John Brown led an extraordinary life that ended in a horrible death. “To the pro-slavery forces and some modern historians, he was a madman and a cowardly murderer. To the abolitionists of his time and other modern historians, he was a visionary who willingly gave his life in an attempt to end slavery,” said Dr. Marvin Stottelmire, retired faculty member at Kansas University who has portrayed Brown in several public dramatic performances.