Tag: John Brown

Vermont Honors W.Va. Abolitionist John Brown, Declares Oct. 16 John Brown Day

As some communities consider removing Confederate monuments, the state of Vermont is formally honoring West Virginia abolitionist John Brown. 

John Brown’s 1859 raid was an important step in the events that led to the Civil War, and to the creation of West Virginia. 

Last spring, the Vermont State Legislature approved a resolution sought by a Woodstock high school teacher designating October 16 as John Brown Day in Vermont. That’s the anniversary of the raid Brown led on a federal arsenal in Harpers Ferry, in what is now West Virginia. Brown had hoped to start an armed slave revolt. He was executed two months later.

An anti-racism symposium took place on Oct. 14 at the Woodstock Union High School in Vermont, where Brown will also be discussed on Oct. 16.

In Harper’s Ferry, West Virginia, the John Brown Wax Museum is open 7 days a week from 10:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. 

May 24, 1856: John Brown & Followers Kill Five Slaveholders in KS – Prelude to Harpers Ferry Raid

On May 24, 1856, John Brown and his followers killed five slaveholders at Pottawatomie Creek, Kansas—a prelude to his more ambitious raid on Harpers Ferry three years later. Deeply religious, Brown committed himself in the 1850s to abolishing slavery through violent action. He took an Old Testament view of his cause, believing that the great sin of human bondage had to be purged from the land by the shedding of blood.

Brown’s murder of the slaveholders at Pottawatomie took place during a small-scale civil war being fought in the Kansas Territory over slavery. After Pottawatomie, Brown became the nation’s most prominent advocate for the violent abolition of slavery

In 1858, Brown met in Ontario, Canada, with like-minded abolitionists, to begin planning for an armed insurrection of slaves. By raiding weapons from the U.S. Armory and Arsenal at Harpers Ferry, he hoped to arm slaves and launch a major revolt throughout the South.

John Brown’s subsequent raid on Harpers Ferry in October 1859 failed, but it did succeed in further polarizing North and South and bringing the nation closer to Civil War.

Niagara Movement Meets in Harpers Ferry: August 15, 1906

The Niagara Movement—an important civil rights group—held its first public meeting at Harpers Ferry’s Storer College on August 15, 1906.

The movement emerged from increasing philosophical differences between Booker T. Washington—the most powerful black leader of his day—and more radical intellectuals.

While Washington wanted to work more closely with the white community to improve African-Americans’ economic status, his critics—led by W. E. B. DuBois, William Monroe Trotter, and others—urged a more militant approach.

The one-year-old movement was named for an earlier meeting at Niagara Falls. The leaders chose Harpers Ferry for its first public meeting in honor of abolitionist John Brown, who’d led an ill-fated raid on the town’s armory in 1859.

The 1906 assembly included a barefoot pilgrimage to John Brown’s Fort, and DuBois dedicated the group’s mission to Brown. Although most of the Niagara leaders were not from West Virginia, J. R. Clifford—a graduate of Storer College and West Virginia’s first black lawyer and newspaper publisher—played an active role.

The Niagara Movement dissolved in 1911, when DuBois suggested forming a new interracial group: the NAACP.

LISTEN: African American Heritage Festival Encourages and Inspires Community

The 23rd Annual African American Heritage and Culture Festival took place in Jefferson County over the weekend. From a parade to live music, and a memorial walk to the original site of John Brown’s Fort – the festival offered a variety of events for visitors.

It was organized by the NAACP of Jefferson County, and they say the weekend is meant to bring people together and remember the history that helped shape our country into what it is today.

Harpers Ferry National Historical Park Contends for 10Best Historic Southern Attraction in USA Today

Harpers Ferry National Historical Park is a contender for Best Historic Southern Attraction in the USA Today, 10Best Readers’ Choice contest.

Harpers Ferry National Historical Park is located at the convergence of the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers. It was established in 1963, and includes the town of Harpers Ferry, the scene of John Brown’s raid, which is viewed by many historians as the spark that ignited the Civil War.

Nearly 500,000 people visit the park every year to experience its cultural and recreational attractions.

The park is currently among the top 20 attractions compiled by a panel of travel journalists for USA Today and the final ten will be chosen by public vote.

Voting ends on May 25th at and is open to everyone. The public can vote once per day, per category.

The New River Gorge National River’s Endless Wall Trail was chosen as the nation’s best national park hike in a USA Today’s Readers’ Choice contest earlier this year.

October 16, 1859: John Brown Captures U.S. Armory

John Brown, and a band of anti-slavery men, captured the U.S. armory at Harpers Ferry on the night of October 16, 1859. Earlier in the year, Brown had settled into a western Maryland farmhouse, where he trained his 18-man army in military tactics. His goal was to seize weapons from the national armory at Harpers Ferry and arm slaves, who would then overthrow their masters.

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