John Brown “If it is 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.” Imagine this man as a person who decided to make a change in the world and fight for what is right. John Brown was one of the major abolitionists and had the audacity to achieve his many accomplishments. This paper will cover his early life, life as an abolitionist, later life with events that lead to his death, his last speech, including how it impacted many others, and how Harriet Tubman and John Brown were alike/not alike. …show more content…
Harriet Tubman and John Brown had many similarities and differences from their life as an abolitionist, their goals in their lifetime, and their deaths. A difference the two share is Harriet was often called “Moses” because of her presence and courage to free the slaves which are synonymous with John being called “Old Osawatomie Brown for the actions he decided to take during his lifetime(Appleby 534). One thing they have in common is John had two spouses similar to Harriet who also had two spouses(“John Brown Biography” 3). John used the underground railroad as did Harriet during the time when slave hunters and slavery was increasing in America(Appleby 534). Another difference was Harriet was born in Dorchester County, Maryland whereas John was born in Torrington, Connecticut (“John Brown” 2). A distinction between the two is Tubman freed over 300 slaves whereas Brown was known for the raid on Harper’s Ferry(“John Brown” 9). Finally, John was hung on December 8, 1859, opposed to Harriet when she passed away of pneumonia on March 10, 1913(“John Brown’s Final Speech, 1859” 9). Nevertheless John Brown and Harriet Tubman had many similarities and differences including their nicknames, to their participation in the Underground
In his work “Escape and Revolt in Black and White,” James M. McPherson discusses the lives of now famous black and white defenders of the black population and how society’s views of these individuals changed over time. The majority of his essay focused on the stories of Harriet Tubman, Harriet Jacobs, and John Brown, each of whom impacted their own immediate surroundings, even if only on a small scale, in an attempt to improve the condition of blacks. He investigates whether these now famous individuals became famous due to their own merits or as another piece of propaganda to support either side of the fight over civil rights. However, this overall point was very unclear and jumbled as he focused too heavily on just his narrative of these
Brown had his mind made up to travel on the pathway to Harpers Ferry right when he was born and believed he is the only one that has to lead this battle. His parents were passionate Calvinists who taught their children to view life as an endless fight contrary to evil. The battle of John Brown was on a more personal level where he remembered a memory when he was five years old and his mother whipped him for stealing a vast amount of brass pins. In addition, the battle was somewhat on a political point as well because Brown and his family considered that the sincere had to be spectators against the bad people in America. They assumed that the biggest evil during their time has to be none other than the establishment of slavery. Therefore, the father of John Brown replaced their family residence in northeast Ohio into a stop on the Underground Railroad and made his son into a dedicated abolitionist. Brown’s developing participation in the movement in the 1830s and ’40s made him set his commitment as well as the rising nationwide fight over slavery’s position in a country supposedly devoted to equal opportunity. During this era, abolition...
John Brown could be many things: a heroic leader, a violent troublemaker, a deranged madman. We would not know which or why if historians did not know to look into Brown’s past in order to find the motives behind his radical actions. By divulging into the history of John Brown, historians are able to better understand how Brown forced the entire country to make the decision to support or go against slavery in the United States. Brown made America take a good, hard look at itself in order to both confront Brown’s own views and the internal cultural problems that have been building up throughout the decades.
James Oakes gave a brilliant and unique perspective to a relationship between two well known historical figures of their time. Abraham Lincoln is a well-admired president for the United States because as Americans culture teaches that he was an honest and well-respected man. He heard about a young African American man, who had high aspirations for his life and the blossoming United States. This man’s name was Frederick Douglass. James Oakes demonstrates how both Douglass and Lincoln worked towards the abolishment of slavery and effectively producing better outcomes within antislavery politics.
After suffering the overwhelming ferociousness and inhumanity of being a slave for over two decades, a black man by the name of Fredrick Douglass fled from enslavement and began to make a concerted effort to advance himself as a human being. Combating many obstacles and resisting numerous temptations, Douglass worked assiduously to develop into a knowledgeable gentleman rather than the involuntary alternative of being an unenlightened slave. In doing so, Douglass successfully emerged as one of the Civil War era’s most prominent antislavery orators. From his first major public speech at the age of 23, Douglass became widely renowned as a premier spokesperson for Black slaves and the movement for the abolition of slavery. In one of Douglass’ most distinguished speeches, “The Meaning of July 4th for the Negro,” he uses the intermittent occasion of speaking on behalf of African Americans to a multitude of White Americans to outline arguments against slavery.
Consequently, Harriet Tubman was born a slave into a slave family. As a slave, at five years old, Tubman was "rented" to families where she was put to work winding yarn, checking animal traps, cleaning the houses and nursing children among many more laborious tasks. When she was older, she decided she prefered to work outside of the house as opposed to laboring inside the house with domestic chores. As a teenager, she would upset her owners and often was reprimanded and sent home because of her rebellious attitude. Later on in Tubman’s life, she married a free man and also found out that her mother was freed by her owner, but her mother was never informed of her freedom. This directly affected Tubman because her mother’s freedom also meant that Tubman was b...
I began the research for this paper looking to write about Frederick Douglass’ drive to start his abolitionist paper The North Star. What I then found in my research was the writings of a man I had never before heard of, Martin R. Delaney. Delaney and Douglass were co-editors of the paper for its first four years, therefore partners in the abolitionist battle. Yet I found that despite this partnership these men actually held many differing opinions that ultimately drove them apart.
Boyer, Richard O. The Legend of John Brown: A Biography and a History. New York, NY: Knopf, 1973. Print.
Carter G. Woodson: Negro Orators ansd Their Orations (New York, NY, 1925) and The Mind of the Negro (Washington, DC., 1926).
From before the country’s conception to the war that divided it and the fallout that abolished it, slavery has been heavily engrained in the American society. From poor white yeoman farmers, to Northern abolitionist, to Southern gentry, and apathetic northerners slavery transformed the way people viewed both their life and liberty. To truly understand the impact that slavery has had on American society one has to look no further than those who have experienced them firsthand. Frederick Douglass, an escaped slave and advocate for the abolitionist, is on such person. Douglass was a living contradiction to American society during his time. He was an African-American man, self-taught, knowledgeable, well-spoken, and a robust writer. Douglass displayed a level of skill that few of his people at the time could acquire. With his autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave Written by Himself, Douglass captivated the people of his time with his firsthand accounts into the horror and brutality that is the institution of slavery.
Egerton, Douglas R. Death or Liberty: African Americans and Revolutionary America. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009.
Numerous are mindful of the considerable deed that Harriet Tubman executed to free slaves in the south. Then again, individuals are still left considerably unaware about in which the way they were safeguarded and how she triumphed each and every deterrent while placing her life at risk of being captured. She is deserving of the great honor she has garnered by todays general society and you will find out her in the biography. The title of this biography is “Harriet Tubman, the Road to Freedom.” The author of this piece is Catherine Clinton. ”Harriet Tubman, the road to Freedom” is a charming, instructive, and captivating book that history appreciates and is a memoir than readers will cherish. The Target audience of the biography is any readers
The first passage is an excerpt from W.E.B Du Bois ' biography of John Brown written in 1909. Du Bois who was an activist and founder of the NAACP presents Brown as the hero who initiated the end of the horrors of slavery. Du Bois ' descriptions paint Brown as the positive light that helped get rid of the darkness that African Americans faced. He describes Brown as "exasperatingly simple; unlettered, plain, and homely," and calls him an "eternal truth" (232). Du Bois believes that there are truths we can learn from Brown 's life and actions. He explains that Brown 's intense hate of slavery was a result of his love and sympathy for the "poor, unfortunate, or oppressed" (233). Brown believed and acted on the fundamental truth that "all men are free and equal" according to Dubois (233). He also argues that Brown 's violent actions and the consequences of those actions are the price that needs to be paid for freedom. He concludes in the biographical passage that "John Brown was right," and that violence or war was necessary to destroy slavery. On the other hand, the second passage from Robert Warren 's 1929 biography of John Brown casts Brown in a negative and unsympathetic light. Warren, an American writer who was associated with the Southern Agrarians focuses on the cruel nature and consequences of Brown 's actions. He describes the "bloody heap" of innocent lives that resulted from the Pottawatomie murders committed by Brown and his men. Warren labels Brown as a thief, a cruel murderer, and insane religious extremist. There 's nothing normal or right about Brown 's motives and actions for Warren, since they classify under insane
This excellent biography fluently tells the life story of Douglass; one of the 19th centuries's most famous writers and speakers on abolitionist and human rights causes. It traces his life from his birth as a slave in Maryland, through his self-education, escape to freedom, and subsequent lionization as a renowned orator in England and the United States. Fascinating, too, are accounts of the era's politics, such as the racist views held by some abolitionist leaders and the ways in which many policies made in post-Civil War times have worked to the detriment of today's civil rights movement. The chapter on Frederick Douglass and John Brown is, in itself, interesting enough to commend this powerful biography. The seldom-seen photographs, the careful chapter notes, documentation, and acknowledgements will encourage anybody to keep on learning about Frederick Douglass.
Despite each individual having different circumstances in which they experienced regarding the institution of slavery, both were inspired to take part in the abolitionist movement due to the injustices they witnessed. The result is two very compelling and diverse works that attack the institution of slavery and argue against the reasons the pro-slavery individuals use to justify the slavery