[2 articles]
Symposium examines abolitionist Brown's legacy in U.S.
http://www.ohio.com/news/78584297.html
Event commemorates sesquicentennial of burial of former Akron resident
By Chris Carola
Dec 05, 2009
LAKE PLACID, N.Y.: John Brown, the 19th-century abolitionist who
advocated armed violence, is drawing a diverse crowd this week to
study how his fight against slavery continues to play in America.
A former Vietnam-era radical, a victim of human trafficking and an
award-winning author are joining academics, activists and a
descendant of the anti-slavery leader for a two-day symposium. The
event commemorates the sesquicentennial of Brown's 1859 burial at his
former Adirondack homestead just outside this tourist village in
northern New York.
Organizers say the symposium, held Friday and today, will examine the
impact of Brown's fight against slavery on America then and how it
reverberates today. Speakers include Bernardine Dohrn, a leader of
the 1960s radical group the Weather Underground; Maria Suarez, a
Mexican immigrant who was virtually enslaved by a Southern California
man after being lured to work for him in 1976; Russell Banks, author
of the fictional Brown biography Cloudsplitter; and Alice Keesey
Mecoy, a Brown descendant.
The goal of the event isn't to glorify Brown, organizer Naj Wikoff said.
''We're trying to get people to take a look at the use of violence in
our country why American culture uses violence to achieve an end,''
Wikoff said.
Brown, who lived at various times in Akron and surrounding areas, was
hanged for treason on Dec. 2, 1859, at Charles Town in what was then
part of Virginia, a few miles from Harpers Ferry, where he led a raid
on the federal arsenal. The attack failed, but it pushed the nation
closer to the civil war that erupted nearly two years later. He was
buried six days later.
Margaret Washington, a Cornell University history professor who's a
keynote speaker at today's session, called Brown a ''very significant
catalyst of change, radical change.''
''He represents the positive, in the sense that he was an
abolitionist and egalitarian, and he also represents aspects of our
culture that we wish were not there,'' she said. ''And that is the
violence and the idea that the only way you're going to bring change
to humanity is to strike out violently.''
The Connecticut-born Brown was raised in Ohio and pursued various
jobs before moving with his family in 1849 to New York's Adirondack
Mountains. Here, they joined a community of former black slaves who
had settled in the town of North Elba, where the village of Lake
Placid was later established.
Brown left New York in the 1850s to join anti-slavery forces in
Kansas. While there, he led attacks that included the slayings of
five pro-slavery leaders in what became known as the Pottawatomie
Massacre. Brown returned to his North Elba potato farm, where he
hatched his plan to spark a slave rebellion in the South by seizing
the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry and arming the slaves.
Brown's raid began on Oct. 16, 1859, when his force of 21 armed men
took hostages inside the arsenal. The bloody assault ended two days
later when U.S. Marines led by then-Lt. Col. Robert E. Lee captured a
wounded Brown and 10 of his followers.
Brown went on trial that month, was convicted of treason and was
executed. He had asked to be buried on his New York farm, and his
body arrived in North Elba on Dec. 7. His body was laid out in a
wooden coffin placed in his homestead's front room, where the
original floorboards and some furnishings remain today.
Two of his sons, both killed at Harpers Ferry, lie in adjacent
graves, along with the remains of nine fellow raiders.
Northern abolitionists considered Brown a martyr, while in the South
he was reviled as a fanatic who tried to foment a slave insurrection.
''He stands out in the pantheon of rare white people who managed to
stand up, really, by putting their lives on the line in the name of
black liberation in this case, an end to slavery,'' said Dohrn, who
founded the Weathermen in the late 1960s with husband Bill Ayers.
The radical group claimed credit for explosions at the U.S. Capitol,
the Pentagon and more. In 1970, a bomb the group was making to use
against an Army base exploded at a New York town house, killing three
members. Dohrn surfaced in 1980 and later pleaded guilty to two
counts of aggravated battery and two counts of bail-jumping in
connection with a 1969 anti-Vietnam war protest. She now heads the
Children and Family Justice Center at Northwestern University.
Symposium speaker Mecoy is a great-great-great-granddaughter of
Brown, who fathered 20 children with two wives. The 50-year-old Texan
said her family kept its link to Brown a secret while she was growing up.
LAKE PLACID, N.Y.: John Brown, the 19th-century abolitionist who
advocated armed violence, is drawing a diverse crowd this week to
study how his fight against slavery continues to play in America.
A former Vietnam-era radical, a victim of human trafficking and an
award-winning author are joining academics, activists and a
descendant of the anti-slavery leader for a two-day symposium. The
event commemorates the sesquicentennial of Brown's 1859 burial at his
former Adirondack homestead just outside this tourist village in
northern New York.
Organizers say the symposium, held Friday and today, will examine the
impact of Brown's fight against slavery on America then and how it
reverberates today. Speakers include Bernardine Dohrn, a leader of
the 1960s radical group the Weather Underground; Maria Suarez, a
Mexican immigrant who was virtually enslaved by a Southern California
man after being lured to work for him in 1976; Russell Banks, author
of the fictional Brown biography Cloudsplitter; and Alice Keesey
Mecoy, a Brown descendant.
The goal of the event isn't to glorify Brown, organizer Naj Wikoff said.
''We're trying to get people to take a look at the use of violence in
our country why American culture uses violence to achieve an end,''
Wikoff said.
Brown, who lived at various times in Akron and surrounding areas, was
hanged for treason on Dec. 2, 1859, at Charles Town in what was then
part of Virginia, a few miles from Harpers Ferry, where he led a raid
on the federal arsenal. The attack failed, but it pushed the nation
closer to the civil war that erupted nearly two years later. He was
buried six days later.
Margaret Washington, a Cornell University history professor who's a
keynote speaker at today's session, called Brown a ''very significant
catalyst of change, radical change.''
''He represents the positive, in the sense that he was an
abolitionist and egalitarian, and he also represents aspects of our
culture that we wish were not there,'' she said. ''And that is the
violence and the idea that the only way you're going to bring change
to humanity is to strike out violently.''
The Connecticut-born Brown was raised in Ohio and pursued various
jobs before moving with his family in 1849 to New York's Adirondack
Mountains. Here, they joined a community of former black slaves who
had settled in the town of North Elba, where the village of Lake
Placid was later established.
Brown left New York in the 1850s to join anti-slavery forces in
Kansas. While there, he led attacks that included the slayings of
five pro-slavery leaders in what became known as the Pottawatomie
Massacre. Brown returned to his North Elba potato farm, where he
hatched his plan to spark a slave rebellion in the South by seizing
the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry and arming the slaves.
Brown's raid began on Oct. 16, 1859, when his force of 21 armed men
took hostages inside the arsenal. The bloody assault ended two days
later when U.S. Marines led by then-Lt. Col. Robert E. Lee captured a
wounded Brown and 10 of his followers.
Brown went on trial that month, was convicted of treason and was
executed. He had asked to be buried on his New York farm, and his
body arrived in North Elba on Dec. 7. His body was laid out in a
wooden coffin placed in his homestead's front room, where the
original floorboards and some furnishings remain today.
Two of his sons, both killed at Harpers Ferry, lie in adjacent
graves, along with the remains of nine fellow raiders.
Northern abolitionists considered Brown a martyr, while in the South
he was reviled as a fanatic who tried to foment a slave insurrection.
''He stands out in the pantheon of rare white people who managed to
stand up, really, by putting their lives on the line in the name of
black liberation in this case, an end to slavery,'' said Dohrn, who
founded the Weathermen in the late 1960s with husband Bill Ayers.
The radical group claimed credit for explosions at the U.S. Capitol,
the Pentagon and more. In 1970, a bomb the group was making to use
against an Army base exploded at a New York town house, killing three
members. Dohrn surfaced in 1980 and later pleaded guilty to two
counts of aggravated battery and two counts of bail-jumping in
connection with a 1969 anti-Vietnam war protest. She now heads the
Children and Family Justice Center at Northwestern University.
Symposium speaker Mecoy is a great-great-great-granddaughter of
Brown, who fathered 20 children with two wives. The 50-year-old Texan
said her family kept its link to Brown a secret while she was growing up.
--------
Pro-violence abolitionist John Brown studied in NY
http://townhall.com/news/us/2009/12/04/pro-violence_abolitionist_john_brown_studied_in_ny
By CHRIS CAROLA
December 04, 2009
John Brown, the 19th-century abolitionist who advocated armed
violence, is drawing a diverse crowd this week to study how his fight
against slavery continues to play in America.
A former Vietnam-era radical, a victim of human trafficking and an
award-winning author are joining academics, activists and a
descendant of the anti-slavery leader for a two-day symposium. The
event commemorates the sesquicentennial of Brown's 1859 burial at his
former Adirondack homestead just outside this tourist village in
northern New York.
Organizers say the symposium, on Friday and Saturday, will examine
the impact of Brown's fight against slavery on America then and how
it reverberates today. Speakers include Bernardine Dohrn, one of the
best-known leaders of the 1960s radical group the Weather
Underground; Maria Suarez, a Mexican immigrant who was virtually
enslaved by a Southern California man after being lured to work for
him in 1976; Russell Banks, author of the fictional Brown biography
"Cloudsplitter"; and Alice Keesey Mecoy, a Brown descendant.
The goal of the event isn't to glorify Brown, organizer Naj Wikoff said.
"We're trying to get people to take a look at the use of violence in
our country _ why American culture uses violence to achieve an end,"
Wikoff said.
Brown was hanged for treason on Dec. 2, 1859, at Charles Town in what
was then part of Virginia, a few miles from Harpers Ferry, where he
led an ill-fated raid on the federal arsenal earlier that fall. The
attack failed, but it pushed the nation closer to the civil war that
erupted nearly two years later. He was buried six days later.
Margaret Washington, a Cornell University history professor who's a
keynote speaker at Saturday's session, called Brown a "very
significant catalyst of change, radical change."
"He represents the positive, in the sense that he was an abolitionist
and egalitarian, and he also represents aspects of our culture that
we wish were not there," she said. "And that is the violence and the
idea that the only way you're going to bring change to humanity is to
strike out violently."
The Connecticut-born Brown was raised in Ohio and pursued various
jobs before moving with his family in 1849 to New York's Adirondack
Mountains. Here, they joined a community of former black slaves who
had settled in the town of North Elba, where the village of Lake
Placid was later established.
Brown left New York in the 1850s to join anti-slavery forces in
Kansas. While there, he led attacks that included the slayings of
five pro-slavery leaders in what became known as the Pottawatomie
Massacre. Brown returned to his North Elba potato farm, where he
hatched his plan to spark a slave rebellion in the South by seizing
the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry and arming the slaves.
Brown's raid began on Oct. 16, 1859, when his force of 21 armed men
took hostages inside the arsenal. The bloody assault ended two days
later when U.S. Marines led by then-Lt. Col. Robert E. Lee captured a
wounded Brown and 10 of his followers.
Brown went on trial that month, was convicted of treason and was
executed. He had asked to be buried on his New York farm, and his
body arrived in North Elba on Dec. 7. His body was laid out in a
wooden coffin placed in his homestead's front room, where the
original floorboards and some furnishings remain today.
Two of his sons, both killed at Harpers Ferry, lie in adjacent
graves, along with the remains of nine fellow raiders.
Northern abolitionists considered Brown a martyr, while in the South
he was reviled as a fanatic who tried to foment a slave insurrection.
"He stands out in the pantheon of rare white people who managed to
stand up, really, by putting their lives on the line in the name of
black liberation _ in this case, an end to slavery," said Dohrn, who
founded the Weathermen in the late 1960s with husband Bill Ayers.
The radical group claimed credit for explosions at the U.S. Capitol,
the Pentagon and more. In 1970, a bomb the group was making to use
against an Army base exploded at a New York town house, killing three
members. Dohrn surfaced in 1980 and later pleaded guilty to two
counts of aggravated battery and two counts of bail-jumping in
connection with a 1969 anti-Vietnam war protest. She now heads the
Children and Family Justice Center at Northwestern University.
Symposium speaker Mecoy is a great-great-great-granddaughter of
Brown, who fathered 20 children with two wives. The 50-year-old Texan
said her family kept its link to Brown a secret while she was growing up.
"Our line is not real big on talking about the connection," she said.
"You either consider him an evil man or a saint."
The symposium and a burial re-enactment are among the final events
marking the Harpers Ferry raid's 150th anniversary in New York, West
Virginia, Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania.
--
On the Net:
John Brown commemoration: http://www.johnbrowncominghome.com
John Brown Farm: http://nysparks.state.ny.us/historic-sites/29/details.aspx
.
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