John+Brown

=John Brown  = May 9, 1800- December 2, 1852  He was born in Torrington, Connecticut making him the fourth child of Owen Brown and Ruth Mills. His father was deeply opposed to slavery, and very religious which partially explains Brown's passion for freeing slaves as he got older. John Brown, an American abolotionist, believed and promoted in using violent uprisings to abolish slavery. Although he believed in the freedom of slaves, he is known as one of the most controversial Americans in the 19th Century, being known as the "misguided fanatic" by Abraham Lincoln. He led numerous attacks against slave states with a band of men, killing white pro-slavery people. //“Here, before God, in the presence of these witnesses, from this time, I consecrate my life to the destruction of slavery!”//

Tom: Perspective from an African American slave (child)
 Date: May 27, 1856 My name is Tom and I am an eight-year-old slave. I live on a large plantation in Kansas with my entire family. Yea, most people think I’m still a kid, but I know more than they think I do. Like that raid that happened a couple of nights ago, none of the adults would tell us about it! But my grand pops told me in private, and told me not to tell my mom that he had told me. She would get mad at him for telling me such things, but I’m glad I found out. A couple of days ago, a man named John Brown led a number of men to Pottawatomie Creek which is around where we live! He’s a white guy fighting to free slaves, and a couple of nights ago him and a group of men killed white pro-slavery men. Kansas is an undecided state I heard, we’re not free or slave, but I really do hope we get to be free! Living with my parents and my brothers and sisters, and grand pops, without Master Tom making us work! When my grand pops told me about John Brown, I thought it was really cool what he did, but Grand pops shook his head in disapproval. He said that he admires John Brown for doing what he is doing for us slaves, but he doesn’t think resorting to violence is the answer. Honestly, I think grand pops is getting too old. Look at what the white people do to us! Everyday I see people I know get whipped and beaten for doing something wrong out n the field. They usin’ violence aren’t they? I didn’t say anything to my grand pops about me thinking it was cool though because I thought he would get mad. Inside though, I was jumping up and down with happiness. I honestly don’t understand why a white man would want to risk his life to help us, but I guess there are some really nice white folks out there. Not like Master Tom on our plantation. They should have come and taken Master Tom. Now that would have made me REAL happy. It’s good to know that there are people out there trying to help us slaves. I don’t see what’s so different between colored and white folks. Is skin color really that big of a deal? I just don’t understand. Hopefully we’ll be free by the time I get older, but if we’re not, I hope I get to do something like what John Brown and his friends did. That would be so cool! I would get to fight for something I want! If I were old enough I would have gone with them right now. I guess I’ll have to wait until I get older. By: Jennifer Park

Jason: Perspective from a Slave owner By Ed

Dear Diary: My Name’s Marduk, Jason Marduk. Today’s date was June 9, 1856, 2weeks after that incident, the date I will never forget, May 24, 1856. It’s my first time ever to sit down and write a personal diary, but I just wanted to express my feelings. I just cannot believe what happened two weeks ago, everything was turning out so fine until that darn man’s actions was somewhat similar to the American Civil War. Let me tell you something about this act, I tell you it’s stupid. People were literally fighting against the U.S federal government. If this never happened I guess 620,000 people would have died. With just a slavery issue, civilians were killed brutally, not hundreds but thousands. This Act ended slavery in the United States and that just ticks me off. Everything was turning out so well, the slaves worked so hard for me, what was her name? I don’t care she’s nothing more than a slave to me, why would I even care? So it finally started, slaves rioting and screaming for freedom and justice. Never have I thought this day would come this quickly, I guess slaves think as well as we do. Ha! Nonsense I say, that’s all nonsense, why would they bother to even fight for their freedom, like I said their nothing but property to me. Those darn women should just work for my farm and shut up for the rest of the time. Back to the point, I still remember what happened two weeks ago, the huge bloodbath, now called the “Pottawatomie Massacre.” Yeah that’s right, which so called John Brown actually came to Kansas and killed five pro-slavery settlers in Kansas, and one of em’ was my brothers’! I swear to my family’s name, one day, one night I will strangle him, choke him, till he begs and says he’s sorry. I’m a man of my word, he will suffer, John Brown, never will I forget that name. My country Kansas should be a slave state rather than a free state. If, those slaves were to obtain their freedom, what will I do with all my farming work I would be poor within months! So damned African-Americans, if neither of this ever happened, I should probably living a normal life, not a normal life, a healthy life! Come to think of it, it just makes me angered and heated. I’m guessing I was too greedy, with all the wealth and slaves that worked for me. For me, to live in the future I will just have to accept this slave abolish act, I cannot change anything that happened in the past. However, I will never forget what happened to my brother, though he may have died in the act of the “Bleeding Kansas” I will not let his death be in vein.



From the perspective of John Brown’s second wife: Mary Ann Day By Rachel Yoo December 2nd 1861. It has been two years since my husband’s death… These days I find life so tough and cruel…Remaining in the farm with my seven children after John’s death is unbearable…I think I am going to move soon because the climate of the Adirondacks is making farming much more difficult. I don’t have a clue how I had survived without my husband for the last two years… but life is not getting any easier. It seems like yesterday he stood at the doorstep and greeted my children with a warm smile… now there is nothing left but the terrible memory of his tragic death. He devoted his life to further the abolitionist cause. He was so passionate about his work to make a slavery-free state… so much that I think he did not take care of himself. I should have told John to not take too much of a risk trying to free slaves. His anti-slavery campaigns, violent rebellions and terrorizing of the “Border Ruffians” were all too much of a risk. Why didn’t I stop him before it would be too late? As a wife I tried to uphold the family by farming, planting crops and raising cattle, because I had seven mouths to feed besides my husband’s. However, now I think of it… I should have stopped by husband from risking his life. Of course it was all done for a good cause… but was it worth trading his life? I remember how much he detested the pro-slavery activists who were known as “Border Ruffians.” He swore endlessly about them and how he planned to destroy every one of them in ways no one can imagine. Sometimes his rage scared me… but I knew his intentions were moral.

The time of the Pottawatomie Massacre may be the incident that had the most impact on my husband’s life. This happened on May 24 and the morning of May 25, 1856. My husband gathered his abolitionists and some members of the Pottawatomie Rifles went to Pottawatomie creek in Franklin County, Kansas. Fortunately I was not there, but I heard it was bloody. Slashing… stabbing… shooting… Men hacked to death. Now I think of it, I don’t understand why there couldn’t have been a better way to solve the issues of slavery. While this violence happened I hadn’t realized how much these incidents endangered my husband. I only nodded like a fool and agreed that the more deaths of Border Ruffians, the better. At the time, I felt like the wife of a hero… but now I feel nothing. I have a hollow mind… I know reminiscing and remorse will not solve anything… but I can’t help it. Why couldn’t I have supported my husband more after his beloved father died on May 8th 1856, the same year the Pottawatomie Massacre occurred. Through the trauma and all the criticism, my husband was stone-hard. It seems to me John never stopped because of his father, who had strongly opposed slavery. He never stopped for the slaves deprived of happiness and freedom. Some may regard John as a madman or a fanatic. But no matter what they say, John is a bold, valiant and unforgettable hero to many.


 * Mary Ann Day

Sources: [|http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Brown_(abolitionist]) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pottawatomie_Massacre http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p1550.html