John Brown

John Brown is an endlessly fascinating historical figure. Here are two classic studies by a pioneer in African American studies, one about the place of John Brown in African American history, the other about the reasons for the unique esteem in which he has been held by successive generations of blacks.This two-in-one edition features a new introduction by William S. McFeely, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Grant: A Biography.

On October 16, 1859, John Brown and his band of eighteen raiders descended on Harpers Ferry. In an ill-fated attempt to incite a slave insurrection, they seized the federal arsenal, took hostages, and retreated to a fire engine house where they barricaded themselves until a contingent of US Marines battered their way in on October 18.
The raiders were routed, and several were captured. Soon after, they were tried, convicted, and hanged. Among Brown's fighters were five African American men--John Copeland, Shields Green, Dangerfield Newby, Lewis Leary, and Osborne Perry Anderson--whose lives and deaths have long been overshadowed by their martyred leader and who, even today, are little remembered. Only Anderson survived, later publishing the lone insider account of the event that, most historians agree, was a catalyst to the catastrophic American Civil War that followed.
Five for Freedom is the story of these five brave men, the circumstances in which they were born and raised, how they came together at this fateful time and place, and the legacies they left behind. It is an American story that continues to resonate.

John Brown used photographs to raise funds and recruit followers to fight for liberation of slaves.
Since publication and exhibition in 2009 there are new discoveries of a John Brown daguerreotype and a tintype. There were sixteen original portrait sittings. This full-color catalog of the exhibition with supplement adds many historic details and context of his life and movements.

Most of Brown's his original portraits were daguerreotypes. The prints are as close as possible to the original source, resulting in detail that is astonishing when compared with the familiar renditions in textbooks and the Internet.
Abolitionist and Free-State emigration to Kansas sponsors of several of the sittings wanted to utilize his charismatic force evident in the new medium.

The author/curator describes the practices of photography at the time, such as painted photographs, photographs projected onto canvas, as well as making reproducible negatives from the single-image daguerreotype with original photography copyright.

Association of some photographers with the Underground Railroad shows compelling evidence of John Brown s motivation and actions. Others were inventors and creators of new processes and techniques, which John Brown eagerly adapted, just as he wanted the newest weapons
Major collections of John Brown papers and artifacts are described by historians and archivists for readers who want to look for John Brown in their travels or research, and online. The definitive aspect of the exhibition and catalog is the dispersal of the early photographs into many institutional collections, which in turn copyright and reproduce them. This process is respected.

The catalog is revised with ten supplementary pages based on new research in September 2014.

John Brown to James Brown delves into a distinctively American saga as it unfolds on one small piece of farm property in rural Western Maryland. Commonly known as John Brown's Farm because of the role it played in John Brown's raid on the armory at Harpers Ferry, this site was a music mecca to many young African Americans during the 50s and 60s. The little-known story of the music scene at Kennedy Farm where many giants of rhythm and blues performed during their early years --including James Brown, Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye, the Drifters, and scores of others. These stories, intertwined with those of a gifted promoter and thousands of young people who experienced early R&B music at John Brown's Farm, bring to life an ideal that heralded in America's founding documents and still beats in the heart of mankind today---liberty! Hardback 295 pages