John Brown birthday tributes and portrait discussion
David Strathairn performed John Brown's last speech in a ZinnEdProject video released for Brown's birthday, and the occasion revived attention to Brown's 1859 Harper's Ferry raid. The National Portrait Gallery highlighted its 1872 oil portrait by Ole Peter Hansen Balling, while scholars pointed to an 1840s daguerreotype by Augustus Washington. W.E.B. Du Bois's 1909 line, "John Brown taught US that the cheapest price to pay for liberty is its cost to-day," resurfaced as a framing quote in tributes. The mix of performances and portrait analysis matters because portrayals of Brown as martyr, extremist, or strategic abolitionist shape how Americans remember direct action and racial justice today.
Happy birthday to John Brown, who knew exactly how to handle the south’s “Peculiar Institution”
Electric Chimp144and for which he was executed, is still considered insane because he did the right thing, and certainly has no holiday because america is dangerously woke
Nigel Hicks35If only there had been more of him
Jack22John brown would know the peculiar institution is no longer limited to the south or even just rural places and has spread to every corner of this nation
Max Kennerly22Some of the best historical casting ever.
Knave Murdok (TransCat)21Wow, John Brown Day and Piccolo Day are on the same day!
SemprePhi17And so well dressed! bsky.app/profile/proe...
Double Atari17He had a very effective debate style. You could retort, but only if he missed.
/mnt/usb/cryptid15sitting down in the barber's chair and showing him this picture
V. Franklin14The match lies there, waiting to be lit.
🏳️🌈A_Jasmine_Man🏳️⚧️7I don't know how we aren't in a civil war right now. We have the government kid napping torturing and killing people via gangs or masked thugs, a president calling himself a king while standing next to the KINGOFENGLAND, and the Republicans are engaging in weakening all ways to get him out legally
Chris7Best book about Brown, I think, even as fiction. Powerful, funny, and inspiring
Mary!! 🐓❤️6let us honor his memory :)
Banjo Barn Hermit 🍉4“John Brown had hoes” >yes he did and if he didn’t he should’ve. That’s true
In 1841 Mary Richardson married John Jones of North Carolina. They carried free papers when they settled in Chicago & Mr. Jones established a successful tailoring business. Active in abolitionist politics & voting rights campaigns, they hosted & dressed John Brown & crew en route to Harper’s Ferry.
lunarshocked.bsky.social66Thanks for posting this. Here is more information about Free People of Color from North Carolina. I read this book to follow up on family history only to learn how insanely important they were going into the advent of the Civil War. a.co/d/0eJJJrlw
Jubilado050546It’s a miracle they weren’t caught. The three New England men who funded John Brown’s misadventure were identified and their papers were seized. Frederick Douglass, though not involved, was identified in them. He high tailed it to England where he remained for three years.
PassThePasta11That’s a good tailor! The vest is chef’s kiss.
📚 John McAndrew 🌏🇺🇦8Happy birthday to John Brown today.
Linda Paul6What strikes me is their youth and a quiet joy captured in the image.
larryg49.bsky.social6Thanks! That’s America’s History! And must be taught in our school! Shalom
Brik & Jax5For a few moments, I wondered what the heck is so great about this pic, then suddenly I realized, oh yeah ha! They ain’t white. There’s a reason this stuff is hidden, gif forbid we ever learn, more people’s of color invented & created more than white folk hmmmmm
boughtwinrar.bsky.social4Thanks for posting this. I admire your curiousity and attention to details which reveal a good character too many posters can envy, but lack.
Regnad Kcin3John Brown's methods left a lot to be desired (hacking 5 people to death with swords at Pottawatomie Creek), but supporting the abolitionist cause and eliminating the slavery of Black People should never be questioned.
🇨🇦Paisley Jane T+3This is a very beautiful couple I take back ‘styles of the day’ I suspect this is their own unique style & design First thing I learned about black people, Mom can make clothes. Ones you want to wear I’m Gen X - there was no style until I found tie dye & concert tshirts Ok still no style
catbellyratbone.bsky.social2John Brown did nothing wrong
Happy 226th Birthday to John Brown, the only white boy to ever truly understand the assignment
Crowsa Luxemburg34and they imprisoned him in the phantom zone for it smh head
Raymond Price 26His body lies a-mouldering in the grave, but his soul goes marching on.
Callsign: Quarterhorse26The greatest white American this country ever created
s-isabelle.bsky.social25Great man and great book if you get the chance to read it. One story from it is that Higginson was bringing John Brown's wife to see him before he died and Brown heard and sent a message to take her home saying, something to the effect, that I'm ready to face this but I won't be able to if I see her
A Wyvern 🔜 Furlandia10It is also Kermit the frog's birthday
eightydays.bsky.social6Is The Good Lord Bird (2020) any good? I’ve been meaning to check it out.
Adam J Schmidt5His soul is marching on.
Cloud and Lights5My wife and I were sitting at his farmhouse in Lake Placid on a really quiet afternoon 20 years ago… The wind was blowing gently. I swear I could feel his presence. I said to my wife “I definitely feel the guy”. “If you were gonna feel anyone it would be him” she answered “he was everywhere”.
rodhargrove.bsky.social5And the commonwealth of Virginia hung him… same old story from the ruling class.
chris sorensen4By Augustus Washington, quarter-plate daguerreotype, c. 1846-1847. At the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution.
Smeefus Smonkus4One of the incredibly few to make it on the list of Good White Boys
Shellie3He did, but I think Jimmy Carter did too.
Justin3Goodman and Schwerner are on the list too
NewMounThannia22Not United Statian, what did he do?
What made John Brown a great man was not actually that he was a "great" man. It was that he recognized himself as a regular man that rejected white supremacy. And was willing to die for that. That when he saw another Black face, he saw a human like himself. May 9, 1800 he was born
KC Butterfly🦋40There’s a statue of him about 3 miles from my house. At our family reunion last year we did a tour of the history center that worked to have it erected. My family ancestors were settlers of the Quindaro Township in Kansas.
Jenni Said🖕🧊16I made myself a T-shirt with John Brown's image that says "John Brown did nothing wrong", "Harper's Ferry 1859. My husband is afraid that here in western Missouri I'll get shot for wearing it. I'm wearing it today. And I'm willing to argue the point with all comers.
Ryan Abt (He/Him)13Turns out that seeing Black people as equally human radicalizes you.
DE Riley3This is the important point: "That when he saw another Black face, he saw a human like himself." That's all it takes, people.
James Crow, esq.3Cloudsplitter by Russell Banks www.goodreads.com/book/show/26...
Morrison3Curious if you've read and/or liked Cloudsplitter? I'm about to start it..
interrolang.bsky.social2John Brown is dead, he will not come again, A stray ghost-walker with a ghostly gun. Let the strong metal rust In the enclosing dust & the consuming coal That was the furious soul And still like iron groans Grow colder than the stones. Bury the South together with this man, Bury the bygone South.
Chris2“The Good Lord Bird” by James McBride is my favorite novel about Brown. Book way way better than the show Powerful and moving
Juli-Ačiū 🍅🌵❄️🍁🇱🇹🕊️2whenever I get in irl chats w white people who appear to have the same aims as me, I try to work in how unlearning the desire to be the lead character /a hero /be thanked was the best step I took in the ongoing work, hell knows who I’ll be when real courage is called upon, but that unlearning helps
happy birthday to me, and my birthday twin John Brown
Catbus56I will celebrate by posting, being oppressed by the crushing weight of impending mortality, and going out for a nice dinner with friends tonight
☸️Van Weasel ☸️7I know the perfect gift for your birthday 🎁
杏奈/安娜/안나♡̆̈ ⟡˖·𖤣𖥧𖡼𖥧ꕤ*2Happy Birthday, 😺🚌 🎉 and also to John Brown
Pine Cellar2Happy birthday! A damn fine person to share your birthday with!
Funny Karate Bear (But Festive)2We ask you to bring to bear your saber once again in our time of most need
princess of wales champion: jane2happy birthday cat bus! may your ramen broths be perfectly cheesy!
