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John Brown An Address at the 14th Anniversary of Storer College
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37 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 31, 2010
About the author
Frederick Douglass
1,138 books1,793 followersFrederick Douglass (né Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey) was born a slave in the state of Maryland in 1818. After his escape from slavery, Douglass became a renowned abolitionist, editor and feminist. Having escaped from slavery at age 20, he took the name Frederick Douglass for himself and became an advocate of abolition. Douglass traveled widely, and often perilously, to lecture against slavery.
His first of three autobiographies, The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave, was published in 1845. In 1847 he moved to Rochester, New York, and started working with fellow abolitionist Martin R. Delany to publish a weekly anti-slavery newspaper, North Star. Douglass was the only man to speak in favor of Elizabeth Cady Stanton's controversial plank of woman suffrage at the first women's rights convention in Seneca Falls, New York, in 1848. As a signer of the Declaration of Sentiments, Douglass also promoted woman suffrage in his North Star. Douglass and Stanton remained lifelong friends.
In 1870 Douglass launched The New National Era out of Washington, D.C. He was nominated for vice-president by the Equal Rights Party to run with Victoria Woodhull as presidential candidate in 1872. He became U.S. marshal of the District of Columbia in 1877, and was later appointed minister resident and consul-general to Haiti. His District of Columbia home is a national historic site. D. 1895.
More: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederic...
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p1...
http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/exhi...
http://www.loc.gov/collection/frederi...
http://www.nps.gov/frdo/index.htm
http://www.cr.nps.gov/museum/exhibits...
His first of three autobiographies, The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave, was published in 1845. In 1847 he moved to Rochester, New York, and started working with fellow abolitionist Martin R. Delany to publish a weekly anti-slavery newspaper, North Star. Douglass was the only man to speak in favor of Elizabeth Cady Stanton's controversial plank of woman suffrage at the first women's rights convention in Seneca Falls, New York, in 1848. As a signer of the Declaration of Sentiments, Douglass also promoted woman suffrage in his North Star. Douglass and Stanton remained lifelong friends.
In 1870 Douglass launched The New National Era out of Washington, D.C. He was nominated for vice-president by the Equal Rights Party to run with Victoria Woodhull as presidential candidate in 1872. He became U.S. marshal of the District of Columbia in 1877, and was later appointed minister resident and consul-general to Haiti. His District of Columbia home is a national historic site. D. 1895.
More: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederic...
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p1...
http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/exhi...
http://www.loc.gov/collection/frederi...
http://www.nps.gov/frdo/index.htm
http://www.cr.nps.gov/museum/exhibits...
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
July 1, 2019
4 stars for the speech.
I’m not sure I can agree with Douglass’s interpretation of John Brown’s actions. I think MLK’s way is better and more Christian: non-violent direct action. And Douglass seems to, at times in this speech, not make a clear distinction between Brown’s righteous stand against slavery versus Brown’s violent tactics.
What makes Brown’s actions more troubling is that at Harper’s Ferry his men killed a freedman (a baggage master on an incoming train—I Wikipedia’d it, and it doesn’t say whether it was inadvertent, it sounds like it was an inadvertent killing, but that’s one of the problems with using violent tactics).
Background info.: Douglass and Brown were longtime friends. They disagreed on the use of violence. Douglass was against it. Brown was for it, in some fashion.
I’m not sure I can agree with Douglass’s interpretation of John Brown’s actions. I think MLK’s way is better and more Christian: non-violent direct action. And Douglass seems to, at times in this speech, not make a clear distinction between Brown’s righteous stand against slavery versus Brown’s violent tactics.
What makes Brown’s actions more troubling is that at Harper’s Ferry his men killed a freedman (a baggage master on an incoming train—I Wikipedia’d it, and it doesn’t say whether it was inadvertent, it sounds like it was an inadvertent killing, but that’s one of the problems with using violent tactics).
Background info.: Douglass and Brown were longtime friends. They disagreed on the use of violence. Douglass was against it. Brown was for it, in some fashion.
January 9, 2021
John Brown holds a place in history like no other. Here is Malcolm X's opinion on him:
"We need allies who are going to help us achieve a victory, not allies who are going to tell us to be nonviolent. If a white man wants to be your ally, what does he think of John Brown? You know what John Brown did? He went to war. He was a white man who went to war against white people to help free slaves. He wasn’t nonviolent. White people call John Brown a nut. Go read the history, go read what all of them say about John Brown. They’re trying to make it look like he was a nut, a fanatic. They made a movie on it, I saw a movie on the screen one night. Why, I would be afraid to get near John Brown if I go by what other white folks say about him.
But they depict him in this image because he was willing to shed blood to free the slaves. And any white man who is ready and willing to shed blood for your freedom—in the sight of other whites, he’s nuts. As long as he wants to come up with some nonviolent action, they go for that, if he’s liberal, a nonviolent liberal, a love-everybody liberal. But when it comes time for making the same kind of contribution for your and my freedom that was necessary for them to make for their own freedom, they back out of the situation. So, when you want to know good white folks in history where black people are concerned, go read the history of John Brown. That was what I call a white liberal. But those other kind, they are questionable.
So if we need white allies in this country, we don’t need those kind who compromise. We don’t need those kind who encourage us to be polite, responsible, you know. We don’t need those kind who give us that kind of advice. We don’t need those kind who tell us how to be patient. No, if we want some white allies, we need the kind that John Brown was, or we don’t need you. And the only way to get those kind is to turn in a new direction."
This is why it's important to read what Frederick Douglass, who was Brown's contemporary, and a revolutionary who worked alongside him, had to say of Brown. I would implore white people today to be more like John Brown.
"We need allies who are going to help us achieve a victory, not allies who are going to tell us to be nonviolent. If a white man wants to be your ally, what does he think of John Brown? You know what John Brown did? He went to war. He was a white man who went to war against white people to help free slaves. He wasn’t nonviolent. White people call John Brown a nut. Go read the history, go read what all of them say about John Brown. They’re trying to make it look like he was a nut, a fanatic. They made a movie on it, I saw a movie on the screen one night. Why, I would be afraid to get near John Brown if I go by what other white folks say about him.
But they depict him in this image because he was willing to shed blood to free the slaves. And any white man who is ready and willing to shed blood for your freedom—in the sight of other whites, he’s nuts. As long as he wants to come up with some nonviolent action, they go for that, if he’s liberal, a nonviolent liberal, a love-everybody liberal. But when it comes time for making the same kind of contribution for your and my freedom that was necessary for them to make for their own freedom, they back out of the situation. So, when you want to know good white folks in history where black people are concerned, go read the history of John Brown. That was what I call a white liberal. But those other kind, they are questionable.
So if we need white allies in this country, we don’t need those kind who compromise. We don’t need those kind who encourage us to be polite, responsible, you know. We don’t need those kind who give us that kind of advice. We don’t need those kind who tell us how to be patient. No, if we want some white allies, we need the kind that John Brown was, or we don’t need you. And the only way to get those kind is to turn in a new direction."
This is why it's important to read what Frederick Douglass, who was Brown's contemporary, and a revolutionary who worked alongside him, had to say of Brown. I would implore white people today to be more like John Brown.
August 21, 2025
An insightful posthumous account of John Brown's life, with a focus on the raid of Harper's Ferry. A though provoking read not just for casual U.S. history fans like myself, but Douglass' words can be applied to almost any armed insurrection/revolt today.
The debate over John Brown as a martyr, fanatic, ally, or terrorist is fascinating and Douglass summarizes it perfectly, in my personal view, as follows:
"To the outward eye of men, John Brown was a criminal, but to their inward eye he was just a man and true. His deeds might be disowned, but the spirit which made those deeds possible was worthy highest honor"
You can question the methods but not the intent.
I also love the readily apparent reverence Douglass has for Brown throughout the text.
"His zeal in the cause of freedom was infinitely superior to mine. Mine was as the taper light, his was as the burning sun. Mine was bounded by time. His stretched away to the silent shores of eternity. I could speak for the slave. John Brown could fight for the slave. I could live for the slave. John Brown could die for the slave."
The debate over John Brown as a martyr, fanatic, ally, or terrorist is fascinating and Douglass summarizes it perfectly, in my personal view, as follows:
"To the outward eye of men, John Brown was a criminal, but to their inward eye he was just a man and true. His deeds might be disowned, but the spirit which made those deeds possible was worthy highest honor"
You can question the methods but not the intent.
I also love the readily apparent reverence Douglass has for Brown throughout the text.
"His zeal in the cause of freedom was infinitely superior to mine. Mine was as the taper light, his was as the burning sun. Mine was bounded by time. His stretched away to the silent shores of eternity. I could speak for the slave. John Brown could fight for the slave. I could live for the slave. John Brown could die for the slave."
October 18, 2020
“Just here was the true glory of John Brown's mission. It was not for his own freedom that he was thus ready to lay down his life, for with Paul he could say, "I was born free." No chain had bound his ankle, no yoke had galled his neck. History has no better illustration of pure, disinterested benevolence. It was not Caucasian for Caucasian—white man for white man; not rich man for rich man, but Caucasian for Ethiopian—white man for black man—rich man for poor man—the man admitted and respected, for the man despised and rejected. "I want you to understand, gentlemen," he said to his persecutors, "that I respect the rights of the poorest and weakest of the colored people, oppressed by the slave system, as I do those of the most wealthy and powerful." In this we have the key to the whole life and career of the man. Than in this sentiment humanity has nothing more touching, reason nothing more noble, imagination nothing more sublime; and if we could reduce all the religions of the world to one essence we could find in it nothing more divine.”
August 9, 2026
Long live John Brown, the only White man I trust. I love how Frederick Douglass venerates John Brown.
“His zeal in the cause of my race was far greater than mine—it was as the burning sun to my taper light—mine was bounded by time, his stretched away to the boundless shores of eternity. I could live for the slave, but he could die for him.”
“His zeal in the cause of my race was far greater than mine—it was as the burning sun to my taper light—mine was bounded by time, his stretched away to the boundless shores of eternity. I could live for the slave, but he could die for him.”
December 13, 2020
Douglass' biographical essay--first delivered as a speech--is interesting because it shows the religious dispositions of Douglass, Brown, and how the latter's cult intertwined with Christianity in the era.
July 17, 2020
Hari Kondabolu said, “We need John Brown white people.” This powerful speech by Frederick Douglass shows why.
December 12, 2020
Exceptional
December 12, 2020
Exceptional....
September 10, 2018
I am an absolute sucker for good oratory!
Frederick Douglass is one of my 'faves'. This speech is remarkable not only because of the subject (John Brown), but also the location the speech was delivered: Harper's Ferry; less than 20 years after John Brown's attack. The wheel does turn! Given Brown's role as a catalyst, a speech by an old friend is fitting. Also nice is the credit given to Shields Green.
Frederick Douglass is one of my 'faves'. This speech is remarkable not only because of the subject (John Brown), but also the location the speech was delivered: Harper's Ferry; less than 20 years after John Brown's attack. The wheel does turn! Given Brown's role as a catalyst, a speech by an old friend is fitting. Also nice is the credit given to Shields Green.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews