Abolitionist John Brown wasn't born in Kansas, but made his mark during the Bleeding Kansas era before the Civil War. Today, 165 years after his execution, Brown's violent acts and influence are ...

May 09, 2025 — A statue of John Brown, the abolitionist and insurrectionist, sits alongside his grave at the John Brown Farm Historic Site outside Lake Placid. Photo by David Escobar.

John Brown himself often said, with unquestionable sincerity, that he was a chosen instrument of the Lord, working under God’s guidance in the antislavery cause.

Two direct descendants of prominent figures of United States history — Frederick Douglass and John Brown — met in Philadelphia for the first time at a hip hop play featuring their ancestors. Brian ...

Last Sunday was the 163rd anniversary of John Brown’s raid on Harper’s Ferry, which for me was an excuse to flip through W.E.B. Du Bois’s 1909 biography of Brown for the first time in years.