https://archive.org/details/black-voices-hf

Black Voices from Harper's Ferry: Osborne Anderson and the John Brown Raid by Jean Libby; Osborne Perry Anderson

Topics
#OsbornePerryAnderson, #harpersferry, #harpersferryraid, #johnbrown, #slaveinsurrection, #slaveuprising, #unitedstatesofamerika, #historyofvirginia, #historyofwestvirginia, #historyofslavery, #socialhistory

"Shown together from their far-flung points of origination, the role of the black community around Harpers Ferry is obvious in far greater significance than has been previously credited." - introduction

Today in Labor History August 15, 1906: W.E.B. DuBois demanded equal citizenship rights for African-Americans during the second meeting of the Niagara Movement, saying, "We will not be satisfied to take one jot or little less than our full manhood." Founders of the movement named it for the “mighty current” of change they hoped to achieve. DuBois made his famous statement at Harper’s Ferry, sight of the failed insurrection led by John Brown, in 1859. For a wonderful speculative fiction story based on the premise that John Brown had succeeded in his raid, with the help of Harriet Tubman, read Terry Bisson’s “Fire on the Mountain” (1988).

In addition to cofounding the Niagara Movement, DuBois also cofounded the NAACP. He devoted his life to fighting racism, segregation, Jim Crow and lynchings. DuBois opposed capitalism and blamed it for much of the racism in America. He was also a prolific writer, an anti-nuclear and peace activist, and a proponent of Pan-Africanism.

#WorkingClass #LaborHistory #naacp #niagara #WEBDubois #racism #panafricanism #antinuke #antiwar #BlackMastadon #anticapitalist #HarpersFerry #JohnBrown #writer #author #books #fiction #SpeculativeFiction @bookstadon

Some men wish evil and accomplish it
But most men, when they work in that machine,
Just let it happen somewhere in the wheels.
The fault is no decisive, villainous knife
But the dull saw that is the routine mind.

John Brown’s Body
Stephen Vincent Benet

There’s something of the “banality of evil” in this. Dutifully carrying out the task assigned without consideration of its consequences. Something of denial of culpability. For all the big evil men of history there are throngs of unexceptional box checkers and water carriers of doom.

#JohnBrown #USCivilWar #History #Literature

#johnbrown

Today in Labor History June 2, 1863; Backed by three gunboats, Harriet Tubman and her force of 300 black soldiers freed 750 slaves. Furthermore, they set fire to the plantations and destroyed millions of dollars-worth of stores, cotton and homes of the wealthy, without losing a single man. Additionally, it was the only military engagement in American history where a woman, black or white, “led the raid and under whose inspiration it was originated and conducted.” Tubman devised her war strategy after repeatedly penetrating across enemy lines and spying on Confederate troop movements. In the aftermath, Confederate Captain John F. Lay said, “The enemy seems to have been well posted as to the character and capacity of our troops and their small chance of encountering opposition, and to have been well guided by persons thoroughly acquainted with the river and country.” Most Americans know of Tubman’s role in the Underground Railroad. However, she was also a spy for the Union Army. And in the late 1850s, she helped John Brown plan his raid on Harper’s Ferry and recruit supporters for the raid.

#WorkingClass #LaborHistory #CivilWar #HarrietTubman #slavery #abolition #UndergroundRailroad #JohnBrown #liberation #espionage #StrongWomen #BlackMastadon #blm

Today in Labor History May 24, 1856: The Pottawatomie Massacre occurred in Kansas. On May 21 pro-slavery forces sacked Lawrence, Kansas, which had been settled by abolitionist “Free-Staters.” The next day, they attacked Senator Charles Sumner for speaking out against slavery in Kansas. In response, John Brown, and his supporters in the Pottawatomie Rifles, killed five pro-slavery settlers in front of their families. This led to a mini-civil war in Kansas that was a prelude to the national Civil War that would follow a few years later.

#WorkingClass #LaborHistory #slavery #abolition #JohnBrown #CivilWar #racism #BlackMastadon

“Our duty to the slave, I think, demands that we speedily appeal to the task master’s fear. Let us teach, urge, and encourage insurrections, and the South will soon abandon her haughty attitude of aggression…if we want to make good terms with Slave Power, let us bring it on its knees first! And there is but one way of doing that: by attacking it, where it is weakest—at home. The slave quarter is the Achilles’ heel of the South. Wound it there and it dies! One insurrection in Virginia, in 1832, did more for the emancipation cause, then all the teachings of the Revolutionary Fathers…I dismiss the argument that we have no right to encourage insurrections, the dreadful punishment of which, if unsuccessful, we are unwilling or do not propose to share, by replying that I am not unprepared to hazard the dangers of such a catastrophe, and the chances of speedy death or enduring victory with the revolutionary slaves.”
-James Redpath, Journalist, associate and biographer of John Brown
#Abolitionist #USHistory #Insurrection #JamesRedpath #JohnBrown

Malcolm X on 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."

#Democrats #Ally #JohnBrown

https://paninid.substack.com/p/john-brown-and-the-abyss

#JohnBrown #abolition #Nietzsche #theabyss #morality #values #character #systemsthinking #humanity

Apparently there is a #JohnBrown #isekai called "His Soul is Marching On!" I am disappointed to find out that the reincarnated Brown doesn't function like a warlock patron from #DnD.

Just imagine how hard it would slap for the party building phase to be him going to plantations, liberating people, and declaring, "Though I am weak, I will burn my lifeforce to grant any who join me the power to end slavery!" His power is that he empowers others to overthrow their oppressors.

I mean, if we must have a #DeadWhiteGuy as a #stateHero it seems the obvious choice for #CT is #Torrington born #JohnBrown but I have a feeling our #Governor might not be a fan of his either

Descendants of Frederick Douglass and John Brown meet: https://whyy.org/articles/descendants-frederick-douglass-john-brown-meeting-new-freedom-theatre/

#history #FrederickDouglass #JohnBrown

John Brown in front of Solarpunk flag
#johnbrown #solarpunk

:antifa:
https://jesterofnocourt.bandcamp.com/track/we-sent-them-on-their-way
:ablobfoxbongohyper:
#BandCampFriday #JohnBrown #Folk #JBGC

Today in Labor History February 25, 1870: Hiram Rhodes Revels was sworn into the U.S. Senate, becoming the first African American ever to sit in Congress. He was a Republican from Mississippi. His cousins were killed participating in John Brown’s raid on Harpers Ferry. During the Civil War, he helped recruit and organize two black Union regiments.

#WorkingClass #LaborHistory #congress #slavery #racism #reconstruction #JohnBrown #HarpersFerry #CivilWar #HiramRhodesRevels

#DuBois biography of #JohnBrown changed my thinking.

https://www.themarginalian.org/2017/10/09/w-e-b-du-bois-diagrams/

Can't sleep.
Started rewatching " The Good Lord Bird".

#JamesMcBride #JohnBrown

#Abolitionism
#ThomasWentworthHigginson (December 22, 1823 – May 9, 1911) was an American #Unitarian #minister, author, #abolitionist, #politician, and #soldier. He was active in the @American Abolitionism movement during the 1840s and 1850s, identifying himself with #disunion and #militant abolitionism. He was a member of the #SecretSix who supported #JohnBrown. During the #CivilWar, he served as colonel of the #1stSouthCarolinaVolunteers, the first federally authorized #blackregiment, from 1862 to 1864.[1] Following the war, he wrote about his experiences with African American soldiers and devoted much of the rest of his life to fighting for the rights of freed people, women, and other disfranchised peoples.

#RusselBanks #JohnBrown #AmericanSoul

Another visionary author I hope to read:

https://chrishedges.substack.com/p/russell-banks-john-brown-and-the?utm_source=substack&publication_id=778851&post_id=96862697&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&triggerShare=true&isFreemail=false

Sunday's book of the day is:
#johnbrown #abolitionist #slavery #DavidSReynolds