workingclasshistory:

On this day, 16 October 1859, a group of abolitionists raided a federal armoury in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, with the intention of using the weapons to arm enslaved people. The small group, led by John Brown, including numerous African-Americans, at least one of whom was formerly enslaved. Legendary abolitionist Harriet Tubman had helped Brown recruit people to join the raid. After 36 hours, a unit of US marines arrived under the command of Col Robert E Lee, who killed several of the raiders. Most of the survivors, including Brown, were arrested, put on trial by a judge and jury who were all slaveholders, and executed. One of the Black rebels, John Anthony Copeland wrote to his family from his cell: “We shall meet in Heaven, where we shall not be parted by the demands of the cruel and unjust monster Slavery … But think not that I am complaining, for I feel reconciled to meet my fate… let me tell you that it is not the mere act of having to meet death, which I should regret … but that such an unjust institution should exist as the one which demands my life.” Brown became a committed abolitionist at the age of twelve after he witnessed a man brutally beating a young enslaved boy with an iron shovel. Brown later wrote that the experience transformed him into “a most determined abolitionist… leading him to declare, or swear, eternal war with slavery.” 100 years later, West Virginia commemorated the raid with a re-enactment, which ignored the Black abolitionists and depicted Brown as the villain while crowds cheered when he was captured.
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You can read about this and hundreds of other stories in our forthcoming book, Working Class History: Everyday Acts of Resistance & Rebellion, out next month. Preorder your copy on our Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/workingclasshistory/working-class-history-the-book
Pictured: participants in the raid https://www.facebook.com/workingclasshistory/photos/a.296224173896073/1556689241182887/?type=3