Primary Sources
Read John Brown’s provisional Constitution for a free state:
https://www.famous-trials.com/johnbrown/614-browconstitution John Brown Family Letters: Kansas is a collection of letters written by Brown and his family members which offer a glimpse into life in Bleeding Kansas. The letters are digitally available to the public via the Beinecke Library: https://collections.library.yale.edu/catalog/17256906 To read John Brown’s final speech visit https://www.gilderlehrman.org/sites/default/files/inline-pdfs/t-05508-051.pdf View pictures of Brown’s family farm in northern New York: https://parks.ny.gov/historic-sites/johnbrownfarm/amenities.aspx Read a first-hand account of Brown’s raid from Osborne Perry Anderson, the only African American to survive the raid: https://www.google.com/books/edition/A_Voice_from_Harper_s_Ferry/sUxp11UMkBMC?hl=en&gbpv=0 "Bleeding Kansas" and the Pottawatomie Massacre, 1856 Mahala Doyle, the wife and mother of three of Brown’s victims, expressed her bitterness and pain in this letter to John Brown. She sent it to him in November 1859 as he awaited execution after the Harpers Ferry raid. https://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-resources/spotlight-primary-source/bleeding-kansas-and-pottawatomie-massacre-1856 |
Secondary Sources
For a thorough and detailed modern biography of Brown: Reynolds, David. John Brown, Abolitionist: The Man Who Killed Slavery, Sparked the Civil War, and Seeded Civil Rights (New York: Vintage Books, 2005)
Du Bois, William Edward Burghardt. John Brown. (United States: G. W. Jacobs, 1909)
https://www.amazon.com/John-Brown-William-Edward-Burghardt/dp/127314533X
On Brown’s religiosity: DeCaro, Louis A.. “Fire From the Midst of You”: A Religious Life of John Brown. (United Kingdom: NYU Press, 2005)
https://www.abebooks.com/Fire-Midst-Religious-Life-John-Brown/31196240987/bd?cm_mmc=ggl-_-US_Shopp_Trade_20to50-_-product_id=COM9780814719213USED-_-keyword=&gclid=CjwKCAjwiJqWBhBdEiwAtESPaBZTDXFYQpQuuKhV1PK8OCrv1moeggr6WuHmSBS62BC3LrFb1XDo-BoC39gQAvD_BwE
Blight, David. ” The Election of 1860 and the Secession Crisis” Presentation at Yale College, New Haven.
http://openmedia.yale.edu/projects/iphone/departments/hist/hist119/transcript10.html
For one of the most recent studies of Brown (together with Abraham Lincoln) see Brands, H. W. The Zealot and the Emancipator: John Brown, Abraham Lincoln, and the Struggle for American Freedom. ( United States: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 2020).
https://www.amazon.com/Zealot-Emancipator-Abraham-Struggle-American/dp/0385544006/ref=asc_df_0385544006/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=509234950067&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=9015812701015710676&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9004325&hvtargid=pla-919727968765&psc=1
For more on the five black accomplices in Brown’s raid:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2019/10/13/five-black-men-raided-harpers-ferry-with-john-brown-theyve-been-forgotten/
Du Bois, William Edward Burghardt. John Brown. (United States: G. W. Jacobs, 1909)
https://www.amazon.com/John-Brown-William-Edward-Burghardt/dp/127314533X
On Brown’s religiosity: DeCaro, Louis A.. “Fire From the Midst of You”: A Religious Life of John Brown. (United Kingdom: NYU Press, 2005)
https://www.abebooks.com/Fire-Midst-Religious-Life-John-Brown/31196240987/bd?cm_mmc=ggl-_-US_Shopp_Trade_20to50-_-product_id=COM9780814719213USED-_-keyword=&gclid=CjwKCAjwiJqWBhBdEiwAtESPaBZTDXFYQpQuuKhV1PK8OCrv1moeggr6WuHmSBS62BC3LrFb1XDo-BoC39gQAvD_BwE
Blight, David. ” The Election of 1860 and the Secession Crisis” Presentation at Yale College, New Haven.
http://openmedia.yale.edu/projects/iphone/departments/hist/hist119/transcript10.html
For one of the most recent studies of Brown (together with Abraham Lincoln) see Brands, H. W. The Zealot and the Emancipator: John Brown, Abraham Lincoln, and the Struggle for American Freedom. ( United States: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 2020).
https://www.amazon.com/Zealot-Emancipator-Abraham-Struggle-American/dp/0385544006/ref=asc_df_0385544006/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=509234950067&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=9015812701015710676&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9004325&hvtargid=pla-919727968765&psc=1
For more on the five black accomplices in Brown’s raid:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2019/10/13/five-black-men-raided-harpers-ferry-with-john-brown-theyve-been-forgotten/
Classroom Resources
Who Was John Brown?
Lesson Plan: https://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-resources/lesson-plan/who-was-john-brown
Lesson plan: John Brown’s legacy:
In this lesson, students will examine primary sources to understand John Brown’s actions in Harpers Ferry and will develop a creative project on his legacy.
https://historyexplorer.si.edu/resource/john-browns-legacy
Lesson Plan: https://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-resources/lesson-plan/who-was-john-brown
Lesson plan: John Brown’s legacy:
In this lesson, students will examine primary sources to understand John Brown’s actions in Harpers Ferry and will develop a creative project on his legacy.
https://historyexplorer.si.edu/resource/john-browns-legacy