John Brown: Martyr or Madman?
Author: Kathy Manley
Course/Level: 8th Grade
Materials:
Document 1:
Currier & Ives. John Brown. Meeting the Slave-mother and Her Child on the Steps
of Charlestown Jail on His Way to Execution. 1863. Lithograph. Library of Congress,
Washington, D.C.
“From an original oil painting by Louis Ransom.”
Document 2:
Curry, John Steuart. Tragic Prelude. 1937-1942. Mural. Kansas State Capitol, Topeka.
Graphic Organizers: Analyzing the Lithograph, Analyzing the Painting, Tombstone
HCPSS Curriculum Connections
This activity would be completed during Unit IV: A Union in Disunion.
Learning Outcome: Students will be able to identify the symbolism and purpose in two
conflicting visual representations of John Brown.
Task Question: John Brown: Martyr or Madman?
Historical Thinking Skills Assessed:
 Sourcing
 Close Reading
 Corroborating
Background for the Teacher
Printed on the back of Document 1: Raid on Harper’s Ferry
John Brown was an intensely religious abolitionist who believed that the only way to
end slavery in the United States was through violent means. He is best known for his raid
on the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia in 1859. The plan was to seize the
100,000 muskets and rifles housed there and lead a revolution, freeing the slaves he
believed would join him from all over the south.
The band of 21 men that overpowered the single watchman on duty the evening of
October 16th included three of Brown’s sons. Eight of the raiders died in a standoff with
federal soldiers led by Robert E. Lee, two escaped, five were trapped inside the arsenal.
Brown would survive to be tried for treason.
He was hanged for his crimes on November 2, 1859. The oratory he gave from his jail
cell made him a martyr for oppressed African Americans and sharply divided the country
over the issue of slavery. The incident is widely believed to have been a contributing
factor to the Civil War that erupted after years of rising tensions.
Printed on the back of Document 2: “Bleeding Kansas”
The passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 allowed residents of the territories of
Nebraska and Kansas to vote on whether slavery should be allowed to exist within their
borders. The Kansas-Nebraska Act repealed the Missouri Compromise of 1820, which
had prohibited slavery there.
Both slavery and antislavery proponents rushed to populate the region in an attempt to
sway the vote to one side or the other. The many violent altercations that occurred as a
result came to be known as “Bleeding Kansas”.
John Brown, who traveled to the area to join in the fight, led an assault on five proslavery men, dragging them from their homes in the middle of the night and hacking
them to death in retaliation for several attacks of increasing violence on settlers who were
anti-slavery.
Brown and his men including four of his sons, washed the blood from their swords in
nearby Pottawatomie Creek. The incident came to be known as the Pottawatomie
Massacre.
Context Setting - The Hook
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Display
the
first
photograph of John Brown in PowerPoint as students are
entering class.
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Begin by asking students:
Who was John Brown and what did he do to make history
remember him?
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Click through the four photographs of John
Brown in different stages of his life.
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Explain to students that these are actual
photograph of John Brown but they will be viewing
artistic representations of him.
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Display Document 1 for students to see.
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Hand out the first document and direct
students to read the brief description of John Brown’s
Raid on Harper’s Ferry on the back.
Discuss how well their prior knowledge compares to the facts in the
passage they’ve just read.
Have students turn the paper over and look at the lithograph, John Brown.
Meeting the Slave-mother and Her Child on the Steps of Charlestown Jail on
His Way to Execution.
Discuss the sourcing of the document, noting the title and the year it was
created.
A First Look -- Examining, Sourcing, and Organizing Evidence
 Direct students to study the lithograph in pairs and answer the questions in
the graphic organizer, Analyzing the Lithograph.
 Students will have 15 minutes to analyze each source and fill in the organizer.
A Closer Look -- Close Reading and Contextualizing
 At the end of 15 minutes, hand out the second document.
 Direct students to read the brief description of John Brown’s role in
“Bleeding Kansas” on the back of the document.
 Next, have students turn the paper over and view the image.
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Discuss the sourcing of the image, noting its title, the year it was created, and
where it was created.
Direct students to study the image in their same grouping and answer the
guiding questions in the graphic organizer, Analyzing the Painting.
Students will have 15 minutes to analyze the source and fill in the organizer.
Close Analysis -- Corroborating Evidence and Constructing Interpretations
 After students have examined each document separately, discuss each image
as a class.
 How do they differ in their portrayal of the character of John Brown?
 How have these artists used their images to persuade the viewer to their
point of view?
 What beliefs would someone hold to view John Brown as a martyr? As a maniac?
Documents
Guiding Questions:
John Brown. Meeting the Slave-mother and Her Child on the Steps of Charlestown Jail
on His Way to Execution.
 Study the lithograph for 2 minutes. What is the general feeling of the event
portrayed here?
 Who are the most important figures? Who are the least important? How is
the artist influencing your view of John Brown? (Close Reading)
 What’s written on the flag? Where’s the flag in the picture? How is the artist
persuading you to think a certain way? (Close Reading)
 Based on what you see in this picture, write down three character traits the
artist would like you to believe of John Brown. (Sourcing)
 Why do you think the artist created this work? (Sourcing)
 Based on what you know about the event being portrayed, is the artist
leaving out anything about how we should view John Brown? (Close Reading)
Guiding Questions:
Tragic Prelude.
 Study the painting for 2 minutes. What is the general feeling of the image you
see?
 Who are the most important figures in the painting? How does the artist
want you to see John Brown? (Close Reading)
 Look at the action in the scene. How is the artist persuading you to think
about John Brown’s effect on Kansas? (Close Reading)
 Based on what you see in this picture, write down three character traits the
artist would like you to believe of John Brown. (Sourcing)
 Why do you think the artist created this work? (Sourcing)
 Based on what you know about the event being portrayed, is the artist
leaving out anything about how we should view John Brown? (Close Reading)
Thoughtful Application
 Discuss the contrasting images of John Brown. Who would share these views
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of John Brown? Who would not?
Give each student the tombstone handout. Have them circle Anti-Slavery or
Pro-Slavery in the header and write an epitaph for John Brown based on the
viewpoint they selected. If they need more background on epitaphs, show
images of the epitaph on Abraham Lincoln’s grave and the epitaph on the
gravestone of Jefferson Davis.