John Brown Legend

William H. Johnson, John Brown Legend, ca. 1945, oil on paperboard, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Harmon Foundation, 1967.59.1145
William H. Johnson, John Brown Legend, ca. 1945, oil on paperboard, 38 5836 14 in. (98.292.2 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Harmon Foundation, 1967.59.1145

Artwork Details

Title
John Brown Legend
Date
ca. 1945
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
38 5836 14 in. (98.292.2 cm)
Credit Line
Gift of the Harmon Foundation
Mediums
Mediums Description
oil on paperboard
Classifications
Subjects
  • Portrait male — Brown, John
  • State of being — death — execution
  • History — United States — Black History
  • African American
  • Landscape — building
  • Figure group
Object Number
1967.59.1145

Artwork Description

Tensions between Northern and Southern states were already high over the issue of slavery when John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry electrified the United States in 1859. The failure of this white abolitionist's revolt deepened the divide. On Sunday night, October 16, Brown (1800--1859) led eighteen men to Harper's Ferry (now in West Virginia), the site of a major armory and railroad junction below the Mason-Dixon Line. As the men secured key locations and took slaveowners prisoner, local militias prepared to fight back. Brown and his compatriots had expected hundreds of enslaved people from the surrounding area to join the abolitionist cause, but few did. Two of the raiders escaped; those captured alive were convicted of treason and sentenced to hang.

Johnson showed Brown, whose hair resembles a halo, being kissed by an African American child. The vignette is based on a story circulated after his execution that Brown paused on his way to the gallows to kiss an enslaved child. Johnson surrounded Brown with portraits of other abolitionists, Brown's fellow raiders, and sympathizers. A landscape in the upper right represents Harper's Ferry; the rifle to his right symbolizes Brown's plan to arm the enslaved.

 

Works by this artist (1 item)

W. Kurtz, William Page, Shakespeare Reading, 1874-1875, photograph, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of William Page Howell, 1979.135.42
Shakespeare Reading
Artist
Date1874-1875
photograph
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