...was born in Torrington, Connecticut. Growing up in Kansas, Brown's legacy was taught in school and he was revered as a hero, but I've since discovered that to much of the country he was little more than a curious footnote (if recognized at all) leading to the Civil War.

Brown believed slavery could only be ended through armed resistance. He gained national attention for his violent actions in “Bleeding Kansas” and his 1859 raid on the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, intending to spark a slave uprising. Though the raid failed and Brown was executed, his unwavering commitment to ending slavery made him a martyr for the abolitionist cause. His actions simultaneously inspired Northern anti-slavery sentiment and alarmed the South, contributing to the tensions that led to the Civil War.

Pictured is one of my most prized possessions - a pamphlet summarizing an 1856 bill addressing the admission of Kansas as a state that has been signed by John Brown on the cover as well as inside, a practice frequently done at the time to indicate ownership.