John Brown’s truth...

-Removed-

Yes his truth will always be with us.
But I’m getting the impression that the definition of slavery has changed over time and the dominant form today is more like extreme economic exploitation than the plantation model we normally discuss and that John Brown fought against.

The post that was quoted here has been removed

I’ve always regarded him as a hero of sorts but certainly an impulsive firebrand. Having said that, given the atrocities of plantation slavery, his fervour was more than justified and it was his lack of strategic ability that was his shortcoming and downfall.
I could be wrong but he was at least a rallying figure for the anti slavery movement and maybe still is.

@dood111 said
Funny how America is so evil but people from all over the world are clamoring to go there.

Are you posting in the correct thread. It’s been mentioned that the US is a long way from, being alone in the use, and exploitation of, modern slavery.
I’m not clamouring to get to the US, in case you were wondering. But if I lived in parts of Central and South America I probably would be in much the same way as economically distressed and war weary people in proximity to Europe are clamouring to get here. Who can blame them.

The post that was quoted here has been removed

Some textbooks, sure. But that's not the way Brown was universally taught.

When I was in 9th grade, I remember reading Emerson's article on Brown that said that he made "the gallows glorious like the cross." This was assigned as part of a textbook.

To be sure, we also learned the counterpoint - we read people that thought that Brown was not justified. But I certainly wasn't taught that Brown was "extremely misguided fool (at best), a dangerous revolutionary, or a hateful lunatic."

This was circa ~1990.

PS: John Brown is honored quite thoroughly at Harpers Ferry National Historical Park. I can't speak for how he's viewed in the South, but as far as I grew up, Brown is viewed as something between a hero and someone who may have taken a good cause a bit too far.

The post that was quoted here has been removed

You spoke of Europeans admiring Tippu Tip insofar as they could admire a Muslim slaver.

I think that Americans admire Gen. Lee for many characteristics that go far beyond his allegiance to the confederacy.

The post that was quoted here has been removed

I would think that an amateur historian interested in truth and accuracy
would refer to a more reliable source than a Warner Brothers movie.

@handyandy said
I would think that an amateur historian interested in truth and accuracy
would refer to a more reliable source than a Warner Brothers movie.

Americans believe their movies and their stars :-)

I remember as a youth, I read in the Sunday newspaper an interview with Vince Edwards,
the man who played Dr. Ben Casey in the uber popular weekly show by the same name.
And he talked about how so many people would meet him and begin asking him for medical advice lol.

That was somewhere around 1963 and even I, as a 12 year older, had to chuckle a bit at that.