''John Brown'' is a biography written by

W. E. B. Du Bois William Edward Burghardt Du Bois ( ; February 23, 1868 – August 27, 1963) was an American-Ghanaian sociologist, socialist, historian, and Pan-Africanist civil rights activist. Born in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, Du Bois grew up in ...

about the abolitionist

John Brown John Brown most often refers to: *John Brown (abolitionist) (1800–1859), American who led an anti-slavery raid in Harpers Ferry, Virginia in 1859 John Brown or Johnny Brown may also refer to: Academia * John Brown (educator) (1763–1842), Ir ...

. Published in 1909, it tells the story of John Brown, from his Christian rural upbringing, to his failed business ventures and finally his "blood feud" with the institution of slavery as a whole. Its moral symbolizes the significance and impact of a white

abolitionist Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historic movement that sought to end the Atlantic slave trade and liberate the enslaved people. The British ...

at the time, a sign of threat for white slave owners and those who believed that only black people were behind the idea of freeing slaves. Du Bois highlights the moment in Brown's childhood when he first became radicalized against slavery: It was this moment that Brown pledged to destroy slavery. Du Bois describes Brown as a biblical character: fanatically devoted to his abolitionist cause but also a man of rigid social and moral rules. Du Bois simultaneously describes Brown as a revolutionary, prophet and martyr, and declares him to be "a man whose leadership lay not in his office, wealth or influence, but in the white flame of his utter devotion to an ideal" (p. 135). Du Bois also showcases his studies on socialism and

social Darwinism Social Darwinism refers to various theories and societal practices that purport to apply biological concepts of natural selection and survival of the fittest to sociology, economics and politics, and which were largely defined by scholars in We ...

in this work. He continuation the examination of the genealogy of Blacks outlined in ''

The Philadelphia Negro ''The Philadelphia Negro'' is a sociological study of African Americans in Philadelphia written by W. E. B. Du Bois, commissioned by the University of Pennsylvania and published in 1899 with the intent of identifying social problems present in ...

'' (1899) and ''

The Souls of Black Folk ''The Souls of Black Folk: Essays and Sketches'' is a 1903 work of American literature by W. E. B. Du Bois. It is a seminal work in the history of sociology and a cornerstone of African-American literature. The book contains several essays on r ...

'' (1903), that refutes the biological differences between Blacks and whites. According to Du Bois, Brown was a man who based his fight against slavery not on social Darwinism, but on his personal values. In 1997 a new edition appeared, with a new introduction and primary documents.

References

External links

* * * {{John Brown's Raid on Harpers Ferry 1909 non-fiction books American biographies John Brown (abolitionist) Non-fiction books about American slavery Works by W. E. B. Du Bois