Send us a text In this episode, Lou shares an extended reflection on Malcolm X that is attuned to the memory and legacy of John Brown. Going beyond easy, almost cliché use of Malcolm's words, Lou draws on his background as a Malcolm X biographer to reflect upon both the strategic and personal approach of the memorable black leader to John Brown's legacy. This May 19, 2025 is the centennial of Malcolm X's birth. With one foot in the antebellum era and another foot in the Civil Rights era, the str...
May 19, 2025•51 min
Send us a text In this episode, Lou discusses two recent online articles to illustrate how John Brown is often appropriated and misused by writers in discussing contemporary issues. The first article discussed is an effort to draw a parallel between John Brown and Luigi Mangione, who allegedly murdered a healthcare executive in cold blood last year. The second article presents John Brown as a Christian Nationalist. In both cases, Lou objects to the misuse of John Brown, showing how inaccurate th...
Feb 04, 2025•36 min
Send us a text In this episode, Lou discusses the animals--pets, livestock, and others who are part of the John Brown story, from the dogs of Harper's Ferry to a cat who went to Kansas. Just when you thought you'd heard everything about John Brown, huh? Guest music: "Story of a Toy" by Freedom Trail Studio (Youtube) Also available on the John Brown Today YouTube station...
Dec 17, 2024•15 min
Send us a text Dietrich Bonhoeffer was born in 1906, and was a German Lutheran pastor, a figure noted in the theological world for his neo-orthodox views, and his most popular book, The Cost of Discipleship. Bonhoeffer is more widely remembered as an anti-Nazi dissident who was a key founding member of the Confessing Church which opposed the Nazis. In the 1940s, Bonhoeffer joined the German underground, but was arrested and incarcerated at Tegel Prison, where he remained for over a year. However...
Dec 03, 2024•12 min•Season 6Ep. 2
Send us a text After the better of two years, John Brown Today is going back in production. This is just a brief message to greet listeners and to update them a bit, and thank them for maintaining an interest in this podcast. John Brown Today is coming back and I'm looking forward to what lies ahead. So stay tuned. Please note that two episodes will be uploaded for December 2024. Music: "Burden Laid Down" by The Westerlies (YouTube)...
Dec 03, 2024•5 min•Season 6Ep. 1
Send us a text In this episode, Lou does a deep dive evaluation of the legend of John Brown kissing a black baby on the day of his execution, a story that has been enshrined in poetry and paintings. Sharing his research on the topic, Lou considers the evidence and draws some interesting conclusions suggesting that this legend may have more than a core of truth. Check out the video version on my YouTube channel here. Guest music (closing): Aaron Lieberman, "Move Up to the Mountains" (YouTube)...
Apr 12, 2023•39 min•Season 5Ep. 3
Send us a text In this episode, Lou shares a conversation with author Ed Maliskas, a musician, clergyman, and researcher, the author of John Brown to James Brown: The Little Farm Where Liberty Budded, Blossomed, and Boogied (2016). In this fascinating discussion, Ed talks about coming to learn about the old Kennedy Farm in Maryland where John Brown and his raiders lived prior to the Harper's Ferry raid in the summer and early fall of 1859. However, as Ed learned, the farm, often referred to as t...
Feb 05, 2023•47 min•Season 5Ep. 2
Send us a text In this episode, Lou takes on the difficult theme of Heyward Shepherd, the black porter who was mortally wounded by John Brown's men during the Harper's Ferry raid, on the night of October 16, 1859. Reviewing the initial incidents of the raid, Lou considers the conventional narrative of Shepherd's demise, but then takes a sharp left turn: was Heyward Shepherd really a victim, or did his own actions instigate his shooting? And what was Heyward Shepherd trying to do when he was shot...
Jan 17, 2023•44 min•Season 5Ep. 1
Send us a text After an extended hiatus, Lou returns with a reaction & reflection upon the YouTube video, "John Brown: Terrorist or Hero?" which features a short lecture by the eminent historian David Blight. John Brown Today features the audio version here, and listeners can also view the reaction & reflection video here (or copy this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OV6GOH8Pslc)...
Dec 29, 2022•52 min•Season 4Ep. 10
Send us a text In Part 1 of "What Did Blacks Really Think of John Brown?" Lou reflects upon the question of white allies, particularly in the case of John Brown's story. What did black leaders and other associates really think of John Brown? Recalling Brown's devotion to black liberation and notable devotion to human equality, Lou suggests nevertheless that human interaction is by nature complex and even Brown might grate upon his black associates. How should these tensions be understood? Was he...
Oct 24, 2022•31 min•Season 4Ep. 8
Send us a text In Part 2 of this two-part episode, Lou reflects upon the question of white allies, particularly in the case of John Brown's story. What did black leaders and other associates really think of John Brown? Recalling Brown's devotion to black liberation and notable devotion to human equality, Lou suggests nevertheless that human interaction is by nature complex and even Brown might grate upon his black associates. How should these tensions be understood? Was he a paternalistic racist...
Oct 24, 2022•28 min•Season 4Ep. 9
Send us a text Many people in the United States, especially (but not exclusively) white people, tend to think of John Brown as someone who was "crazy." In this episode, Lou surveys what he calls a historical "thread" regarding the alleged insanity of Brown. Beginning with affidavits filed in Virginia in 1859 in an attempt by friends and relatives in Ohio to spare Brown's life, as well as Republican insanity rhetoric designed to dissociate Brown from their party, it is clear there is otherwise no...
Sep 09, 2022•49 min•Season 4Ep. 7
Send us a text In this episode, Lou presents a narrative written by John Brown's young lawyer, George H. Hoyt, written only a few years after the abolitionist's hanging. Hoyt went to join John Brown in Charlestown, Virginia (today West Va.) and support his lawyers, but really went as a spy for Brown's supporters in the North who wanted to launch a rescue. But not only was the rescue impossible by the time that Hoyt arrived in Virginia, but Brown did not want to escape. Hoyt thus became part of t...
Jul 25, 2022•57 min•Season 4Ep. 6
Send us a text In this episode, Lou responds to the comments of a thoughtful but critical podcast listener who has well-stated reasons for asking, "why John Brown?" The question is a good one and Lou starts with personal and scholarly reflections on a range of views of Brown that range from anti-Brown to non-admirer. Then, Lou shares the podcast listener's comments and attempts to make a response that hopefully is helpful to this friendly critic as well as others with similar thoughts on the abo...
Jun 30, 2022•44 min•Season 4Ep. 5
Send us a text In this episode, Lou does a deep dive into the story of William Leeman, the youngest of John Brown's Harper's Ferry raiders. From his origins in Maine to Kansas and his enlistment in John Brown's army, we look at the story of a young man with feet of iron and clay, whose death in Virginia in 1859 resonates with the racist gun violence and mass killings that grip our nation today. A special note of thanks is due H. Scott Wolfe, for providing his extensive research on Leeman, the wo...
May 26, 2022•48 min•Season 4Ep. 4
Send us a text In this episode, Lou is interviewed by Dr. Chris Dost, biblical scholar and pastor of the Northville Baptist Church in New Milford, Connecticut. This audio is excerpted from an interview recorded on July 10, 2021. Closing tune: "Amazing Grace" by Cooper Cannell Hey friends, click on this link to get your JOHN BROWN TODAY Podcast Mug! Feedback? https://www.speakpipe.com/JOHNBROWNTODAY...
Apr 30, 2022•55 min•Season 4Ep. 3
Send us a text In this episode, Lou provides a slice of biography, zooming in on John Brown's personal and economic challenges as a frontier entrepreneur and his often forgotten comeback in the early 1840s. While overlooked by unstudied and prejudiced scholars, Brown actually bounced back in the mid-1840s and distinguished himself as one of the leading experts on fine sheep and wool. Looking at Brown's attempt to intervene on behalf of wool growers in the 1840s, we get further insight into Brown...
Apr 04, 2022•28 min•Season 4Ep. 2
Send us a text To begin the fourth cycle of John Brown Today, Lou reflects upon the life and contribution of Brown biographer, Oswald Garrison Villard, whose life of John Brown was first published in 1910. As Lou argues, Villard did a great favor to historical study and John Brown students by commissioning extensive research for his work--research that he could not even utilize to the fullest extent himself. On the other hand, Villard depreciated John Brown as a restless and principled murderer,...
Mar 16, 2022•40 min•Season 4Ep. 1
Send us a text In this episode, Lou reflects upon the critical thesis of the late Gabriel Moran (1935-2021), who indefatigably pointed out the distinction between "America" as a dream (and as a vast continental land mass) and The United States of America as a nation. Following Gabriel's lead, Lou reflects upon the linguistic and political challenges of confusing the two, something that is done as much by rightwingers as by critics of racism, including such eminent voices as Malcolm X and Martin ...
Jan 31, 2022•37 min•Season 3Ep. 10
Send us a text In this episode, Lou revisits the Harper's Ferry raid of October 16, 1859, presents some preliminary thoughts on the contemporary perspective and then addresses a number of key points, along with a "January 6th" epilogue. The key points addressed in this extended episode are: 1. What basically characterized John Brown’s earlier Virginia plan and how it was changed in the 1850s, and why it was changed? 2. Why did John Brown choose to capture the federal armory and what did he inten...
Jan 16, 2022•52 min•Season 3Ep. 9
Send us a text In this episode Lou tries to answer the question, "Did John Brown celebrate Christmas?" This leads us to consider both Thanksgiving and Christmas in the antebellum era, what they represented to the North and South, respectively, and their social significance. Then, taking a quick tour of the archives, Lou pulls some different vignettes relating John Brown to Christmas. Merry Christmas to those who observe the day, and happy holidays and happy new year to all! Hey friends, click on...
Dec 24, 2021•23 min•Season 3Ep. 8
Send us a text In this episode, Lou reflects upon the 1859 words of abolitionist orator Wendell Phillips, that the hanged John Brown had "given this nation a text." Lou considers how W.E.B. DuBois used the abolitionist as a text in writing his biography John Brown in 1909. Almost seventy years later, the leftist historian Albert Fried likewise did so in the writing of his historiographic memoir, John Brown's Journey (1978) . Both writers demonstrated that Wendell Phillips was correct: Brown has ...
Dec 13, 2021•30 min•Season 3Ep. 7
Send us a text In this episode, Lou reflects upon the "moral core" of Brown and Lincoln in juxtaposition. Mainly considering how these men are viewed in terms of religion and in regard to their roles in human liberation, Lou argues that Lincoln is neither a prophet nor a martyr, and that he is bested in both categories by Brown. This episode is dedicated to the annual remembrance of John Brown's hanging on December 2, 1859. Hey friends, click on this link to get your JOHN BROWN TODAY Podcast Mug...
Nov 30, 2021•49 min•Season 3Ep. 6
Send us a text In this episode Lou talks with Dan Morrison, a journalist and artist who lives in Torrington, Connecticut, the birthplace of John Brown. The basis of the conversation is Dan's recent explainer video, "Was John Brown a Terrorist?" an Explainer Video which succinctly and effectively addresses a theme that so many have distorted and skewed. Dan is a listener of John Brown Today but he does a lot of thinking about the Old Man on his own, and he's working on a project that will interes...
Nov 17, 2021•33 min•Season 3Ep. 5
Send us a text In this episode, Lou discusses the story of Mary Ellen Pleasant, an African American woman who has been lauded for her civil rights activities in 19th century San Francisco, but--more important to this podcast--claimed to have been a confidant and supporter of John Brown. Along the way, Lou shares a number of examples of stories and reports that connected claimants to the John Brown story, some of them obviously false, others arguably true, and some in-between, with a mix of the c...
Oct 17, 2021•26 min•Season 3Ep. 4
Send us a text In this episode, Lou continues his conversation with friend Ian Barford, the actor and Brown-Douglass researcher. In this episode we discuss Ian's project on John Brown's relationship with Frederick Douglass and other black leaders of that period, including the impact that black nationalist archetypes had on Brown's thinking, and in turn how he responded in support of black self-determination. There is also some musing in regard to a trip to Kansas this past summer which they shar...
Sep 27, 2021•25 min•Season 3Ep. 3
Send us a text Welcome back to John Brown Today! In this episode, the first of two parts, I'm talking with my friend, Ian Barford, a Tony-nominated actor who is also a John Brown enthusiast and, in his own right, quite a scholar and researcher. For some years now, Ian has been working artistically on the theme of John Brown and Frederick Douglass, and I'm excited for the direction that his work has taken. This summer, Ian and I traveled around Kansas, visiting historical sites and then the beaut...
Sep 06, 2021•35 min•Season 3Ep. 2
Send us a text In this episode, Lou reflects on the text of John Brown's 1859 document, "A Declaration of Liberty," which was intended as the official pronouncement of the liberation movement and "guerrilla" state that he intended to establish in the South after staging a political demonstration at Harper's Ferry. After his movement failed and Brown was taken at Harper's Ferry, his documents were seized and preserved by Virginia authorities, including "A Declaration of Liberty." Also included is...
Jul 06, 2021•50 min•Season 3Ep. 1
Send us a text In this special Father's Day episode, Lou reflects on the example and influence of Owen Brown (1771-1856), the father of abolitionist John Brown. From Connecticut to the Ohio wilderness in the early 19th century, father and son Brown share a common religious faith and zeal for human rights and opposition to slavery. Special attention is paid to John Brown's 1857 autobiographical sketch of youth, and Lou offers closing Father's Day wishes with a special closing song, "Esperando (Wa...
Jun 17, 2021•43 min•Season 2Ep. 10
Send us a text This is the edited audio of a short video done to commemorate the 220th birthday of John Brown in 2020. This brief reflection on Brown's life and significance entails his upbringing, biographical profile, his impact on anti-colonial revolutionaries, his cultural diminishment in the USA, and concludes with statements by Frederick Douglass (read by Michael Sweeting) and James Baldwin. View the John Brown 2020 Remembrance here . Hey friends, click on this link to get your JOHN BROWN ...
Jun 03, 2021•11 min
