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John Brown birthday tributes and portrait discussion

cultureMay 9, 20263614,193

David Strathairn performed John Brown's last speech in a ZinnEdProject video released for Brown's birthday, and the occasion revived attention to Brown's 1859 Harper's Ferry raid. The National Portrait Gallery highlighted its 1872 oil portrait by Ole Peter Hansen Balling, while scholars pointed to an 1840s daguerreotype by Augustus Washington. W.E.B. Du Bois's 1909 line, "John Brown taught US that the cheapest price to pay for liberty is its cost to-day," resurfaced as a framing quote in tributes. The mix of performances and portrait analysis matters because portrayals of Brown as martyr, extremist, or strategic abolitionist shape how Americans remember direct action and racial justice today.

Elegantly dressed couple
@proenzacoles.bsky.social5495
John Brown, no beard, arms crossed, looking intense as hell like usual
@billcorbett.bsky.social4677
Happy 226th Birthday to John Brown, the only white boy to ever truly understand the assignment
@devononearth.bsky.social1683
left to right: 1. John Brown by W. E. Burghardt DuBois 2. The Legend of John Brown. A Biography and a History by Richard O. Boyer 3. Fire on the Mountain. What If John Brown Had Won At Harper's Ferry? The Classic SF Novel of a Black Utopia in the American South by Terry Bisson
@dytsras.bsky.social1174
Tragic Prelude is a mural painted by the American artist John Steuart Curry for the Kansas State Capitol building in Topeka, Kansas. It is located on the east side of the second floor rotunda. On the north wall it depicts the abolitionist John Brown with a Bible in one hand, on which the Greek letters alpha and omega of Revelation 1:8 can be seen. In his other hand he holds a rifle, referred to as the "Beecher's Bibles". He is in front of Union and Confederate soldiers, living and dead, with a tornado and a prairie fire approaching. Emigrants with covered wagons travel from east to west.
@catbus.phd680
On this day, May 9, 1800, the man who would force Centrists to stop enabling the evil that is slavery was born. Remember, kids: Centrism on civil rights issues
@transadvocate.com33
Delia picture of John Brown, clean shaven.
@mcbazacophd.bsky.social24
A B&W tintype photograph of abolitionist John Brown, clean-shaven and staring intensely at the camera, his right hand raised as if giving an oath. The caption reads “HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOHN BROWN”
@professorplague.bsky.social12
I’m wearing a T-shirt with the face of John Brown and the words, “I don’t argue with people John Brown would’ve shot.“
@phidipdbq.bsky.social12
A painting of a white man in a black suite. One of his hands is raised with the palm out. He has dark hair and a scowl. It's John Brown - abolitionist.
@4wheelworkout.blacksky.app10
some vinyl stickers depicting John Brown and Harriet Tubman (and her rifle) in the style of American Gothic.
@soren-lorenson.bsky.social9
Today we celebrate the birthday of abolitionist, John Brown (May 9, 1800- Dec 2, 1859). "Caution, Sir! I am eternally tired of hearing that word caution. It is
@sebbearva.bsky.social9
A bronze statue of John brown at the Kansas historical center.
@atarifan2600.bsky.social9
Keedera would later go on to write operas based on the lives of Nat Turner and John Brown.
@trekkiebill.bsky.social9
WWJBK? (Who Would John Brown Kill?) is a 2026 vibe.
@professordarkness.bsky.social8
A cabin on a hill, with a stone foundation having two windows and dark slatted wood siding. the grass is parched brown, there is an old style fence at the bottom the hill backing up to a forest past peak autumn colors. The Lake Placid Olympic ski jump is in the distance backed by a blue sky with a light veil of white wispy clouds. https://www.adirondackexplorer.org/communities/history/untangling-timbucto-and-the-roots-of-gerrit-smiths-land-grants-of-1846/
@twodollars27cents.bsky.social6
“I had been an abolitionist too long, and had known and loved John Brown too well, not to feel a thrill of joy at last on finding myself in the position where h
@richcondon.bsky.social5
Abolitionist hero John Brown, looking badass.
@reustis.bsky.social3
Today is John Brown's birthday. John Brown is one of the white people that I truly admire for calling out slave owners and telling it like it was.
@melinda-wvu.bsky.social3
John Brown postcard with face cutout showing the face of a woman. “Greetings from Kansas”
@cpthousedwarf.bsky.social3
3 sources
npg.si.eduJohn Brown (1800-1859) | National Portrait Gallerysmithsonianmag.comJohn Brown's Famous Photographrmg.co.ukMould Loft at John Brown & Co Ltd, Clydebank, 1901 | Royal Museums Greenwich

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