John Brown S Raid on Harper S Ferry

John Brown’s Raid on Harper’s Ferry by Russell Lerner

Level: 8th grade Standards: New York State Learning Standards 1C, 1E, 2E, 2I, 5E Length: One 50 or 60 minute period.

SWBAT/Objectives: 1. Understand the impact of John Brown’s raid from examing multiple documents from different persepectives. 2. Analyze and think critically about documents (pictures, maps, articles) related to John Brown’s raid. 3. Work in groups using the documents to create one large poster that conveys meaning to what the raid was and how it was seen from multiple points of view. 4. Participate in a gallery walk and comment on each others work.

Overview/Historical Context:

John Brown's raid at Harpers Ferry in October 1859 is considered one of the pivotal events in the impending Civil War. On October 16, 1859, John Brown and eighteen other men walked from a farmhouse in western Maryland a few miles into the town of Harpers Ferry, Virginia in order to seize weapons from the mostly unguarded federal arsenal. What the raiders planned to do with the federal rifles remains a subject of some dispute. John Brown had been an agent in the Underground Railroad helping slaves escape to freedom for decades before he came to Harpers Ferry. He hated slavery and had spent much of his adult life fighting against the institution with words and violent deeds.

For example, Brown and some of his sons had participated in the small-scale wars over slavery that had ripped apart the Kansas territory and had murdered at least five pro- slavery settlers in a famous incident in 1856. But during this time, Brown and his Provisional Army, as they called themselves, also seemed to be hatching plans for a revolution, what a Virginia court would later declare as a treasonous attempt to launch a slave insurrection.

During this time, Brown gained a reputation as a crazy man. Yet he was also a charismatic leader whose courage impressed everyone from former slaves to New England intellectuals. The raid itself failed. Despite initial success on Sunday evening in capturing rifles, Brown's forces soon got separated and surrounded. Several of Brown's men were killed in the attack which lasted almost 36 hours. Others, including Brown himself, who was wounded in the final assault at the arsenal's engine house, were captured. And Brown's behavior during his subsequent trial at Charlestown, Virginia (later West Virginia) captivated public attention, thrilling anti-slavery audiences in the North and horrifying many pro-slavery southerners. The Commonwealth of Virginia executed Brown on December 2, 1859, but the raid has remained a subject of debate. Essential Question(s)/Aim: 1. Why do people or individuals make the choices that they do? 2. What does John Brown’s raid tell us about slavery in America during the mid 19th century? 3. How is John Brown’s raid related to the conflict between the North and the South?

Procedure/Plan(Student-centered Activity):

(Students will have been taught and exposed to the documents during lessons that have pre-ceded this lesson. The following is a culminatuing activity about John Brown’s raid.)

1. A quick review (5 minutes) will take place at the beginning of class of who John Brown was, what he thought his goal in life was, what he attemped to do, why he is remembered and the result of his raid. If this is to be a ‘Do Now’ the above phrase(s) should be modified into question(s). 2. Students will then be divided into groups of approximatley four students each and told that this mini-project will be a culminating activity about John Brown. Ideally these will be heterogeneous groups of different ability students so higher functioning students can support the lower functioning ones. (If this is a class with IEP students it is advisable to have a push-in teacher to help support the lower functioning students.) 3. Once in groups the students will be given a packet of documents that all relate to John Brown’s raid. These documents will include pictures, maps, newspaper artcles and broadsides. 4. Time (approximately 5 minutes) should be allocated to give the directions of the assignment and to have the students look over the documents. Say the following: a. You will be creating a poster of John Brown’s raid. After looking over the documents and thinking about what you know about John Brown you will make a visual representation of his experience using the materials provided. b. Feel free to highlight the documets, cut them up, write/draw on them and the chart paper and arrange them in different, imaginative and artistic ways. c. Your task is to create a sequence of events chart, a timeline, a concept map, a who what where when why how map, a chain of events chart, or some other visual representation but be sure to use as many of the documents as possible and remember to be creative. d. Additionally, you are not limited to just the documents. You may draw and write on the chart paper. (Refer to my example.) e. Lastly, plan out what you will do before you start gluing and taping. 5. All groups will have access to scissors, markers, tape, glue and chart paper. 6. Using my example as a guide they will create their own poster (30-35 minutes) of John Brown’s raid. 7. Their poster(s) can be sequence, chronology or just a depiction of the events using the documents and the creativity in their heads. 8. All of the posters will be put up around the room for a gallery walk (5-10 minutes).

Summary/Close: As a closing activity all of the posters will be taped up around the room and the students will walk around to look at the other posters (gallery walk) with post-its in hand. They will write observations, suggestions, questions and any other remarks that they have and post them to that poster after looking at their classmates work. Anti-Slavery Broadside

http://www.continuinged.ku.edu/kt/images/Anti-Slavery-Mass-Meeting.jpg John Brown

www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/people/a_c/brown.htm Map of John Brown’s Raid

http://www.civilwar.org/education/history/john-brown-150/map-of-john-browns-raid- on.jpg John Brown’s Raid on the Federal Arsenal

http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/learning_history/brown/harpers_weekly_11_1859.jpg Newspaper Headline

“News of the Day,” New York Times, October 18, 1859, p. 4: 1. John Brown Broadside

http://www.lva.virginia.gov/public/guides/Civil-War/img/JohnBrown1.jpg The Hanging of John Brown

http://academics.vmi.edu/assets/0/430/434/821/23fb3d8d-33e9-4d4c-9986- 949838519459.jpg