PHILADELPHIA GEORGE W. JACOBS & COMPANY PUBLISHERS COPYRIGHT, 1909, BY GEORGE W. JACOBS & COMPANY _Published September, 1909_ _All rights reserved_ Printed in U. S. A. _To the memory of ELIZABETH_ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ PREFACE After the work of Sanborn, Hinton, Connelley, and Redpath, the only excuse for another life of John Brown is an opportunity to lay new emphasis upon the material which they have so carefully collected, and to treat these facts from a different point of view. The view-point adopted in this book is that of the little known but vastly important inner development of the Negro American. John Brown worked not simply for Black Men—he worked with them; and he was a companion of their daily life, knew their faults and virtues, and felt, as few white Americans have felt, the bitter tragedy of their lot. The story of John Brown, then, cannot be complete unless due emphasis is given this phase of his activity. Unfortunately, however, few written records of these friendships and this long continued intimacy exist, so that little new material along these lines can be adduced. For the most part one must be content with quoting the authors mentioned (and I have quoted them freely), and other writers like Anderson, Featherstonhaugh, Barry, Hunter, Boteler, Douglass and Hamilton. But even in the absence of special material the great broad truths are clear, and this book is at once a record of and a tribute to the man who of all Americans has perhaps come nearest to touching the real souls of black folk. W. E. BURGHARDT DU BOIS. CONTENTS CHRONOLOGY 11 I. AFRICA AND AMERICA 15 II. THE MAKING OF THE MAN 21 III. THE WANDERJAHRE 28 IV. THE SHEPHERD OF THE SHEEP 48 V. THE VISION OF THE DAMNED 75 VI. THE CALL OF KANSAS 123 VII. THE SWAMP OF THE SWAN 145 VIII. THE GREAT PLAN 198 IX. THE BLACK PHALANX 235 X. THE GREAT BLACK WAY 273 XI. THE BLOW 308 XII. THE RIDDLE OF THE SPHINX 338 XIII. THE LEGACY OF JOHN BROWN 365 BIBLIOGRAPHY 397 INDEX 401 CHRONOLOGY