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Allies for Freedom/Blacks on John Brown
John Brown is an endlessly fascinating historical figure. Here are two classic studies by a pioneer in African American studies, one about the place of John Brown in African American history, the other about the reasons for the unique esteem in which he has been held by successive generations of blacks.This two-in-one edition features a new introduction by William S. McFeely, author of the Pulitzer Prize�winning Grant: A Biography.
- GenresHistoryNonfictionRace
456 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1972
2 people are currently reading
109 people want to read
About the author
Benjamin Arthur Quarles
27 books17 followersQuarles was born in Boston, Massachusetts. His father was a subway porter. He married twice, first to Vera Bullock Quarles, who died in 1951, and second to Ruth Brett Quarles. He had two daughters, Pamela and Roberta.
In his Twenties, Quarles enrolled at Shaw University and received his B.A. degree in 1931, M.A. degree from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1933, and Ph.D. in 1940. He worked as an instructor of history at Shaw University, Raleigh, North Carolina (1935–39), a professor and dean at Dillard University, New Orleans, Louisiana (1939–1953), and a professor of history and chair of department at Morgan State University, Baltimore, Maryland (1953–1974). At Morgan, Quarles reached near legendary status as the long-time head of the History Department, a revered teacher and counselor, an intellectual and professional mentor for two generations of African American scholars. Many of his books were required reading in the African American history courses that sprang up in eastern American Universities during the 1960s.
He was an active member of many political and historical organizations such as Project Advisory Committee on Black Congress Members, Department of the Army Historical Advisory Committee, and American Council of Learned Societies. He was one of the few men in the profession who openly supported the founding of the Association of Black Women Historians.
Quarles died of a heart attack at age of 92. In 1988 Morgan State University dedicated The Benjamin A. Quarles African-American Studies Room in the school library as a repository for his books, manuscripts, and memorabilia.
In his Twenties, Quarles enrolled at Shaw University and received his B.A. degree in 1931, M.A. degree from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1933, and Ph.D. in 1940. He worked as an instructor of history at Shaw University, Raleigh, North Carolina (1935–39), a professor and dean at Dillard University, New Orleans, Louisiana (1939–1953), and a professor of history and chair of department at Morgan State University, Baltimore, Maryland (1953–1974). At Morgan, Quarles reached near legendary status as the long-time head of the History Department, a revered teacher and counselor, an intellectual and professional mentor for two generations of African American scholars. Many of his books were required reading in the African American history courses that sprang up in eastern American Universities during the 1960s.
He was an active member of many political and historical organizations such as Project Advisory Committee on Black Congress Members, Department of the Army Historical Advisory Committee, and American Council of Learned Societies. He was one of the few men in the profession who openly supported the founding of the Association of Black Women Historians.
Quarles died of a heart attack at age of 92. In 1988 Morgan State University dedicated The Benjamin A. Quarles African-American Studies Room in the school library as a repository for his books, manuscripts, and memorabilia.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
August 13, 2020
As was the case with the other book which I read some years ago by this author, Black Abolitionists, this one was a solid piece of scholarship. By reviewing a very wide array of primary and secondary sources he presented a comprehensive analysis of issues and events leading up to and including Brown’s raid at Harpers Ferry. Quarles’ analysis of the reasons for the fact that only 5 of the 22 members of Brown’s team were Black was thoughtful and informative.
In his preface he noted that unlike other studies of Brown this one did not end with the latter’s death. Instead there were two chapters of more than 50 pages of text which described both the short and long term aftermath of this seminal event in the country in general and in the African American community in particular.
Written in a more narrative, largely direct prose AfF was both readable and very informative. In fact, if anything IMHO it was a proverbial victim of its own success. Ie, sometimes the text was so comprehensive as to become TMI. Eg, how many speeches or newspaper articles does one need to cite before the reader gets the point?
I have two other modest criticisms of this book. First, the contributing factors to Brown’s virulent hatred of slavery and his belief in the equality of African Americans were noted in one chapter but not in as much detail as I would have liked. Second, there is no bibliography. Sources can be gotten through the almost 30 pages of footnotes at the end of AfF. And Quarles noted and briefly reviewed four other biographies of Brown in a Bibliographical Note at the end of the book. But it would have been more user friendly had a bibliography been included. For these reasons I would rate AfF at 4, as opposed to 5, stars.
For those who wish to read an engaging historical novel about Brown I recommend The Good Lord Bird by James McBride. Warning: its depiction of Brown as well as ?Frederick Douglass is less than flattering in some respects.
In his preface he noted that unlike other studies of Brown this one did not end with the latter’s death. Instead there were two chapters of more than 50 pages of text which described both the short and long term aftermath of this seminal event in the country in general and in the African American community in particular.
Written in a more narrative, largely direct prose AfF was both readable and very informative. In fact, if anything IMHO it was a proverbial victim of its own success. Ie, sometimes the text was so comprehensive as to become TMI. Eg, how many speeches or newspaper articles does one need to cite before the reader gets the point?
I have two other modest criticisms of this book. First, the contributing factors to Brown’s virulent hatred of slavery and his belief in the equality of African Americans were noted in one chapter but not in as much detail as I would have liked. Second, there is no bibliography. Sources can be gotten through the almost 30 pages of footnotes at the end of AfF. And Quarles noted and briefly reviewed four other biographies of Brown in a Bibliographical Note at the end of the book. But it would have been more user friendly had a bibliography been included. For these reasons I would rate AfF at 4, as opposed to 5, stars.
For those who wish to read an engaging historical novel about Brown I recommend The Good Lord Bird by James McBride. Warning: its depiction of Brown as well as ?Frederick Douglass is less than flattering in some respects.
July 10, 2017
Excellent in-depth study of Brown and those around him. His successes and failures are examined in equal measure, with much to be learned from both.
September 6, 2015
This is a combined volume of two books on the topic of John Brown, the man who more than any other single individual ignited the American Civil War. But really, it's a book about “John Brown”, the topic, how he was regarded at the time and later. John Brown is a Rorschach blot in American history, upon which antebellum South and North, and later generations, projected whatever they hoped or feared. I think part of why he is not heard of so often today is that he still raises some uncomfortable questions.
Questions like: why didn't America sort out its problem with slavery politically? There is a comforting myth that it would have died out anyway within a generation, but two generations prior to the Civil War had been hoping for that and there is every reason to think that our federal republic was simply incapable of resolving the issue peacefully.
Questions like: why did his plan to raise a slave rebellion in the south fail? One can make excuses, and there are plenty to offer, but it must be admitted that the response to the John Brown raid on Harpers Ferry was far short of what was seen in, for example, the Haitian revolution.
Questions like: if John Brown (neither wealthy nor especially well educated) could see that slavery would never be ended without resort to armed violence, and see equally well that black people in America should be free (he not only was an abolitionist, he enlisted free blacks and escaped slaves in the North into his band and foisted on them as much responsibility for command as they would accept), then why could others of his generation not do so as well?
Questions like: is it ok to attempt bloody revolution when there is an enormous, pervasive, long-standing atrocity which is given full defense by the force of law? In other words, if generations of anti-slavery protest going back to Ben Franklin had failed to make any dent in Southern slavery, is a bloody-minded rebel like John Brown the only way to change the status quo?
Benjamin Quarles (a 20th century black historian) is unflinching in his examination of these questions, not always answering them but providing a through survey of what is known. He is willing to puncture the “nice if it were true but it's not”, like the iconic image of John Brown kissing a black baby on his way to the noose (there was almost certainly not anyone black allowed near the site of the hanging), and shows us both the admirable and flawed aspect of John Brown's character. The first man killed in the raid on Harpers Ferry was a black man, and he was killed by John Brown's band; Quarles does not shrink from telling us this.
In the end, what made John Brown of lasting importance was not his role in the fights over slavery in Kansas, his role in helping escaped slaves to freedom in Canada, or his leadership of a band of black and white men (including his own sons) in trying to seize the federal arms depot in Harpers Ferry and use it to spark a general slave revolt. His demeanor and many earnest letters written while in jail awaiting execution (the result of the trial was never in doubt) were the reasons why he became a rallying cry for abolitionists.
The tune we now know as “Battle Hymn of the Republic” was known in 1860 as “John Brown's Body”.
John Brown's body lies a-mold'ring in the grave
John Brown's body lies a-mold'ring in the grave
John Brown's body lies a-mold'ring in the grave
His soul goes marching on
Glory, Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory, Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory, Glory! Hallelujah!
His soul is marching on
This song was sung by abolitionists from soon after John Brown's death in December 1859, and became a song for Union troops and especially freed blacks. When the Massachusetts 55th marched into Charleston in February 1865, they were singing “John Brown's Body”. When the black community of Charleston celebrated the occasion with a 10,000 strong parade through the city, they added the line “We'll hang Jeff Davis on a sour apple tree.” Quarles writes, “Some of the more sensitive Northerners, including abolitionists, did not care for the sour apple tree stanza, but the rank and file, whether black or white, hardly shared so fastidious a feeling, however morally admirable.”
Nowadays, we mostly remember the fighting spirit of the doomed South, and it can be hard to imagine the North being inflamed enough with a passion for violence to carry on with the bloodiest war America would ever know. Quarles does a proper historian's job of examining the evidence, and presenting events as they happened, not as we may have wished they had happened. But by the end of the book, it is not hard to imagine it any more. Why did the North choose to fight, die, and kill? To a large degree, John Brown was why.
Questions like: why didn't America sort out its problem with slavery politically? There is a comforting myth that it would have died out anyway within a generation, but two generations prior to the Civil War had been hoping for that and there is every reason to think that our federal republic was simply incapable of resolving the issue peacefully.
Questions like: why did his plan to raise a slave rebellion in the south fail? One can make excuses, and there are plenty to offer, but it must be admitted that the response to the John Brown raid on Harpers Ferry was far short of what was seen in, for example, the Haitian revolution.
Questions like: if John Brown (neither wealthy nor especially well educated) could see that slavery would never be ended without resort to armed violence, and see equally well that black people in America should be free (he not only was an abolitionist, he enlisted free blacks and escaped slaves in the North into his band and foisted on them as much responsibility for command as they would accept), then why could others of his generation not do so as well?
Questions like: is it ok to attempt bloody revolution when there is an enormous, pervasive, long-standing atrocity which is given full defense by the force of law? In other words, if generations of anti-slavery protest going back to Ben Franklin had failed to make any dent in Southern slavery, is a bloody-minded rebel like John Brown the only way to change the status quo?
Benjamin Quarles (a 20th century black historian) is unflinching in his examination of these questions, not always answering them but providing a through survey of what is known. He is willing to puncture the “nice if it were true but it's not”, like the iconic image of John Brown kissing a black baby on his way to the noose (there was almost certainly not anyone black allowed near the site of the hanging), and shows us both the admirable and flawed aspect of John Brown's character. The first man killed in the raid on Harpers Ferry was a black man, and he was killed by John Brown's band; Quarles does not shrink from telling us this.
In the end, what made John Brown of lasting importance was not his role in the fights over slavery in Kansas, his role in helping escaped slaves to freedom in Canada, or his leadership of a band of black and white men (including his own sons) in trying to seize the federal arms depot in Harpers Ferry and use it to spark a general slave revolt. His demeanor and many earnest letters written while in jail awaiting execution (the result of the trial was never in doubt) were the reasons why he became a rallying cry for abolitionists.
The tune we now know as “Battle Hymn of the Republic” was known in 1860 as “John Brown's Body”.
John Brown's body lies a-mold'ring in the grave
John Brown's body lies a-mold'ring in the grave
John Brown's body lies a-mold'ring in the grave
His soul goes marching on
Glory, Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory, Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory, Glory! Hallelujah!
His soul is marching on
This song was sung by abolitionists from soon after John Brown's death in December 1859, and became a song for Union troops and especially freed blacks. When the Massachusetts 55th marched into Charleston in February 1865, they were singing “John Brown's Body”. When the black community of Charleston celebrated the occasion with a 10,000 strong parade through the city, they added the line “We'll hang Jeff Davis on a sour apple tree.” Quarles writes, “Some of the more sensitive Northerners, including abolitionists, did not care for the sour apple tree stanza, but the rank and file, whether black or white, hardly shared so fastidious a feeling, however morally admirable.”
Nowadays, we mostly remember the fighting spirit of the doomed South, and it can be hard to imagine the North being inflamed enough with a passion for violence to carry on with the bloodiest war America would ever know. Quarles does a proper historian's job of examining the evidence, and presenting events as they happened, not as we may have wished they had happened. But by the end of the book, it is not hard to imagine it any more. Why did the North choose to fight, die, and kill? To a large degree, John Brown was why.
December 25, 2007
The retelling of the narrative of John Brown's life was not as complete or nuanced as DuBois' biography of Brown. The highlight of this text definitely the numerous primary documents from numerous and politically varied contemporary Black activists and leaders. This provided a look into the political discourse of the time and the tremendous respect and appreciation of the courage and determination of Brown. It was also revealing to see the rapid backpedalling of abolitionists who had once been enthusiastic supporters of John Brown's work once the Civil War was over and the Radical Reconstruction phase was waning. With the kkk rising around the country and southern democrats "Redeeming" the south, praise for John Brown was a serious statement and could require literal defense. As the movements for human rights (as abolitionists called their cause) have continued and evolved, appreciation of John Brown's actions has waxed and waned but there are numerous monuments to him around the U.S. This book gives us a look at what committed and engaged minds were thinking about Brown.
October 9, 2014
A careful study of John Brown's organizing work as a militant abolitionist. Quarles explores the search for affinity groups and individuals, and Brown's challenging transitions from planning/discussion to direct action and back again. This book refutes the mainstream 'lone terrorist/nutter' narrative typically attached to the events at Harper's Ferry.
Quarles also confronts the key what-If scenario (What if more abolitionist leaders had joined Brown's raid?) with a refreshing emphasis on the personalities, strategies, and agency of those leaders who refused his overtures. Put simply, the evidence indicates that John Brown brought some entitlement issues into the abolitionist communities he organized in, which inhibited the formation of a functional direct-action collective.
David Blight gives a class lecture on this material:
http://oyc.yale.edu/history/hist-119/...
Quarles also confronts the key what-If scenario (What if more abolitionist leaders had joined Brown's raid?) with a refreshing emphasis on the personalities, strategies, and agency of those leaders who refused his overtures. Put simply, the evidence indicates that John Brown brought some entitlement issues into the abolitionist communities he organized in, which inhibited the formation of a functional direct-action collective.
David Blight gives a class lecture on this material:
http://oyc.yale.edu/history/hist-119/...
March 11, 2015
I didn't rate this 4 stars because "I really liked it", but because it did a good job of its primary intention, describing the impact of John Brown on the African-American community of his day and the subsequent century plus. I did learn a lot, and I was already familiar with his story, most recently from "Don't Know Much About the Civil War" by Kenneth Davis.
As a pure biography, it was weak because one does not really get a good sense of John Brown as a person. This is largely a result of lack of good sources, as there was no good reason for the first 50 years of his life to have been documented much at the time, but I think also it is a matter of emphasis. This is not a fun read, but it is a worthwhile one.
As a pure biography, it was weak because one does not really get a good sense of John Brown as a person. This is largely a result of lack of good sources, as there was no good reason for the first 50 years of his life to have been documented much at the time, but I think also it is a matter of emphasis. This is not a fun read, but it is a worthwhile one.
April 2, 2015
Though new research has shed new light on some of his arguments (developing and solidifying many, though complicating and even negating a few), this is a brilliant work that demonstrates that Brown wasn't some crazed loner, but intimately connected to the entire Abolitionist movement, and particularly to Black Abolitionists. One of the absolute bests.
August 9, 2008
Very informative
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews