Who Is John Brown: Villain Or Hero?

John Brown, a notable abolitionist of the 1850s, has been the subject of debate between many historians. People have viewed him either as a martyr, a terrorist, or a mix of both, but despite that, bias plays a key role in determining one’s opinion of him. For example, there is a youtube video called, “John Brown Explained: US history review,” by Hip Hughes. Hughes in his video repeatedly refers to John Brown as a “badass. This suggests Brown to be a tough guy who did what we wanted. In addition, he uses a song when talking about John Brown’s death to set a certain mood. This song called, “John Brown’s Body,” creates a sad and inspirational mood. Clearly, Hughes had bias in favor of John Brown.

Another example of bias, bias that’s not in favor of John Brown, comes from the article, “John Brown: Villain or hero?” By Steven Mintz. At the beginning of Mintz’s article, he compares John Brown’s attacks to terrorists attacks such as 9/11 and the Boston Marathon Bombing. In addition, after asking if John Brown was “...a

I personally believe that he was too reckless and violent, but acknowledging that he did contribute to the antislavery cause is important. For example, during his 1858 Christmas Raid into Missouri, he managed to free eleven slaves from two different slaveholders. After freeing them, he led the slaves to freedom on a long journey to Canada. The fact that he was willing to face many obstacles trying to carry these slaves to freedom shows just how passionate John Brown was about abolition. However, this raid did have some unnecessary violence that could have been avoided. This was due to the fact that one of the slaveholders was killed by one of the raid members, allegedly because of self defense. This was completely reckless and was an example of the many reckless things John Brown has done. Another example of his recklessness was his raid on Harper’s