Why He’s Notable: In 1859, fervent abolitionist and former Akron resident John Brown led his supporters — including three of his sons — to a federal arsenal and armory in Harpers Ferry, Virginia. He planned to obtain its weapons, sparking enslaved people to join his fight — but his plan failed, and Brown was executed. The seeds of his actions, however, grew into the start of the Civil War era. “John Brown’s raid didn’t produce, at that moment, the end of slavery,” says Leianne Neff Heppner, president and CEO of the Summit County Historical Society of Akron, OH, which operates the John Brown House museum. “But it helped bring it about.” Following Brown’s death, Union soldiers sang of his efforts. “There is a quote, by Harriet Tubman,” Neff Heppner relates. “She says that John Brown did more in dying than 100 men in living.”
His Local Impact: Brown and his family moved to Hudson around 1805, following the path of abolitionist David Hudson. “This concept of John Brown seeing all people as equal was something that was instilled in him as a young person,” says Neff Heppner. In 1844, he began farming sheep with Col. Simon Perkins, whose father founded Akron and moved to Perkins’ property. He traveled to Massachusetts to expand their wool business in 1846. “It gives him better access to larger abolitionist groups on the East Coast,” she notes, “and he then becomes introduced to individuals like Frederick Douglass.” In Akron, he assisted in the thriving Underground Railroad until around 1855. “The person that John Brown became is because of his role here in early Ohio and what people call the hotbed of abolitionism,” Neff Heppner says.
His Legacy: Brown’s tireless dedication to ending slavery fueled one of the most consequential wars in American history — but his legacy is, for many, personal. Akron sculptor Woodrow Nash created a bust of Brown, donating it to the historical society in 2019. “He felt it was so important that the African American children in this community knew that a white man had given his life to try to make their lives better,” Neff Heppner says. “Knowing that someone of that magnitude was here helps elevate others, because I can do something of significance too.” Not just a revolutionary, Brown was, she notes, a father, neighbor and businessman. “When you start to make people real and relatable … they’re somebody that you can emulate, or you can understand,” she says. “It changes the course of history.”
The John Brown House, 514 Diagonal Road, Akron, 330-535-1120, summithistory.org
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Akron-Summit County Public Library
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Akron-Summit County Public Library
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Akron-Summit County Public Library
