I knew about John Brown because of the rhym ( John Brown’s body ) and the movie with Ronald Regan that had John Brown in it.
I don’t remember much about the movie, except for one very strange scene where a couple of freed slaves decided to go back to slavery because they felt safer than with the rebellion.
Frankly, it seemed as though the film was on the side of slavery and against John Brown. Certainly, the government was, as they sent the army to hang him.
I also thought of the MLK march straight away.
I wonder what he’d think of today’s USA?
I’m from West Virginia, an in school we learned pretty extensively about the raid on the federal arsenal at Harper’s Ferry. I think people today may be less aware of Brown’s actions and legacy because historians have wavered on how they felt about him. We were basically taught that he was a nut, a wild-eyed fanatic, but there seems to be more recent acknowledgement that Brown acted out of (admittedly extreme) principles. Fanatic, yes; wild-eyed, no. And I would take exception to claims made upthread that he didn’t have an impact.
I assumed the ‘march’ in question was the 1963 civil rights march, possibly because of the recent extensive anniversary coverage.
I know who John Brown is and what happened at Harper’s Ferry. I’ve never heard of anything called “The” March on Washington and there have been a lot of marches there so I found the question vague to the point of meaninglessness.
Knew both; 47; history professor (albeit not in American history)
John Brown from 8th and 10th grade history class in the States (and also from the *Little House on the Prairie *books, oddly enough); MLK and march on Washington was part of my lectures when I taught history of rock, also in the States.
Neither of them feature in the modules I current teach, although MLK and the Civil Rights movement could show up as a student presentation in the annual spring senior seminar I team-teach on the presentation of history in the media.
The BBC article I found refers to the speech in the head and calls the march “The March for Jobs and Freedom”. As a Brit, I didn’t know of the march under any name until I saw this thread - my knowledge of the US civil rights movement is limited to Rosa Parks and the Bus Boycott, Martin Luther King and the I Have a Dream speech (but not the context of the march and the rally), and images of newsreel footage of black men with “I am a man” placards being bullied by authorities.
I’m still confused about the “March on Washington” name. Was this a known term before the anniversary coverage started? As I said above, I’m quite familiar with MLK and the Dream speech, and the march (lowercase m). I’ve read about it in multiple classes, and generally feel I have a decent knowledge of the civil rights movement. Yet I’ve never heard of it referred to as The March on Washington. I wasn’t aware any one march rose above the others to get the title of The.
So, everyone else…was this a common descriptor until recently, or were you guessing because it’s the most famous march, or know due to the recent coverage?
I knew both of these but not because I remember them from my High school history class. Our daughter is attending school in Virgina and we stopped in Harpers’ Ferry while driving around. It is quite a scenic area and I visited John Brown’s fort. As to your second query, given today’s date I assume the answer you are seeking is the events of 50 years ago.
John Brown a native son of Kansas? Important to the early pre-statehood history of Kansas, something of a wild-eyed killer for political reasons, I guess, but I don’t think he was born there. Vermont? Upstate Adirondack New York?
I’m from the era when geography/ history/ economics were actually taught in schools. I’m well over 60. Yes, I know very well what you were talking about, Brown and his followers seizing the arsenal at harper’s ferry, getting shot or hung for their trouble I honestly don’t know, still, what he thought he would accomplish. I think he was more than a bit bemented by that time.
Yes. Referring to the MLK speech as “The March on Washington” is *not *something that just started this year. I work for a company that provides stock footage to documentaries and filmmakers and the speech has *always *been called “The March on Washington” for at least the past 9 years I’ve worked there.
With all this talk about other marches on Washington, I must admit my very first thought was the Bonus Army in 1932, but since I knew this is the 50th anniversary of MLK’s, I figured it was that one. Which I also already knew about anyway. (I even remember it being in the news at the time.)
Yes, I know about both, but my first thought was also about the post WWI veteran’s march for their benefits. Which was not really sensible of me, since that became a veteran’s camp out until Dugout Doug and George Patton busted some heads.