John Brown

Charles Wilbert White

1949 · Lithograph · Modern and Contemporary Art

Here, White depicts one of the most compelling and controversial figures in nineteenth-century American history, John Brown (1800–1859), who devoted his life to opposing slavery, particularly its 1850s expansion into the Kansas Territory, in battles presaging the Civil War. In 1859, Brown and his followers attempted a raid on a federal armory in Harper’s Ferry, Virginia, which led to his hanging for treason.

Artist

Charles Wilbert White

Date

1949

Medium

Lithograph

Department

Modern and Contemporary Art

Credit line

Gift of Reba and Dave Williams, 1999