Akron commemorates John Brown, Harpers Ferry Sesquicentennial
11/26/2009 - West Side Leader
By Staff Writer
AKRON - The city will conclude its year-long commemoration of John Brown,
who led the raid on Harpers Ferry in 1859, with a special ceremony and
lecture Dec. 2 at 11 a.m. at First Presbyterian Church, 647 E. Market St.
The ceremony is sponsored by the city of Akron, the Summit County Historical
Society and First Presbyterian Church.
Following the service, at noon, Mayor Don Plusquellic and students from
Goodyear Middle School will ring a historic bell that will begin the ringing
of church bells throughout Downtown Akron, just as they were in Akron on the
day Brown was hanged, Dec. 2, 1859. On the day of his execution, bells rang
and flags flew at half-staff in Akron, the courts adjourned and stores
closed, according to city officials. That night "a great indignation
meeting" took place in Empire Hall, and speeches were made by Akron's
leading citizens.
Historian Paul Finkelman will deliver remarks at the 11 a.m. service.
Finkelman, the William McKinley Distinguished Professor of Law at Albany Law
School, is the author of "Terrible Swift Sword: The Legacy of John Brown"
(Ohio University Press, 2005) and "His Soul Goes Marching On - Responses to
John Brown and the Harpers Ferry Raid" (University Press of Virginia, 1995).
Akron's First Presbyterian Church, organized in 1831, was divided by the
issue of slavery in 1859, and the present-day congregation descends from the
anti-slavery faction of the church, according to city officials. Pastor the
Rev. Mark Ruppert will deliver an invocation, and the history of the church
will be offered by the church's historian, Edie English.
The ensemble Exalting Him will perform "Lift Every Voice and Sing," also
known as the "Negro National Anthem," and "Blow Ye the Trumpet, Blow,"
reportedly Brown's favorite hymn.
Area vocalist Carla Davis will close the ceremony with the song first
created in memory of Brown - "Battle Hymn of the Republic." Accompaniment
will be provided by church organist Heidi Guttermuth.
During this 150th anniversary year of Harpers Ferry, the community has
collaborated in many ways to mark the events that led to what many believe
was the starting point for the U.S. Civil War - the failed raid, which Brown
thought might inspire African slaves to ignite an uprising against their
slave-owners.
The Akron Art Museum, located at 1 S. High St., also is presenting
selections from Jacob Lawrence's The Legend of John Brown through Feb. 14.
This series of screen prints presents specific incidents in Brown's life.
The Summit County Historical Society will open the John Brown Home at the
corner of Copley and Diagonal roads in West Akron Dec. 2 from 3 to 6 p.m.
Admission is free. Exhibits describe the life of Brown and his family in
Akron.
Brown was born in Connecticut in 1800, raised in Hudson and apprenticed in
Kent (then called Franklin Mills). He lived in Akron during the decade
preceding the Civil War. A breeder of sheep and an authority on wool, Brown
accepted the offer of Col. Simon Perkins - the son of Akron's founder - to
reside in the cottage that sits today on Diagonal Road.
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