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John Brown Today
Louis DeCaro Jr.
52 episodes
16 hours ago
Send us a text In this episode, Lou speaks with Dan Morrison, the founder of the John Brown Project and a documentary filmmaker from Torrington, Connecticut, John Brown’s birthplace. Morrison details his work, including a community arts project that produced a 21st-century remix of the Civil War era song, "John Brown's Body" and his current musical documentary, "Pushing the Rock," which examines systemic racism in America and features interviews with historical figures’ descendants and schola...
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All content for John Brown Today is the property of Louis DeCaro Jr. and is served directly from their servers with no modification, redirects, or rehosting. The podcast is not affiliated with or endorsed by Podjoint in any way.
Send us a text In this episode, Lou speaks with Dan Morrison, the founder of the John Brown Project and a documentary filmmaker from Torrington, Connecticut, John Brown’s birthplace. Morrison details his work, including a community arts project that produced a 21st-century remix of the Civil War era song, "John Brown's Body" and his current musical documentary, "Pushing the Rock," which examines systemic racism in America and features interviews with historical figures’ descendants and schola...
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History
Education,
Society & Culture
Episodes (20/52)
John Brown Today
John Brown, Accomplices, and the Struggle Against Systemic Racism: A Conversation with Dan Morrison
Send us a text In this episode, Lou speaks with Dan Morrison, the founder of the John Brown Project and a documentary filmmaker from Torrington, Connecticut, John Brown’s birthplace. Morrison details his work, including a community arts project that produced a 21st-century remix of the Civil War era song, "John Brown's Body" and his current musical documentary, "Pushing the Rock," which examines systemic racism in America and features interviews with historical figures’ descendants and schola...
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17 hours ago
55 minutes

John Brown Today
The John Brown Lens: What would Brown Say About Contemporary Zionist Israel, the Charlie Kirk Tragedy, & Trump's War on the History of Slavery
Send us a text In this episode, Lou breaks with the regular approach of this podcast to put a John Brown lens on pressing contemporary issues. He specifically addresses three main topics, arguing why John Brown would be an anti-Zionist due to the movement's oppressive colonial practices and its perceived anti-biblical, racialized nature; critiquing the notion that the recently murdered Charlie Kirk was a Christian martyr because of his white nationalist views and opposition to the Black civil...
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1 month ago
39 minutes

John Brown Today
Echoes of Abolition: An Interview with Biographer and Cultural Historian David S. Reynolds
Send us a text In this episode, Lou interviews the preeminent cultural historian of the 19th-century USA, David S. Reynolds. This year marks the twentieth anniversary of the publication of Reynolds' landmark biography, John Brown Abolitionist. Reynolds opens by describing his most recent project, the forthcoming Two Ships (Penguin), and then revisits the writing of John Brown Abolitionist, rehearsing some key themes from the book as well as reflecting on his background and methodology a...
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2 months ago
54 minutes

John Brown Today
A "Secret Six" Tour: Discovering the Contemporary Origin of the Term
Send us a text In this episode, I am inviting you on a peculiar historical tour of the term, "Secret Six." While John Brown students are accustomed to seeing this term used to speak of Brown's key supporters, this episode is about the origin of the term and its significance in the literature about Brown. As you'll discover, while the "tour" of "Secret Six" is full of trivial and interesting cases where the term has been used since the nineteenth century, it was not really applied to Bro...
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3 months ago
24 minutes

John Brown Today
Misusing John Brown: From Luigi Mangione to Christian Nationalism
Send us a text In this episode, Lou discusses two recent online articles to illustrate how John Brown is often appropriated and misused by writers in discussing contemporary issues. The first article discussed is an effort to draw a parallel between John Brown and Luigi Mangione, who allegedly murdered a healthcare executive in cold blood last year. The second article presents John Brown as a Christian Nationalist. In both cases, Lou objects to the misuse of John Brown, showing how inac...
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9 months ago
36 minutes

John Brown Today
The Cat Who Went to Kansas (and Other John Brown Animals)
Send us a textIn this episode, Lou discusses the animals--pets, livestock, and others who are part of the John Brown story, from the dogs of Harper's Ferry to a cat who went to Kansas. Just when you thought you'd heard everything about John Brown, huh?Guest music: "Story of a Toy" by Freedom Trail Studio (Youtube)Also available on the John Brown Today YouTube station
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10 months ago
14 minutes

John Brown Today
Sick of Bonhoeffer? Why the USA Can Celebrate a German Martyr, But Not John Brown
Send us a textDietrich Bonhoeffer was born in 1906, and was a German Lutheran pastor, a figure noted in the theological world for his neo-orthodox views, and his most popular book, The Cost of Discipleship. Bonhoeffer is more widely remembered as an anti-Nazi dissident who was a key founding member of the Confessing Church which opposed the Nazis. In the 1940s, Bonhoeffer joined the German underground, but was arrested and incarcerated at Tegel Prison, where he remained for over a...
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11 months ago
11 minutes

John Brown Today
Back Again!
Send us a textAfter the better of two years, John Brown Today is going back in production. This is just a brief message to greet listeners and to update them a bit, and thank them for maintaining an interest in this podcast. John Brown Today is coming back and I'm looking forward to what lies ahead. So stay tuned. Please note that two episodes will be uploaded for December 2024.Music: "Burden Laid Down" by The Westerlies (YouTube)
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11 months ago
5 minutes

John Brown Today
The Legend of John Brown's Baby Kiss Revisited
Send us a textIn this episode, Lou does a deep dive evaluation of the legend of John Brown kissing a black baby on the day of his execution, a story that has been enshrined in poetry and paintings. Sharing his research on the topic, Lou considers the evidence and draws some interesting conclusions suggesting that this legend may have more than a core of truth.Check out the video version on my YouTube channel here.Guest music (closing): Aaron Lieberman, "Move Up to the Mountains" (...
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2 years ago
38 minutes

John Brown Today
"From John Brown to James Brown": A Conversation with Ed Maliskas
Send us a textIn this episode, Lou shares a conversation with author Ed Maliskas, a musician, clergyman, and researcher, the author of John Brown to James Brown: The Little Farm Where Liberty Budded, Blossomed, and Boogied (2016). In this fascinating discussion, Ed talks about coming to learn about the old Kennedy Farm in Maryland where John Brown and his raiders lived prior to the Harper's Ferry raid in the summer and early fall of 1859. However, as Ed learned, the farm, often re...
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2 years ago
46 minutes

John Brown Today
The Sellout of Harper's Ferry Station: The Difficult Case of Heyward Shepherd
Send us a textIn this episode, Lou takes on the difficult theme of Heyward Shepherd, the black porter who was mortally wounded by John Brown's men during the Harper's Ferry raid, on the night of October 16, 1859. Reviewing the initial incidents of the raid, Lou considers the conventional narrative of Shepherd's demise, but then takes a sharp left turn: was Heyward Shepherd really a victim, or did his own actions instigate his shooting? And what was Heyward Shepherd trying to do when he ...
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2 years ago
44 minutes

John Brown Today
Reaction & Reflection: David Blight on John Brown - - "John Brown Terrorist or Hero?"
Send us a textAfter an extended hiatus, Lou returns with a reaction & reflection upon the YouTube video, "John Brown: Terrorist or Hero?" which features a short lecture by the eminent historian David Blight. John Brown Today features the audio version here, and listeners can also view the reaction & reflection video here (or copy this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OV6GOH8Pslc)
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2 years ago
52 minutes

John Brown Today
What Did Blacks Really Think of John Brown? Kudos & Conflicts (Part 1)
Send us a textIn Part 1 of "What Did Blacks Really Think of John Brown?" Lou reflects upon the question of white allies, particularly in the case of John Brown's story. What did black leaders and other associates really think of John Brown? Recalling Brown's devotion to black liberation and notable devotion to human equality, Lou suggests nevertheless that human interaction is by nature complex and even Brown might grate upon his black associates. How should these tensions be understood...
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3 years ago
30 minutes

John Brown Today
What Did Blacks Really Think of John Brown? The Question of "Sambo Mistakes" (Part 2)
Send us a textIn Part 2 of this two-part episode, Lou reflects upon the question of white allies, particularly in the case of John Brown's story. What did black leaders and other associates really think of John Brown? Recalling Brown's devotion to black liberation and notable devotion to human equality, Lou suggests nevertheless that human interaction is by nature complex and even Brown might grate upon his black associates. How should these tensions be understood? Was he a paternalisti...
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3 years ago
28 minutes

John Brown Today
Questioning John Brown’s Sanity: A Historical Thread Considered
Send us a textMany people in the United States, especially (but not exclusively) white people, tend to think of John Brown as someone who was "crazy." In this episode, Lou surveys what he calls a historical "thread" regarding the alleged insanity of Brown. Beginning with affidavits filed in Virginia in 1859 in an attempt by friends and relatives in Ohio to spare Brown's life, as well as Republican insanity rhetoric designed to dissociate Brown from their party, it is clear there is othe...
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3 years ago
48 minutes

John Brown Today
John Brown’s Trial: The “Lost” Narrative of George H. Hoyt
Send us a textIn this episode, Lou presents a narrative written by John Brown's young lawyer, George H. Hoyt, written only a few years after the abolitionist's hanging. Hoyt went to join John Brown in Charlestown, Virginia (today West Va.) and support his lawyers, but really went as a spy for Brown's supporters in the North who wanted to launch a rescue. But not only was the rescue impossible by the time that Hoyt arrived in Virginia, but Brown did not want to escape. Hoyt thus be...
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3 years ago
57 minutes

John Brown Today
Why John Brown? A Biographer's Reflections in Response to a Thoughtful Critic
Send us a textIn this episode, Lou responds to the comments of a thoughtful but critical podcast listener who has well-stated reasons for asking, "why John Brown?" The question is a good one and Lou starts with personal and scholarly reflections on a range of views of Brown that range from anti-Brown to non-admirer. Then, Lou shares the podcast listener's comments and attempts to make a response that hopefully is helpful to this friendly critic as well as others with similar thoug...
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3 years ago
44 minutes

John Brown Today
Good Boy with a Gun: The Tragic Story of Will Leeman, A Harper’s Ferry Raider
Send us a textIn this episode, Lou does a deep dive into the story of William Leeman, the youngest of John Brown's Harper's Ferry raiders. From his origins in Maine to Kansas and his enlistment in John Brown's army, we look at the story of a young man with feet of iron and clay, whose death in Virginia in 1859 resonates with the racist gun violence and mass killings that grip our nation today. A special note of thanks is due H. Scott Wolfe, for providing his extensive resear...
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3 years ago
48 minutes

John Brown Today
"John Brown Has Been Lost to His Own Church": An Interview with Louis DeCaro Jr. by Dr. Chris Dost, July 10, 2021
Send us a textIn this episode, Lou is interviewed by Dr. Chris Dost, biblical scholar and pastor of the Northville Baptist Church in New Milford, Connecticut. This audio is excerpted from an interview recorded on July 10, 2021.Closing tune: "Amazing Grace" by Cooper CannellHey friends, click on this link to get your JOHN BROWN TODAY Podcast Mug!Feedback?https://www.speakpipe.com/JOHNBROWNTODAY
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3 years ago
54 minutes

John Brown Today
Biography: The Ups and Downs of Mr. Brown, 1835-1851
Send us a textIn this episode, Lou provides a slice of biography, zooming in on John Brown's personal and economic challenges as a frontier entrepreneur and his often forgotten comeback in the early 1840s. While overlooked by unstudied and prejudiced scholars, Brown actually bounced back in the mid-1840s and distinguished himself as one of the leading experts on fine sheep and wool. Looking at Brown's attempt to intervene on behalf of wool growers in the 1840s, we get further insight into Bro...
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3 years ago
27 minutes

John Brown Today
Send us a text In this episode, Lou speaks with Dan Morrison, the founder of the John Brown Project and a documentary filmmaker from Torrington, Connecticut, John Brown’s birthplace. Morrison details his work, including a community arts project that produced a 21st-century remix of the Civil War era song, "John Brown's Body" and his current musical documentary, "Pushing the Rock," which examines systemic racism in America and features interviews with historical figures’ descendants and schola...