^THE JOHN BROWN PARTY.ORG

...Summoning his Spirit, Celebrating his Courage & Nurturing the New Abolitionism...

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What is a John Brown Party?

Why a John Brown Party?

THE JOHN BROWN PARTY BACKGROUND AND OVERVIEW

On January 1, 1863, a handful of prominent white abolitionists attended a party thrown by reputable businessman and fellow abolitionist, George L. Stearns, at his estate in Medford, Massachusetts. 

They had gathered to celebrate one man’s proclamation, but they were there, in actuality, to honor another man’s legacy. 

This "party," as Stearns called it, was not for the US President who issued the Emancipation Proclamation earlier that day; not for the man who issued that same executive order basically emancipating no one under his sovereign control; not for a politician that endorsed an 1861 constitutional amendment guaranteeing slavery where it already existed, supported the Fugitive Slave Act of 1950, revoked an earlier proclamation of emancipation in the state of Missouri or believed Blacks could never be equal to whites; and certainly not for the man often regarded today as one of the greatest trumpeters and upholders of racial justice in American history. 

The party, indeed, was not for Abraham Lincoln.    

It was being thrown for someone else—for a man who, in other circles, was branded an insane murderer and bandit, a man who had led a violent raid on Harper’s Ferry in Virginia and had previously killed five pro-slavery residents in Kansas, a man who was hanged for treason by the U.S. government just a little more than two years earlier, a man whose progressive ideals and radical actions were ultimately responsible for and indispensable from the acceleration of that same emancipation.

For a man named John Brown.

THE JOHN BROWN PARTY REVIVAL

It may seem peculiar, in many regards, to throw another party for a man who has been dead for almost 150 years. Considering he is predictably no more than a footnote in a contemporary textbook or a passing mention in a high school history class, it may seem even more unusual. But for all the white folks in the sordid history of the U.S. who have done nothing but reinforce white supremacy and for all white folks in the history of the U.S. who have tried to struggle against white supremacy only to further propagate and reinforce it nonetheless, John Brown remains one of the few white people to make the ultimate sacrifice in the name of liberation.

Still, the founders of JBP recognize that for every John Brown, there is a Harriet Tubman. A Nat Turner. A hundred million folks of color who have struggled, suffered, sacrificed and died.  Whose names we do not remember and whose commitments we do not take time to exalt.  Indeed, without those people there would be no John Brown to remember whatsoever.

In following, the JBP does not hope to over-victimize John Brown or overemphasize his martyrdom at the expense of recognizing the infinitely more potent and transformative contributions of people of color. Nor does the JBP seek to deify him as some kind of inaccessible hero, whose choices, decisions, and actions are hopelessly removed from the potential investments and commitments of every day people.

But in a world with so few white people to serve as role models for radical white antiracist activism, he remains, at least relatively, a tremendous source of potential inspiration, fortification and empowerment. We do not celebrate the myth of John Brown; we commemorate the man.  We do not isolate John Brown as a singular exception; we celebrate the community that informed, shaped and supported his actions. Indeed, we remember his body rather than his cross. 

We recognize that a party thrown by a bunch of white folks for a white antiracist hero seems counterproductive, in many ways, to the purpose of antiracist practice and theory. As scholar Michael Apple might ask, is this just our attempt to refocus the conversation back on white people, back on us, back on our struggles and our losses and our sacrifices? Is this website just another example of the "enough about you, what about me!" mentality that pervades a great deal of recent trends in the field of race studies?

Rather than disregard those important and necessary questions, we embrace them and grapple with them every single day. Our intention is not to subvert the counter-hegemonic practices and principles of people of color by co-opting their contributions and redirecting the movement, yet again, in a direction that is more satisfying to our own white appetites for recognition, acclaim, and control. Rather, we simply wish to acknowledge that by only focusing on folks of color who have contributed to transformations in the racial landscape, we tacitly teach white people that there is nothing for us to do and certainly no reason to learn how to do it. Made simple, even if we cannot necessarily be Martin or be Malcolm, we can still be John Brown, or we can still be George Stearns (who made the raid on Harper's Ferry possible by subsidizing JB's military actions), and we can, to whatever degree, be significant agents of change. With John Brown serving a precedent, we no longer have any excuses for not getting it right.

When asked for whom he was planning on voting during an upcoming presidential election, Malcolm X once responded: John Brown.

That is a good enough reference for us.