John Brown and the Harpers Ferry Raid The actions of abolitionist John Brown and his followers on October 16, 1859 brought national attention to the emotional divisions concerning slavery. Brown and his men siezed the United States Armory and Arsenal at Harpers Ferry in an effort to help free the slaves. John Brown was born in 1800 in Conneticut. Around 1835 he became interested in the abolotionist movement. Brown and several of his sons moved to Kansas in 1855. At …showed first 75 words of 1299 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1299 total…chose Storer College as the site for a meeting of the Second Niagara Movement, which later became the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Those in attendance walked at daybreak to John Brown's Fort. In 1892, the fort had been sent to the Chicago World's Fair and then brought back to a farm near Harpers Ferry. Today, the restored fort has been rebuilt at Harpers Ferry National Historical Park near its original location.