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Home > John Brown's 1859 Raid > John Brown Remembered > October 16

Academic Symposium Schedule

October 16, 2009

MORNING

7:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. – Harpers Ferry Park shuttle buses will run from the Cavalier Heights Visitor Center to the Stephen T. Mather Training Center approximately every 15 minutes. All symposium participants must park at the Cavalier Heights Visitor Center and take the shuttle bus.

7:30 a.m. - 8:00 a.m. – Coffee and pastries

7:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. – Registration open in the Mather Training Center lobby.

9:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. – Book sales open in the Mather Training Center lobby.

8:00 a.m. - 9:15 a.m. – Session Set V

Session V.A., First Floor Classroom, Stephen T. Mather Training Center

Session Title: Responses of Women to the Raid on Harpers Ferry
Session Chair: Dean Herrin, National Park Service Coordinator, Catoctin Center for Regional Studies

  • V.A.1. Amanda Benigni, Indiana University of Pennsylvania
    Title: But Who is Marching On? Julia Ward Howe Takes John Brown Out of “John Brown’s Body”
  • V.A.2. Lisa L. Clemmer, University of Richmond
    Title: Women’s Correspondence to Governor Henry A. Wise of Virginia Regarding the Fate of John Brown
  • V.A.3. Tonya Thames Taylor, West Chester University
    Title: “Well, I’ll be John Brown”: The Role of African American Women in the Canonization of John Brown

Session V.B., Second Floor Classroom, Stephen T. Mather Training Center

Session Title: Historical and Cultural Legacy of John Brown
Session Chair: Amy Greenberg, Pennsylvania State University

  • V.B.1. Neil B. Miller, Shippensburg University
    Title: Teaching Brown: Historical Scholarship and the Politics of Interpretation
  • V.B.2. John Stauffer, Harvard University
    Title: John Brown and the Neo-Confederates

Session V.C., Fellowship Hall, Curtis Freewill Baptist Church

Session Title: John Brown’s Plans for Political and Social Change
Session Chair: Vincent Ajamu Shivers, Youngstown State University

  • V.C.1. Rodney Green, Howard University
    Title: The Theory of Historical Conjuncture, Exemplary Action, and Social Transformation: John Brown in Virginia
  • V.C.2. Shane J. Ralston, University of Maine
    Title: John Brown’s Plan to Take Harpers Ferry: Pragmatism-in-action or Merely Pragmatic?
  • V.C.3. Robert L. Tsai, American University, Washington College of Law
    Title: John Brown’s Constitution

9:30 a.m. - 10:45 a.m. – Session Set VI

Session VI.A., First Floor Classroom, Stephen T. Mather Training Center

Session Title: The Political Trial of John Brown
Session Chair: Brian McGinty, Attorney and Author

  • VI.A.1. James A. Beckman, University of Tampa
    Title: An Examination of John Brown and American Treason Law
  • VI.A.2. Thaddeus Hoffmeister, University of Dayton School of Law
    Title: The Modern Day Legacy of a Civil War Era Show Trial
  • VI.A.3. Pete Teagle, Hampton Roads Academy
    Title: They Met at the Ferry

Session VI.B., Second Floor Classroom, Stephen T. Mather Training Center

Session Title: Frederick Douglass and the Use of Violence
Session Chair: Fred Morsell, Professional Actor/Portrayer of Frederick Douglass

  • VI.B.1. L. Diane Barnes, Assoc. Editor, Frederick Douglass Papers
    Title: Did Frederick Douglass Fail? John Brown and the Righteous Use of Violence
  • VI.B.2. Janet Beck, Appalachian State University
    Title: Creating the John Brown Legend: Frederick Douglass in Defense of Harpers Ferry
  • VI.B.3. James Bryant, Shenandoah University
    Title: John Brown’s Impact on African-American Military Participation in the Union War Effort

Session VI.C., Fellowship Hall, Curtis Freewill Baptist Church

Session Title: The Violence of John Brown: Origins, Responses, and Consequences
Session Chair: John McKivigan, Indiana University, Purdue University at Indianapolis

  • VI.C.1. A. Glen Crothers, University of Louisville & Filson Historical Society
    Title: “To Bear our Righteous Testimonies against All Evil”: Virginia Quakers’ Response to John Brown
  • VI.C.2. Kristen Epps, University of Kansas
    Title: The Secret Committee of Six: Responses to the Fugitive Slave Law and the Bleeding Kansas Conflict
  • VI.C.3. Matt Jennings, Macon State College
    Title: Sharpening the Holy Sword: The Origins of John Brown’s Violence
  • VI.A.4. Helen J. Knowles, State University of New York at Oswego
    Title: The Pen Is Mightier Than The Sword: Lysander Spooner’s Constitutional Response to Increasing Abolitionist Violence in the 1850s

AFTERNOON

11:00 p.m. - 12:00 p.m. – Keynote Address

Chapel, Curtis Freewill Baptist Church

  • Keynote Speaker: Dr. Spencer Crew
    Clarence J. Robinson Professor of American, African American, and Public History
    George Mason University
  • Introduction: Paul Finkelman, Albany Law School
    John Brown Remembered: Symposium Planning Committee

12:00 p.m. – Park Shuttle buses will return to Cavalier Heights Visitor Center

12:15 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. - Optional tour of Franklin County, Pennsylvania, related John Brown sites. (Prior reservation and additional fee required.)

For those symposium participants not attending the Chambersburg, Pennsylvania tour, please take advantage of the other activities that will be offered in the Lower Town District of Harpers Ferry during the afternoon and evening. Please, check the public programming schedule for details.

2:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. – Ongoing book signing in the Harpers Ferry Lower Town Tent on The Green.

Chambersburg, Pennsylvania Day Trip Itinerary

  • 12:15 p.m. – Bus leaves Stephen T. Mather Training Center.
  • 12:15 p.m. - 1:30 p.m. – Travel to Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. Box lunch and drinks will be provided enroute.
  • 1:30 p.m. - 2:30 p.m. – Tour the Mary Ritner House, where John Brown and Raider John Henry Kagi took lodging while Brown planned the Raid. Participants will also tour the Chambersburg Jail which housed Raider John Cook after his capture.
  • 2:30 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.– Travel to Mont Alto, Pennsylvania. We will pass the quarry site in Chambersburg where John Brown, Frederick Douglass, and Raider Shields Green met in August 1859. We will also pass by the spots where Raider Albert Hazlett was picked up and dropped off by farmer Hiram Wertz and by Wertz’s home, a stop on the Underground Railroad.
  • 3:00 p.m. - 4:15 p.m. – Visit the Penn State Mont Alto Campus, to tour the historic Emmanuel Chapel where John Brown attended church and to view the state highway marker that designates the location of Raider John Cook’s capture
  • Attend Hors d’Oeuvres reception, sponsored by Penn State Mont Alto, and view the John Cook Exhibit.
  • 4:15 p.m. - 5:15 p.m. – Travel to South Mountain Inn, Boonsboro, Maryland, while passing by the slave catcher Dan Logan's house. Logan captured Raider John Cook on October 25, 1859.
  • 5:15 p.m. - 6:30 p.m. – Dinner at South Mountain Inn, Boonsboro, Maryland.

EVENING

6:30 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. – Travel to the Kennedy Farm, Sharpsburg, Maryland, to participate in the commemorative events. The Kennedy Farm program will offer music and dramatic readings and will culminate in a Anniversary Procession from the Kennedy Farm Harpers Ferry.

All symposium participants are automatically registered for the event. The walk is optional and you may participate in the programming without joining the walk. Buses will transport visitors to the Kennedy Farm from the Cavalier Heights Visitor Center starting at 5:00 p.m. and the last bus leaves the Visitor Center at 5:45 p.m. There is no parking at the Kennedy Farm. For those visitors not wishing to participate in the walk, buses will leave the Kennedy Farm and return to the Cavalier Heights Visitor Center at 8:00 p.m.

7:00 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. – Field-trip bus will travel back to the Cavalier Heights Visitor Center. Those who do not wish to participate in the Kennedy Farm programs (music and dramatic readings) may return to Cavalier Heights with the bus.

8:00 p.m. – Walk from the Kennedy Farm to Harpers Ferry. This walk is six (6) miles, rain or shine. Sturdy walking shoes are required.

8:00 p.m. – Last bus leaves the Kennedy Farm for the Cavalier Heights Visitor Center.

8:00 p.m. - 10:30 p.m. – View a screening of portions of the films Santa Fe Trail and Seven Angry Men, followed by a discussion led by Paul Finkelman and Peggy Russo. Location: Second Floor Classroom, Stephen T. Mather Training Center (Note: Symposium participants should drive to the Training Center).

10:00 p.m. – Final thoughts for those participating in the Procession from the Kennedy Farm. Location: the John Brown Fort in the Lower Town District of Harpers Ferry.

10:30 p.m. – Park shuttle bus returns to the Cavalier Heights Visitor Center.

SYMPOSIUM SCHEDULE

Wednesday October 14

Thursday October 15

Friday October 16

Saturday October 17

 

RELATED LINKS:

John Brown Anniversary Sales Items

 

CONFERENCE SPONSORS:

Harpers Ferry National Historical Park

Harpers Ferry Historical Association

Jefferson County NAACP

National Parks Conservation Association

John Brown Heritage Association

Penn State University, Mont Alto Campus