For nearly a decade, the museum has used theater as a means of enlivening the visitor experience and engaging the public in dialogue on challenging topics in history. Thousands of visitors have joined a mock civil rights training session, debated the use of violence with John Brown, or met Louise

In this lesson, students will examine the difference between history and memory by debating the legacy of John Brown.  Using video clips of an actor playing Brown, students are invited to debate his actions and determine how history should remember him.  The video segments are also avai

This Sharps carbine, .52 caliber, was confiscated following John Brown’s raid at Harpers Ferry.

This Sharps rifle was made especially for John Brown, though it bears no maker’s mark or number. Brown carried this weapon on his Kansas campaign in 1856 and later presented it to Charles Blair of Collinsville, Connecticut. In 1857, Brown contracted Blair to forge pikes for the clandestine slav

The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 allowed the two states to decide the issue of slavery by a popular ballot. The fight in Kansas was so intense that the state earned the nickname “Bleeding Kansas.” John Brown bought 2,000 of these revolvers and sent them to Kansas for the “Free-Soilers.”

In this lesson, students will examine primary sources to understand John Brown’s actions in Harpers Ferry and will develop a creative project on his legacy. This resource was produced to accompany the exhibition The Price of Freedom: Americans at War, by the Smithsonian’s Nat

From 1861-1865, Americans battled over preserving their Union and ending slavery.  The Civil War is the focus of this section of The Price of Freedom: Americans at War, an online exhibition. This pivotal and complicated period of American history is divided into sections that allow