Classroom Activity No. 3
John Brown’s Raid: Analyzing Multiple Perspectives
John Brown: An Address by Frederick Douglass at the 14th Anniversary of Storer College, Harper’s Ferry, West Virginia, May 30, 1881
Content/Targeted Virginia SOL Skills and Standards (11th Grade):
- VUS.1a Students will demonstrate skills for historical thinking by synthesizing evidence from artifacts and primary and secondary sources to obtain information about events in Virginia and United States history.
- VUA.1e Students will demonstrate skills from historical thinking by comparing and contrasting historical, cultural, economic, and political perspectives in Virginia and United States history.
- VUS. 6g Students will apply social science skills to understand major events in Virginia and United States history during the first half of the nineteenth century by evaluating and explaining multiple causes and compromises leading to the Civil War, including the role of the institution of slavery.
Suggested Process
The skill of comparing and contrasting perspectives in history involves breaking down information and then categorizing it into similar and dissimilar pieces. (From Virginia and United States History Curriculum Framework)
- Access the primary sources
- The John Brown Raid, The Salt Lake Tribune (Salt Lake City, UT), January 1, 1890
- John Brown: An Address by Frederick Douglass at the 14th Anniversary of Storer College, Harper’s Ferry, West Virginia, May 30, 1881
- Create a Venn diagram, identifying the similarities and differences between the two accounts of John Brown’s raid on Harpers Ferry. Additional analysis can be completed using this tool.
Suggested Extension
- It is 1881. Your task is to design a monument to John Brown’s memory to be placed in Harpers Ferry. Your monument design must be approved by Frederick Douglass before it can be considered for placement. Use the primary source to cite specific information from Frederick Douglass’ speech that would support your monument design. Monument design tool included here.
Product
- Venn diagram explaining similarities and differences between multiple primary source accounts of John Brown’s Raid of Harper’s Ferry.
- John Brown monument/memorial design