Artist unknown, "John Brown" photograph, c. 1856.Brown, John:

(1800-1859) John Brown was born into a family that was strongly against slavery. He would continue his family’s fight and in 1854 became the leader of Bleeding Kansas, a revolt in the Kansas territory opposing the allowance of slavery (Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854). He also was the leader at the Harper’s Ferry revolt in Virginia, where he led 13 whites and 5 blacks in an attack on the federal arsenal. He and others were captured and Brown was hanged on December 2, 1859. He was widely praised by abolitionists, free and enslaved blacks for his heroic actions.

Source: Horton, James Oliver, and Lois E. Horton. Slavery and the Making of America. New York: Oxford, 2006. 161-165.