John Brown was born into an abolitionist family

One of the most interesting facts about John Brown is he was born into an abolitionist family. On May 9, 1800, John Brown was born in Torrington, Connecticut, to Owen and Ruth Mills Brown. Their new home would turn into an Underground Railroad station when his family moved to Hudson, Ohio (where John was raised). As one of the first American universities to accept black (and female) students, Owen would later co-found the Western Reserve Anti-Slavery Society and serve as a trustee at the Oberlin Collegiate Institute.

His father, Owen, founded a small tannery close to the marketplace a year or two later. His tannery quickly became a hub for abolitionist meetings and activities. One fascinating piece of information about John Brown is that Owen used to provide shelter to slaves who had managed to flee from their owners.

Despite being white, in 1849 Brown and his family moved into a Black village that had been established in North Elba, New York, on land that had been provided by the city's antislavery philanthropist Gerrit Smith. Brown, who had long opposed slavery, got fixated on the idea of taking overt action to promote the justice of Black people who were held in slavery. He accompanied five of his sons to the Kansas Territory in 1855 to support abolitionist troops battling for control in what became known as the Bleeding Kansas battle. Brown arrived in Osawatomie with a wagon full of weapons and ammunition, and he quickly rose to prominence as the area's antislavery guerilla leader.