Harpers Ferry
Where John Brown led 21 men in an October 1859 raid on the federal armory in an attempt to launch a regional slave insurrection. Brown was captured, tried, and executed; Frederick Douglass, who had refused to join the raid but had counseled Brown, fled to Canada. The raid hastened the secession crisis. After the Civil War, Storer College was founded here in 1865 — one of the first HBCUs in the country. In 1906, W. E. B. Du Bois convened the second meeting of the Niagara Movement at Storer.
A full editorial profile of Harpers Ferry — including primary sources, archival photographs, and a visitor guide — is in development. Subscribe to be notified when it publishes. To suggest sources or corrections, write us at editors@black-history.com.