John Brown held Harper’s Ferry for twelve hours. His defeat was a few hours off.

Jacob Lawrence; Ives-Sillman, Inc.; Founders Society of the Detroit Institute of Arts; Sirocco Screenprinters, John Brown held Harper’s Ferry for twelve hours. His defeat was a few hours off.

Jacob Lawrence, artist

1917–2000

Ives-Sillman, Inc., designer

1958–1978

Founders Society of the Detroit Institute of Arts, publisher

founded 1919

Sirocco Screenprinters, printer

founded 1950

John Brown held Harper’s Ferry for twelve hours. His defeat was a few hours off., 1974–1977

Where object was made: New Haven, Connecticut, United States

Material/technique: screen print; Domestic Etching paper

Dimensions:
Image Dimensions Height/Width (Height x Width): 356 x 512 mm
Image Dimensions Height/Width (Height x Width): 14 1/2 x 20 3/16 in
Sheet/Paper Dimensions (Height x Width): 510 x 657 mm
Sheet/Paper Dimensions (Height x Width): 20 1/16 x 25 7/8 in
Frame Dimensions (Height x Width x Depth): 24 1/4 x 32 1/4 x 1 in

Credit line: Museum purchase: Gift of Jeff and Mary Weinberg

Accession number: 2020.0068.21

Not on display

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Jacob Lawrence and The Legend of John Brown

Most of Lawrence’s titles for these prints are pulled nearly word for word from Franklin B. Sanborn’s biography of Brown. Sanborn had interviewed Brown and was part of a group called the Secret Six who funded Brown’s plan to raid Harpers Ferry. However, the title "Sunday, October 16, 1859…" owes some of its descriptive language to the poet Langston Hughes. Read Hughes’s poem about the raid and John Brown on the wall to your right.