Diane S. Sykes: “I rise today to offer a resolution honoring one of the most uncompromising voices for freedom in American history…”

“I rise today to offer a resolution honoring one of the most uncompromising voices for freedom in American history, abolitionist John Brown, on the occasion of the 225th anniversary of his birth. Born on May 9 in the year 1800 in Connecticut, John Brown was a man who did not simply believe in the cause of abolition. He lived for it. He fought for it. Ultimately, he died for it. From 1844 to 1854, John Brown and his family lived in Akron, Ohio, where he partnered in business with Colonel Simon Perkins, the son of the city's founder. In fact, the house that John Brown lived in was on the same street where I grew up. It was just a few hundred yards away. It was a constant and present reminder in my life to fight for what is right. John Brown was so much more than a businessman. He was a freedom fighter. His home in Akron became a stop on the Underground Railroad where he harbored enslaved people who had escaped and sought safety and a new life in a more enlightened part of the world. Later, in Springfield, Massachusetts, Brown used his wool warehouse as another station on the Underground Railroad. He offered dignity, protection, and skills to those who escaped slavery and freed men, including how to farm and sustain themselves in a new life free from bondage.”