John Brown's Body

John Brown's Body (originally known as John Brown's Song) is a United States marching song about the abolitionist John Brown. The song was popular in the Union during the American Civil War. The tune arose out of the folk hymn tradition of the American camp meeting movement of the late 18th and early 19th century. According to an 1890 account, the original John Brown lyrics were a collective effort by a group of Union soldiers who were referring both to the famous John Brown and also, humorously, to a Sergeant John Brown of their own battalion. Various other authors have published additional verses and/or claimed credit for originating the John Brown lyrics and tune.

The "flavor of coarseness, possibly of irreverence" led many of the era to feel uncomfortable with the earliest "John Brown" lyrics. This in turn led to the creation of many variant versions of the text that aspired to a higher literary quality. The most famous of these is Julia Ward Howe's "The Battle Hymn of the Republic," which was written when a friend suggested, "Why do you not write some good words for that stirring tune?"

John Brown's Body (band)

John Brown's Body is an American reggae band from Boston, Massachusetts and Ithaca, New York. The band describe their sound as “Future Roots Music”. The sound is rooted in reggae rhythms and blended with a variety of other styles including dub, electronic, funk, ska, hip-hop, and dubstep.

The band’s sound has been described by the New York Daily News as being "more Massive Attack than Marley" and by the Village Voice "reverent and revolutionary at the same time.”

John Brown’s Body has performed with a variety of groups, representing a wide range of genres including well-known acts such as: Dave Matthews Band, The Flaming Lips, STS9, Furthur, Ozomatli, Broken Social Scene, and Jurassic 5.

History

Development (1998-2006)

Beginning in 1996, JBB released All Time on their own I-Town Records label. The record made Rolling Stone Magazine's "Top 10 Indie Records List." Following that, JBB signed with the reggae label Shanachie, then released three albums; Among Them (1998), This Day (2000), and lastly Spirits All Around Us (2003). The Boston Herald then called them "one of the world's best roots-style reggae bands" following the release of This Day. After a bunch of positive reviews, the band appeared at Bob Marley Day Festival in Miami, FL., alongside Lauryn Hill and others. Also, after the release of Spirits All Around Us, the band had became a national scene. Appearances at The Sierra Nevada World Music Festival, Reggae on the Rocks, and Wakarusa, they earned a reputation for high-energy, air-tight live concerts. However, after the release of This Day, Mike Keenan left JBB to take care of his two children, Oscar and Damon (Damon in 2004) and returned in 2006 but was not an "official" member until 2006.

John Brown's Body (poem)

John Brown's Body (1928) is an epic American poem written by Stephen Vincent Benet. Its title references the radical abolitionist John Brown, who raided Harpers Ferry in Virginia in the fall of 1859. He was captured and hanged later that year. Benet's poem covers the history of the American Civil War. It won the Pulitzer Prize in 1929.

The poem was performed on Broadway in 1953 in a staged dramatic reading starring Tyrone Power, Judith Anderson, and Raymond Massey, and directed by Charles Laughton. In 2015 it was announced that the recording of the performance will be inducted into the Library of Congress's National Recording Registry for the recording's "cultural, artistic and/or historical significance to American society and the nation’s audio legacy".

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John Brown (Texas politician)

John “Red” Brown (1786–1852) was a politician in the Republic of Texas and early statehood Texas who served briefly as Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives during the First Texas Legislature. Brown was also one of the founders of the Democratic Party in Texas.

Brown was probably born in Ireland on 30 August 1786. He moved to Texas in 1836 to near Nacogdoches. Early Texas census records list him as an Irishman and a farmer. Brown represented Nacogdoches County in the Sixth Congress of the Republic of Texas from 1841 to 1842.

Brown was elected to the First Texas Legislature after annexation of Texas into the United States. On 3 March 1846, Speaker William Crump was given a leave of absence, Brown was elected Speaker of the House pro tempore. On 9 March 1846, Brown resigned as Speaker pro tempore, and the House elected Edward Thomas Branch.

He was a founder of Henderson County when it was formed from Nacogdoches County in 1846. Brown served as a notary public and a ferry operator, and received a license to operate a toll-bridge over Kickapoo Creek near Old Normandy (present-day Brownsboro, which was named for John Brown). On 27 April 1846, Brown helped to found the Texas Democratic Party in Austin. Brown served as a commissioner to help locate the state penitentiary in 1848. In 1850, Brown was one of the commissioners that selected Athens as the seat of Henderson County.

John Brown (American football, born 1891)

John Herbert "Babe" Brown, Jr. (September 12, 1891 – June 10, 1963) was a vice admiral in the United States Navy during World War II and an American football player.

Early years

Brown was born in Canton, Pennsylvania, in 1891. He attended the United States Military Academy where he played college football. He was selected as a consensus first-team guard on the 1913 College Football All-America Team. He accounted for all of Navy's points (two field goals) in a 6 to 0 victory in the 1913 Army–Navy Game.

He graduated in 1914 with the rank of ensign. Brown later served as president of the National Football Foundation and was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 1951. He was also selected in 1951 by a board of Navy football authorities as the greatest player in Navy football history.

Military career

During World War I, Brown commanded the submarines USS C-2 and USS G-4. Subsequently Brown commanded some other submarines in the interwar period. In October 1930, Brown commanded the USS V-5 submarine when it set a U. S. Navy record by diving to a depth of 332 feet. He also attended the Naval War College in 1940.

John Brown (essayist)

John Brown (5 November 1715 – 23 September 1766) was an English divine and author.

Brown was born in Rothbury, Northumberland. His father, a descendant of the Browns of Coalston, near Haddington, became Vicar of Wigton in that year. Young Brown was educated at St John's College, Cambridge; after graduating at the head of the list of wranglers in 1735, he took holy orders, and was appointed minor canon and lecturer at Carlisle. In 1745 he distinguished himself in the defence of Carlisle as a volunteer, and in 1747 was appointed chaplain to Richard Osbaldiston, on his admission to the bishopric of Carlisle.

His poem, entitled Honour (1743), was followed by the Essay on Satire. This gained for him the friendship of William Warburton, who introduced him to Ralph Allen, of Prior Park, near Bath. In 1751 Brown dedicated to Allen his Essay on the Characteristics of Lord Shaftesbury, containing an able defence of the utilitarian philosophy, praised later by John Stuart Mill (Westminster Review, vol. xxix. p. 477).