Reply #79: What made Brown so unique was that he harbored no racism whatsoever [View All]

[DerekG]

The majority of abolitionists, despite their heroic efforts to end slavery, were, in varying degrees, bigots: Emmerson and Thoreau thought Negroes to be intellectually inferior and, in writing and in person, condescended to them, as if they were children. Brown, on the other hand, treated them as equals. He conversed with them; debated them; appointed them to be superiors in his post-emancipation councils; and fought with them in a multi-cultural army. Brown extended this egalitarian good-will to Natives (he defended them several times against whites) and women (he shared the household duties with both wives).