Themes in American History

When I’m browsing in the Lost Museum on the website, I’m trying to look for a historical character. On the 2nd floor picture gallery, there are many pictures of historical characters. I’m interested in one of the picture —-John Brown. The abolitionist John Brown was one of the most controversial person of the 19th century.  There are several incidents that influence him a lot. Firstly During his childhood year, his father explained to him that slavery was a sin against God. Also, he witnessed the beating of slave when he visited a farm.  Moreover, in 1837, Brown attended a meeting in Ohio in memory of Elijah Lovejoy, an abolitionist newspaper editor who had been killed in Illinois. At the meeting, Brown raised his hand and vowed that he would destroy slavery. Those incidents really motivate him to abolish slavery.  In 1859 he led a party of 21 men in a successful attack on the federal armory at Harper’s Ferry. Brown hoped that his action would encourage slaves to join his rebellion, enabling him to form an emancipation army. Two days later the armory was stormed by Robert E. Lee and a company of marines. Brown and six men barricaded themselves in an engine-house, and continued to fight until Brown was seriously wounded and two of his sons had been killed. John Brown was tried and convicted of insurrection, treason and murder. He was executed on 2nd December, 1859. After his execution on December 2, 1859, Brown became a martyr to those opposed to slavery. And the controversy over his actions and his fate helped stoke the tensions that pushed the United States to the brink of Civil War. Americans either regarded him as a noble hero or a dangerous fanatic.

The Lost Museum is really informative which contains a lot images and animation.  If you browse the museum, we will find that the museum is really categorized. Actually, the ground floor is mainly about the American cultural history. The second floor is mainly about entertainment and historical character. Although the lose museum is virtual, it looks realistic. The Lost Museum makes the visitors that they are really browsing in a real museum. When the visitors keep browsing in the museum, I think they can definitely expand their knowledge about 19^th century of American history.  However, some of the pictures and words are too small. The visitors may have difficulty to read.

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While exploring the Lost Museum, the first thing we visited is the office of PT Barnum, who’s entitled the Proprietor and General Manager of the Lost Museum. Then, we moved on to the second floor, where we would see so many pictures regarded to the slavery history of US, Mexican-American War and the Civil War. One of the images that caught my attention is “John Brown on His Way to the Execution”.  John Brown played a major role in the start of Civil War, who was a revolutionary abolitionist. The picture showed that John Brown was surrounded by a number of soldiers, a baby held by an African-American woman stand in front of him. The archive states that John Brown pausing on the steps of the jail, and leaning down to kiss the baby holds by the African-American woman. The image fully represents John Brown’s faith of abolishing slavery in the US.

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