John Brown's body: Elites, heroic embodiment, and the legitimation of political violence

While violence against a legally constituted government is condemned when d efined as such, some violent political acts are considered socially proper I explore how political violence can be legitimated or even venerated by re ference to John Brown's raid on the Federal Arsenal at Harpers Ferry in Oct ober 1859. Such claims are particularly likely when the violent act has cul tural resonance. the actor is supported by cultural and political elites wh o serve, in effect, as "fellow travelers" for the movement, and when oppone nts of the violence do not participate in the creation of meaning. Because of Brown's links to cultural elites in Boston and to political elites in th e emerging Republican Party, many Americans came to see Brown as a hero or martyr embodying in his personal actions a committed moral figure. Like mos t effective narratives, collective memory requires a hero with which audien ces identify. By virtue of his physical embodiment of radical abolition, Jo hn Brown served as a mnemonic for his cause. The label "John Brown's Body" refers to more than a song title, but to the process of recalling a complex concern through the images of individual action and persona. Images of Bro wn rile mall were facilitated by the secession of Southern states, leaving the reputational field open for Brown's supporters to establish his reputat ion after iris death without rival narratives.