Oh, JB is definitely judging this.

Awful.

I grew up in Louisiana. Like a lot of places in the south my hometown was saturated with Lost Cause mythology. And John Brown was always portrayed as a maniacal villain. It took a long time (and a history degree) to realize he was a hero and Lee, his executor, was always the bad guy.

I like this portrait of Brown, but the State of Kansas may not be willing to part with it (it’s on a wall in the Capitol in Topeka)