Speaking again of John Brown:
Abolitionist’s gravestone returning
By Annakai Geshlider
After years of preservation efforts by the Altadena community, a
gravestone honoring abolitionist and former Altadena resident Owen Brown will
soon be reinstalled at his gravesite in the foothills north of town.
“We’re really glad it’s finally happening,” said Michele
Zack, a local historian and chair of the Owen Brown Gravesite Restoration
Committee, which was created by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors.
Owen Brown was the son of John Brown, the abolitionist who led the
pre-Civil War raid at Harper’s Ferry, Virginia, in 1859. According to local
historian Paul Ayers, Owen Brown stayed across the Potomac River during
the raid, taking care of horses in preparation for a planned getaway and slave
rebellion.
Instead, the raid failed and John Brown was hanged for his
anti-slavery attempts, prompting his son to flee to Ohio. He lived as a
fugitive for 20 years following the raid and eventually followed two siblings
to California. In 1881, he settled into a cabin with his brother, Jason Brown,
in
Altadena Meadows, in the foothills north of town.
According to Ayers, the Brown brothers’ participation in the fight
against slavery made them well-received when they arrived in Pasadena, where
they paraded up and down Colorado Boulevard singing the “Battle Hymn of the
Republic” at the top of their lungs. Those who founded Pasadena in 1874 had
fought for the Union to abolish slavery, making the new city a safe place for
the Browns to take refuge.
In the years following Owen Brown’s death in 1889, hundreds of
White and Black locals came to pay homage at his gravesite, Ayers said.
Interest faded as the 20th century wore on, especially as the Ku Klux Klan
dominated Pasadena in the 1920s, and it “became a very racist town,” Ayers
said.
The road to preserving Brown’s gravesite has been rocky.
Brown is buried on a 6-acre piece of land at the top of Rising
Hill Road, near the base of the foothills. The area, known as “Little
Roundtop,” sits not far from the cabin where Brown once lived. In the
1980s, preservation group Altadena Heritage unsuccessfully attempted to get
historical status for the site. Because the land is private, preservation
efforts have required negotiations with various owners over the years. One
owner attempted to bar public access to the gravesite with a “No
Trespassing” sign, resulting in a a 2006 ruling affirming the public has legal
access to the site.
To top things off, the grave marker kept going missing. In 2002,
the landowner at the time rolled the marker down the hill, and it disappeared
from public view for 10 years, Ayers said. In 2012, locals rejoiced when
Altadena resident Ian White — son of artist Charles White — discovered the
grave marker while on a walk near his home.
For years, the area near the gravesite was caught in bitter
debate. Developer Tim Cantwell planned to build 18 single-family units at the
nearby gated community of La Vina, causing locals to protest the proposed
development. Meanwhile, people were still fighting to preserve Brown’s grave
for public access.
In 2019, an agreement was reached: The La Vina project will be
completed with Cantwell agreeing to buy the land containing the gravesite to
preserve it for the public. Cantwell also agreed to fund programs
educating locals about Brown and Pasadena’s antislavery history.
Zack anticipates the gravestone will be installed soon, perhaps in
the next couple months. With Cantwell having promised to fund the installation
and a contractor hired, everything is ready to go. The only thing the committee
is waiting is funding from the developer, Zack said.
The Owen Brown Gravesite Restoration Committee has been hosting
public meetings since March. Zack said the committee is looking forward to the
installation of the stone, marking the culmination of a long process.
“It’s a big deal,” Ayers said, especially because California
doesn’t have many historical representations of abolitionism. A major goal of
the gravesite restoration project will be educating the public about
California’s importance in the Civil War, Zack said.
The state was “the key jewel that the Confederacy wanted” in
its attempt to expand slavery, and Pasadena was a stronghold of anti-slavery
sentiment, she added.
The gravesite restoration committee has four main tasks, Zack
said: restore the gravesite, get the site designated as a historical monument,
put the site and the surrounding property in a conservancy (giving it an added
level of protection) and educate the public on the site’s significance.
In addition to educational programs for local youth and the
public, Zack said the committee is hoping to work with filmmaker Pablo Miralles
to create a documentary about the Brown family’s presence in California. In
2019, preservationists worked with Miralles to create a short film about the
gravesite.
John Brown “believed firmly that slavery was an abomination, an
evil of this country,” Ayers said. “And I think that’s a thing people have to
embrace now, that racism is the original sin of the United States and that we
have to confront it.”
Owen Brown, who was born Nov. 4, 1824, in Hudson, Ohio, was John
Brown’s third son, and his stalwart lieutenant in Kansas and at Harper’s Ferry
during the Civil War.
Article source: San Gabriel Valley Tribune 071121
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