Fayetteville state university student press
The Voice
www.fsuvoice.com
FOR Students, By Students
The legacy of
abolitionist
Lewis Leary
By John Caldwell
Voice staff writer
What connection does the im
mortal abolitionist John Brown
have to Fayetteville State Uni
versity? He led 21 men on
the U.S. Arsenal raid at
Harpers Ferry, Va. in
1859 with the inten
tion of emanci
pating enslaved
black people,
an event many
historians say
was a strong
catalyst for,
and precursor
to the Civil
War.
And how
does this man
connect to a
recently erected
state historical
marker on Mur
chison Road and
the Harlem Renais
sance poet and play
wright Langston Hughes.
Woven amidst the quilt of his
tory binding these people and
events is the name Lewis Sheridan
Leary. Lewis Leary was bom free
in Fayetteville in 1835 to Mathew
N. Leary, Sr., a very successful
business owner and Juliette Anna
Memorial. Lewis Leary and his
six siblings, including older broth
er Mathew Leary, Jr, were educated
by private tutors. Matthew Leary,
Jr. is one of the Founding Fathers
ofFSU.
In 1856, 21-year-old Lewis
Leary sought refuge in Oberlin,
Ohio after committing a serious
offense of beating a white
man. He had seen the
man savagely attack
an enslaved black
and intervened and
fled the law. Lew
is Leary joined
several of his
sisters and be
came a member
of the Oberlin
Anti-Slavery
Society. He
married Mary
Patterson in
1858, who bgre
him a daughter
named Lois. He
participated in late
1858, with the res
cue of a runaway slave
imprisoned in Wellington,
Ohio.
At 24, Lewis Leary was intro
duced to John Brown by abolition
ist John Mercer Langston, and de
clared himself “ready to die if need
be” under John Brown’s leadership
according to the NC Department of
Cultural Resources. John Brown
and his band of men to include his
two sons and Lewis Leary began
m
Voice photo by John Caldwell
FSU students unveil the Lewis Leary historical marker located
at the corner of Murchison Road and Washington Street during
a ceremony for Black History Month, Feb. 24.
their campaign, attacking the ar
mory on October 16, 1859. John
Brown’s plan was to arm the en
slaved Blacks with the weapons
seized from the armory to begin a
war of liberation, first in Virginia,
and then across the south.
Two days later, Lewis Leary
demonstrated the pledged com
mitment with the ultimate sacri
fice, giving his life in the effort to
secure for so many others what he
had enjoyed his entire life - that is
freedom for the enslaved Ameri
cans.
“The raid on Harpers Ferry sent
a signal to pro-slavery southerners
that there were ‘madmen’ in the
North that would use x)rganized
FSU hosts
Model m
violence against slavery,” says Dr.
Claude Hargrove, a professor of
history at FSU. “Extreme repres
sion of African-Americans, and
enslavement of African-Americans
called for extreme actions - the
Civil War was extreme action with
over 700,000 people dying during
the war.”
An historical marker recognizing
Lewis Leary’s connection to John
Brown and the raid was unveiled
during Black History Month on
Feb. 24 on the comer of Murchison
Road and Washington Street. FSU
hosted the dedication ceremony,
which was attended by FSU stu-
see LEARY, page 8
April 6, 2011 • Vol. 2, Issue no. 10
‘Where
are we
going?’
MLK book rings
true 43 years after
his assasination
By John Caldwell
Voice staff writer
“These are revolutionary times.
All over the globe men are revolt
ing against old systems of exploi
tation and oppression, and out of
the wombs of a frail world new
systems of justice and equality are
being bom...Our only hope today
lies in our ability to recapture the
revolutionary spirit and go out into
a sometimes hostile world declar
ing etemal opposition to poverty,
racism and militarism. With this
powerful commitment we shall
boldly challenge the status quo and
xmjust mores...,” wrote Dr. Martin
Luther King.
“Where Do We Go from Here:
Chaos or Community?”
It was a question on the mind of
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. more
than 44 years ago, when he penned
and titled his final book. It is also
a question on the minds of many
people today, in li^t of revolution
ary movements aroimd the world.
Beacon Press re-released the
book last year, and Monday the
country marked the 43rd anniver
sary of Dr. King’s assassination.
Whether we are talking about
see MLK, page 6
pass 6
INDEX
News page 3
Features page 4
Opinion page 5