The Trial of John Brown

Unlike many of his academically trained peers, Horace Pippin kept his artistic vision firmly rooted in his experience as an African American. He noted, “I don’t do what these white guys do. I don’t go around making up a whole lot of stuff. I paint it exactly the way it is and exactly the way I see it.” This depiction of John Brown’s trial was inspired by his grandmother’s eyewitness account of the famous abolitionist being taken to his hanging in Charles Town, Virginia (now West Virginia) in 1859.

Emphasizing Brown’s status as a Christlike martyr, Pippin includes a bloody bandage that recalls the Crown of Thorns, and a jury of twelve bearded men—with a thirteenth prosecutor/persecutor—evoking the twelve apostles and Judas of the Bible. Pippin’s wounded freedom fighter, struggling for liberation but helpless in the hands of his enemies, would have resonated with African Americans who had suffered decades of racism.