"TRUMPET of HISTORY": Norman Marshall, Portrayer of John Brown

A few years ago I was privileged to become acquainted with Mr. Norman Marshall, a veteran actor from stage and screen who has fairly well dedicated his life to portraying John Brown on stage in his one-man play, John Brown: Trumpet of Freedom. I have seen the play several times and have come to enjoy Mr. Marshall's friendship and camaraderie. He is an artist and intellectual and his passion for Brown is authentic and deeply-rooted. A descendant of slavemasters and klansmen, Norman is perhaps the quintessential "race traitor"--a so-called white southerner from Virginia (the state that murdered John Brown), armed-to-the-teeth with a larger-than-life wit and wisdom which he well uses in his own struggle against injustice, and in an unabashed defense of the most misunderstood and misrepresented human rights activist of the modern era.

Historians and biographers are often frustrated by artistic portrayals of their scholarly themes. Art is not bound to the rules of scholarship, to be sure, and the artist does not play the same role as the historian, although their work may overlap. Yet some art is better history than some history, especially when it comes to John Brown the abolitionist. Certainly Russell Banks' Cloudsplitter is not only a qualitatively better portrayal of Brown than is Bruce Olds' fictive monstrosity in Raising Holy Hell, but Cloudsplitter is probably a fairer portrayal than the historical renderings of historians like Robert Penn Warren and (the malignant) Otto Scott.

The same salutation can be made of John Brown: Trumpet of Freedom, a play by Marshall and his colleague, George Wolf Reily. I would advise everyone to see this play because the spirit of the work is true to the story of John Brown the man who lived and died for human rights. Of course I would also advise people to engage the historical record too, which will only enhance an appreciation for the fine performance and dramatic rendering of the playwrights. Marshall makes no claim to being a historian, but he exhibits a deep respect for the record and does not abuse the story in the name of artistic freedom, as does Bruce Olds, who uses his fine talents to the detriment of truth.

Recently we have received an open letter from Mr. Marshall, most of which I have excerpted below. I am posting it here, along with the supportive remarks of our friendly colleague, David Reynolds, a prominent John Brown biographer in his own right. My hope is that you, the reader, will respond to the trumpet call of history. Use your influence to bring John Brown: Trumpet of Freedom to your club, house of worship, or campus. Like Old Brown himself, Marshall will travel wherever the call leads him and make magic in even the humblest of settings. He will also give just as true a performance for a small audience as for a large audience.

-Rev. Louis A. DeCaro Jr., Ph.D.

»Links to John Brown Blog

John Brown Biographer
Norman Thomas Marshall, the portrayer of John Brown
www.wbworks.com/johnbrown