Stories of John Brown’s kiss reveal little about the man himself, but they do shed light on the attitudes of Americans at the time.
By the time the first story of the kiss reached the press, Brown was already three days dead and resting in a coffin (Finkelman 50). Since, in all probability, the event did not happen, historians would be hard pressed to use it to analyze Brown’s character. The kernel of truth that may have sparked the tale comes from the idea that Brown possibly planted the kiss on a child inside the jail, before leaving for the gallows, but this only shows that Brown identified strongly with blacks, a fact well-established by his career as an abolitionist (Finkelman 52). It does indicate, however, his enthusiasm for martyrdom, as few acts are as symbolic as kissing a child on the forehead. Finkelman states that Brown was actively seeking martyrdom by the time his death was certain (45), to the delight of abolitionist leaders. These actions reveal Brown to be fanatically against slavery, but again, one only need look to Harper’s Ferry to draw the same conclusion.
The story, however, says much about those attempting to propagate it. Anti-slavery spokesmen were happy to have a martyr to rally around, but they needed to take the edge off of his radical, almost insane approach. The story of the kiss, though probably not conceived as such, was the perfect antidote to Brown’s numerous murders. Found on a little read page of New York Tribune, abolitionists quickly adopted it and modified it to suit their needs (Finkelman 50-51). Painters like Louis Ransom wasted no time in portraying Brown as a saint, adding quasi-halos and Biblical imagery to the scene (Trodd 12). The kindly, fatherly image showed a rational man going solemnly to his death, not the brazen zealot who initiated a bloody standoff at Harper’s Ferry. By the time it became truly prolific, everyone would consider that kiss the defining image of Brown’s legacy, rather than the slaughter of the settlers at Pottawatomie Creek. The eagerness with which abolitionists manipulated Brown’s image showed that by the time of his death, they only valued him for his symbolic value, nothing more.
The legend of the kiss filled several needs in the abolitionist movement: it provided a key sentimental picture to draw in supporters, and it was a calm conclusion to Brown’s violent legacy, allowing them to immortalize him without mentioning his moral shortcomings. It also assuaged the fears of the general public, since it proved that the abolitionists were not all about blood and rebellion. Their willingness to accept and retell this story shows that many of them may have been sympathetic to the movement in the first place. In the end, the story of the kiss is less important in John Brown’s life than it is in the anti-slavery movement as a whole.