Reviewing:
The Portent: John Brown’s Raid in American Memory. https://www.virginiahistory.org/collections-and-resources/virginia-history-explorer/portent-john-browns-raid-american-memory. Created and maintained by the Virginia Museum of History and Culture. Reviewed Nov. 4th, 2021.
This site centralizes on the John Brown’s Raid, analyzing the development, the raid itself and the end effects it had on slavery in the United States from 1825 to 1860. It holds ordered digital narratives but after interacting with the site the reader can find many visual illustrations of people, events, and historical documents. Text is provided, giving context and narratives for each interactive source. On the first page of the site, the reader is given an introduction on the topic at hand detailing the importance of the topic and how its affects are seen through modern American history and the readers own life. The introduction ends on a question to the reader on how John Brown should be remembered, creating an interpretative stance, citing many comparisons to modern day attempts to galvanize society’s views. From there, the reader can continue through the timeline of information (“Raid, Incarceration, and Execution”, “Aftermath”, “Memory”, and “Conclusion”), with a historical story narrative of events and people with the help of primary sources of image depictions of the topics of interest.
This site has done a good job researching many archived sources, complementing their material, including documents, illustrations, and photographs during this time period. The information provided on this site will help the reader extend their knowledge and judgement of this topic. Though it is ample information, the site may be slow or confusing for the average viewer to get the primary information they are looking for. Since this exhibit is included in the Virginia Museum of History & Culture, there is a lot a ways the viewer can find themselves lost with many misleading headings to other unrelated topics. The reader would not suspect the great deal of sources and analysis from the first page and will have to navigate through the website to lead to anything noteworthy.