Lawrence, Kan. — Lawrence residents Kerry Altenbernd, and the Brad & Carrie Mayhew family, will attend the 150th Anniversary Festival, October 16-18, 2009 commemorating John Brown’s raid on Harpers Ferry that took place on those dates in 1859. Altenbernd will represent the Black Jack Trust, a non-profit group overseeing the development of the Black Jack Battlefield and Nature Park in southern Douglas County, and the Mayhews will perform at the event.
A traveling exhibit depicting the activities of Brown at the Battle of Black Jack and current development of the site in Kansas will be on display at the event near “John Brown’s Fort,” the building where the famous abolitionist made his stand and was captured. The exhibit was produced by the Black Jack Battlefield Trust and funded by a grant from the Kansas Humanities Council. Altenbernd, who will appear as John Brown, and Thom Weik, a re-enactor also from Lawrence, will staff the exhibit to answer questions about the Kansas connection and disseminate information about Brown’s activities in Kansas.
“This is a very direct way to make the connection between the events in Kansas and those in Harpers Ferry that the public is more familiar with,” said Judy Billings, Director of Freedom’s Frontier National Heritage Area. “It is precisely what we’re trying to accomplish with our Heritage Area work to connect important stories and events in Kansas that had an impact on our nation’s development.”
The Brad & Carrie Mayhew family, including daughters Amanda, Lauren, Rebecca, Melissa and Caroline and son, Thomas, will perform gospel songs during the event. The Mayhew family heritage connects directly to John Brown. John Henri Kagi, the brother of Barbara Kagy Mayhew, Brad’s great-great grandmother, came to Lawrence with Jim Lane, wrote for local eastern newspapers and was jailed several times by the “legitimate” government of the time. He met John Brown in Lawrence and participated in the famous raid into Missouri that passed through Lawrence in 1859. Kagi was second in command at Harpers Ferry and died with a young black man he had recruited from Ohio to participate in the action. The Mayhews own a cabin in Nebraska City, NE that was an Underground Railroad site.
The Mayhew Family has performed since 1996 in more than 75 churches and festivals in 10 states and 3 countries in Europe in addition to winning several awards in the Kansas Picking and Fiddling Contest.
The Lawrence Convention & Visitors Bureau is dedicated to: Improving the local economy by attracting visitors, meetings, conventions and events to the city; encouraging economic growth by providing quality services to visitors; responsibly managing transient guest tax funds; and maintaining productive working relationships with partners in the business community.
