Shields Green, also known as “Emperor,” was one of the most enigmatic figures in the fight against slavery in the United States. An escaped slave from Charleston, South Carolina, Green became a close associate of abolitionist Frederick Douglass and later joined John Brown’s bold raid on Harpers Ferry in 1859. After the failed attempt to free slaves, he was captured, tried, sentenced to death, and hanged.
Details of Green’s early life are scarce, but according to Frederick Douglass, he escaped slavery in South Carolina and found refuge in the North. He eventually made his way to Rochester, New York, where he lived in Douglass’s home for nearly two years. It was Frederick Douglass who introduced Green to John Brown, the radical abolitionist who believed in armed insurrection as the only effective means of ending slavery.
In the summer of 1859, John Brown was preparing for his fateful raid on the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia (now West Virginia). His goal was to seize weapons, incite an uprising, and establish a stronghold in the mountains where formerly enslaved Africans could rally and launch further attacks on the institution of slavery. When Brown approached Douglass to join him, Douglass refused, believing the mission was doomed. Green, however, made a different choice. Despite knowing the immense danger, he told Frederick Douglass, “I believe I’ll go with the old man.”
The Harpers Ferry Raid
On the night of October 16, 1859, John Brown and his small band of 21 men, including Green, launched their attack on Harpers Ferry. Initially, they succeeded in taking control of the arsenal and cutting telegraph lines, but their attempt to ignite a widespread rebellion quickly faltered. Local militia and federal troops, led by Colonel Robert E. Lee, soon surrounded the raiders.
Green was among those who survived the initial fighting. Unlike some of Brown’s men who managed to escape, he stayed behind, likely out of loyalty to Brown or an unwillingness to abandon the cause. When the raid was crushed, he was captured and taken to Charles Town, Virginia, where he would face trial.
Green, along with several other surviving raiders, was put on trial for treason, murder, and inciting rebellion. He was quickly convicted and sentenced to death. On December 16, 1859, two weeks after John Brown’s execution, Green was hanged alongside fellow Black raider John Copeland. He was 23.
The execution was treated as a public spectacle. Unlike Brown’s execution, where authorities limited attendance, the judge in Green’s case ensured that the event was widely witnessed. A crowd of 1,600 gathered to watch as he was hanged. At the time, public executions were both a legal punishment and a form of mass entertainment.
Even in death, Green’s suffering was not over. His body, along with Copeland’s, was buried near the gallows. However, their graves were quickly desecrated by medical students from Winchester Medical College, who dug up their bodies for dissection. At the time, it was common for medical schools to use the bodies of executed Africans for anatomical studies.
A group of Black Philadelphians petitioned Virginia Governor Henry Wise to return Green and Copeland’s bodies for a proper burial, but their request was ignored. The last recorded mention of Green’s remains placed him on a dissecting table.
In Oberlin, a memorial service was held for Copeland and two other raiders, Shields Green and Lewis Sheridan Leary. An empty casket represented Copeland’s missing body, showing how he was denied dignity even in death. Three thousand people came to the service, showing how much his life and sacrifice meant to them.
The Harpers Ferry raid and the subsequent trial of John Copeland Jr., John Brown and other raiders heightened tensions between the North and South, which had been growing for decades. Within a year, the South seceded from the United States, forming the Confederate States of America and sparking the Civil War in 1861. The war, fought over the issues of slavery and states’ rights, ultimately led to the abolition of slavery with the passage of the 13th Amendment in 1865.
In 1865, after the Civil War, a monument was erected in Westwood Cemetery, Oberlin, to honor the three citizens of Oberlin who participated in John Brown’s raid: John Anthony Copeland Jr., Shields Green, and Lewis Sheridan Leary. The monument was later moved in 1977 to Martin Luther King Jr. Park on Vine Street in Oberlin. The inscription on the monument reads:
“These colored citizens of Oberlin, the heroic associates of the immortal John Brown, gave their lives for the slave. Et nunc servitudo etiam mortua est, laus deo. (And now slavery is finally dead, thanks be to God.)
S. Green died at Charleston, Va., Dec. 16, 1859, age 23 years.
J. A. Copeland died at Charleston, Va., Dec. 16, 1859, age 25 years.
L. S. Leary died at Harper’s Ferry, Va., Oct 20, 1859, age 24 years.”
This monument stands as a lasting tribute to their bravery and sacrifice in the fight against slavery, reminding us of their crucial role in the struggle for freedom and justice.
Sources:
https://scholarlycommons.law.northwestern.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1208&context=facultyworkingpapers
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/john-browns-raid-on-harpers-ferry
Oberlin Monuments Honor Abolitionist Movement, African American Legacy
