Headstone of abolitionist Owen Brown restored in Altadena years after disappearing

“His soul is marching on!” – from the song “John Brown’s Body”

On the El Prieto Canyon Trail in Altadena rests one of the great icons of America’s anti-racism history. Here he was laid to rest under a 500-pound granite stone carved with the words, “Owen Brown, the son of John Brown, the Liberator.” In 1889, about 2,000 African Americans and whites attended the memorial service for Owen Brown at the Methodist Tabernacle near Marengo and Colorado in Pasadena. And in 2021, the dedicated Owen Brown Gravesite Committee continue to honor this history.

Owen Brown Gravesite Committee includes Marietta Kruells and Michele Zack. Kruells of Altadena Trails said, “John and Owen Brown were just maligned. History depicts John Brown as a crazy man. He was considered crazy because he was a white man who thought enslaving other human beings was wrong.” We learned from our history books that John Brown was hung by officials for inciting a slave insurrection. John’s son, Owen Brown, was indicted for “conspiring with slaves to create an insurrection” but went on the run.

Brown came to Pasadena in 1880. A temperance advocate, he was attracted by the anti-saloon movement in Pasadena. Michele Zack, a historian and award-winning author, added “Brown was a rock star in Pasadena. They had a parade when he came to town. Pasadena was different then.”

But that Brown memorial stone kept getting “lost.” Zack said, “That stone got lost several times in the last 100 years. Was it due to vandals? Was it because private landowners didn’t want visitors?” In 2002, the 500-pound stone — along with its concrete base and fencing — disappeared.

Unbelievably, by July 2021, that same stone is now back in its original place. In 2012, Ian White, a local artist, was walking after a rainstorm and recognized the buried Brown stone. He also knew to hide the stone for its protection. It would take almost another 10 years before the Owen Brown Gravesite Committee, commissioned by LA County supervisors, could return the stone to its rightful place.

Zack continued, “The Civil War never ended. We are in a reckoning even now. We are asking, how will the Civil War be memorialized? And who gets to decide? Will Pasadenans honor the relevance of the Owen Brown memorial site? Will we recognize our local connections to the Civil War and the history of human slavery?”

Altadena’s “El Prieto” (meaning “the dark man”) was also known as Black Mountain or N—– Canyon for its resident, Robert Owens. At age 47, Owens had bought his own freedom from slavery and came to our free state in the early 1850s. According to the census, there were only 12 African Americans in Los Angeles in 1850 and 66 in 1860. Owens thought to escape Los Angeles’ racism by living in this more secluded area in the foothills. He worked hard to free the rest of his family from Texas. In fact, his son, Charles Owens came to marry the daughter of Biddy Mason. Born a slave in Mississippi, Mason was an early community leader in Southern California. She was buried in an unmarked grave at Evergreen Cemetery in Boyle Heights in 1891. It was not until 1988 that a tombstone was erected for this icon. Yes, their souls keep marching on. For more information, watch the newest episode of KGEM’s “Conversations with Ralph Walker.”

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