John Brown Lives!
John Brown Lives! is a 1999-founded New York non-profit that uses the John Brown Farm State Historic Site and Adirondack history to advance social justice through educational programs, artist residencies, oral history, and public events for K-12 students, educators, artists, and community members.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded1999
- HeadquartersWestport, United States
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2C
- OfferingServices
What John Brown Lives! does
John Brown Lives! (JBL!) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization founded in 1999 by Martha Swan and headquartered in Westport, New York, with its primary program venue at the John Brown Farm State Historic Site in Lake Placid, NY. It serves as the official NYS Friends Group of the historic site and operates as a cultural and educational organization promoting abolitionist history, social justice, and human rights through arts, education, and public programs. Its core offerings are organized into educational programs (Hands-on History, Dreaming of Timbuctoo exhibit, Harriet Was Here), oral history (Freedom Story Project), artist support (JBL! Fellows Program with Craigardan, Nine Conversations Series), civic engagement (Loving Our Country, Friends in the Adirondacks), and annual events (John Brown Day, Blues at Timbuctoo, Adirondack Family Book Festival, The Long Table dinner, Juneteenth). The organization partners with the National Park Service (Network to Freedom, 2021), SUNY-ESF, Yale's Gilder Lehrman Center, the International Coalition of Sites of Conscience (2025), and a 14-state coalition under John Brown America250.
The organization's business model is donation- and grant-funded rather than revenue-generating from priced products or services. It solicits individual donations (targeting 250 monthly sustainers at $25/month), runs event-based fundraising (e.g., The Long Table benefit dinner), and secures institutional grants from sources including Creatives Rebuild New York, AARP Community Challenge, NYS Council on the Arts (via Essex County Arts Council), and NYS Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. Most programs and events are free and open to the public; the Quarter Century Circle campaign seeks $75,000 to mark its 25th anniversary. The go-to-market motion is community-led, relying on field trips, educator professional development, artist residencies, fellowships, oral history collection, and public events delivered through schools, libraries, and cultural institutions across the Adirondack North Country region and beyond. The technology stack is non-existent as a product; the organization uses a WordPress website, social media channels (Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, X), email newsletters, and the OurStoryBridge oral-history platform for content distribution. There are no APIs, SDKs, proprietary AI models, or technology integrations disclosed.
John Brown Lives! firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- John Brown Lives!
- Legal name
- John Brown Lives!
- Website
- http://www.johnbrownlives.org
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 1999
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- John Brown Lives! is a 1999-founded New York non-profit that uses the John Brown Farm State Historic Site and Adirondack history to advance social justice through educational programs, artist residencies, oral history, and public events for K-12 students, educators, artists, and community members.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Where John Brown Lives! is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Westport
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices3 records
Markets served
John Brown Lives! business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2C
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others
Revenue model
- Individual Donations and Monthly Sustainers: The organization solicits monthly sustainer donations, seeking 250 people to become monthly donors at $25/month. They have a Quarter Century Circle campaign with a $75,000 goal to celebrate their 25th anniversary.
- Event-Based Fundraising: Special fundraising events like The Long Table dinner, an annual benefit event at the John Brown Farm.
- Grants and Institutional Funding: Support from foundations and government agencies including NYS Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, NY State Council on the Arts, and grants from organizations like Creatives Rebuild New York, AARP Community Challenge, and others.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Subscription | Monthly | Monthly Sustainer Donation |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels4 records
Marketing channels7 records
John Brown Lives! product offering
Product offeringCore offering
John Brown Lives! is a non-profit organization that promotes abolitionist history, social justice, and human rights through educational programs, cultural events, oral history collection, and public programming. Operating as the official NYS Friends Group of the John Brown Farm State Historic Site in Lake Placid, NY, the organization delivers school field trips, teacher professional development, artist residencies, oral history projects, community events, and fellowships centered on Adirondack freedom history.
Product overview
John Brown Lives! is a social justice and human rights non-profit organization that serves as the official NYS Friends Group of the John Brown Farm State Historic Site. The organization operates as a collection of interconnected educational programs and cultural events rather than a unified technology product. Its core programs include Hands-on History (teacher professional development and student field trips), Dreaming of Timbuctoo (historical exhibit on Black homesteading in the Adirondacks), Freedom Story Project (oral history collection using OurStoryBridge methodology), Harriet Was Here (music education program), and the JBL! Fellows Program (artist residency). Annual signature events include John Brown Day (May), Adirondack Family Book Festival, The Long Table Dinner, and Blues at Timbuctoo concert. Additional initiatives include A Memorial Field (public art memorial), Nine Conversations Series (equity dialogues), John Brown America250 coalition, Loving Our Country listening project, and Friends in the Adirondacks (prison family support). The organization was founded in 1999 and became a Network to Freedom partner through the National Park Service in 2021.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Freedom Story Project: Collects and broadcasts audio stories centered on themes of freedom, justice, human and civil rights, activism and engagement. Uses OurStoryBridge methodology.
- Nine Conversations Series
- Loving Our Country
Products and services
- Hands-on History Educational program supporting educators with professional development, artist residencies in schools, and interactive field trips for students to learn about freedom history at the John Brown Farm State Historic Site.
- JBL! Fellows Program Two-week residency program in the Adirondack mountains for artists, scholars, and activists, hosted in partnership with Craigardan, supporting expressions of freedom and social justice.
- Dreaming of Timbuctoo Traveling and permanent exhibit chronicling the story of Black settlers homesteading in the Adirondacks in the 1840s, exploring voting rights and freedom history.
- Freedom Story Project Oral history collection project that collects and broadcasts three- to five-minute audio stories centered around themes of freedom and justice, human and civil rights, using the OurStoryBridge methodology.
- Harriet Was Here Music education program exploring Harriet Tubman's life through original songs created by students, cultivating deeper understanding of US slavery and freedom history.
- John Brown Day Annual celebration held each May honoring John Brown's legacy and awarding the Spirit of John Brown Freedom Award to leaders in civil and human rights.
- Adirondack Family Book Festival Family-friendly event featuring children's and YA authors and illustrators for readings, signings, and activities held at John Brown Farm State Historic Site in Lake Placid, NY.
- The Long Table Dinner Annual inclusive community dinner event at John Brown Farm fostering dialogue and connections over a shared meal, inspired by the Timbuctoo families.
- Blues at Timbuctoo Annual outdoor concert held at John Brown Farm celebrating Black history through blues, jazz, and spiritual music, against the backdrop of the Timbuctoo story.
- A Memorial Field Freedom education public art project by Ren Davidson Seward honoring victims of police brutality, installed at John Brown Farm from 2020-2024 and now available as A Living Memorial online.
- Nine Conversations Series Series of nine facilitated conversations about racial equity and justice created in collaboration with award-winning artist Ren Davidson Seward and choreographer Tiffany Rea-Fisher, resulting in the documentary 'Geography of Grace'.
- John Brown America250 Yearlong national coalition initiative examining John Brown's legacy and the unfinished work of equality in America in conjunction with the nation's 250th anniversary.
- Loving Our Country Person-to-person listening project designed to chronicle impacts of federal policies and repair social fabric through empathy, active listening, and grassroots organizing across NY Congressional District 21.
- Friends in the Adirondacks Partnership with Alliance of Families for Justice supporting families visiting incarcerated loved ones in North Country prisons through hospitality and community connections.
Quantifiable outcome
- Collected 100 oral history stories through Freedom Story Project
- +2 more outcomes
Companies that use John Brown Lives!
Customer profileNamed customers6 records
Segments4 records
Ideal customer profiles4 records
John Brown Lives! technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
John Brown Lives! partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
14 partnerships are on record, tiered core, major and minor.
- International Coalition of Sites of ConsciencecoreAccepted as member of the only global network of historic sites dedicated to connecting past struggles to present-day human rights work. Sites of Conscience serve as bridges between past and present, memory and action.
- National Park Service - Network to FreedomcoreJohn Brown Lives! was welcomed as a Network to Freedom partner through the National Park Service in May 2021. This partnership connects the organization to a national network preserving and interpreting sites related to the Underground Railroad and abolition.
- CraigardancoreLaunched the JBL! Fellows Program in partnership with Craigardan, which hosts artists, scholars, and activists for two-week residencies in the Adirondack mountains. Craigardan provides scholarships and hosts fellows in their creative community.
- Alliance of Families for Justice (AFJ)corePartnership through Friends in the Adirondacks program to support families with loved ones incarcerated in North Country prisons. Provides hospitality, opens homes, and bridges upstate/downstate and urban/rural divides. Also participates together in statewide Justice Collective for criminal justice reforms.
- SUNY-ESF Timbuctoo InstitutemajorSUNY-ESF's Timbuctoo Institute supports a two-year full-scale evaluation of the Hands-on History Program using a culturally responsive and equitable evaluation (CREE) framework. Project advisor Dr. Jean Kayira and graduate student Madeline Squarcia conduct the evaluation.
- NYS Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic PreservationcoreWorking closely with educators, historians, and partners at NYS Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation to enliven learning through Hands-on History programs at the John Brown Farm State Historic Site.
- NYS Council on the ArtsmajorBlues at Timbuctoo made possible in part by Essex County Arts Council's Cultural Assistance Program Grant with funding from NYS Council on the Arts, Statewide Community Regrants program.
- Adirondack Diversity InitiativemajorCo-host of Black Birders Week celebration and other diversity and inclusion events. Partnership to make outdoor spaces and nature more welcoming for people of color.
- Northern New York AudubonminorPartner in Adirondack Black Birders Week Celebration at John Brown Farm.
- Clinton-Essex-Franklin Library SystemmajorJoint hosting of Americans Who Tell the Truth poster show launch at Saranac Lake Free Library. Posters available to loan for libraries in the region.
- Adirondack Lakes Center for the ArtsminorAdministering agency for NYS Council on the Arts funding that supports Blues at Timbuctoo concerts.
- Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance and Abolition, Yale UniversitymajorOrganizational partner for Harriet Was Here program. Director David Blight is also on JBL! Board of Directors.
- OurStoryBridge Inc.corePartnership to collect and broadcast audio stories through the OurStoryBridge methodology. Freedom Story Project uses this approach to make stories accessible and shareable. Nearly 1,200 stories collected across OurStoryBridge projects nationwide.
- John Brown ProjectcoreCo-organizer of John Brown America250: Renewing the Revolution initiative. The John Brown Project is based in Torrington, Connecticut, where John Brown was born. Partnership spans organizations across 14 states and 1 Canadian province.
Scale indicators4 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights6 records
John Brown Lives! competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- National Civil Rights Museum: Memphis-based museum at the Lorraine Motel site that connects civil rights history to contemporary human rights issues through exhibits, education, and public programs. Directly comparable as a nonprofit operating at a historic site dedicated to racial justice education and public engagement.
- Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History: Detroit-based museum focused on African American history, education, and social justice programming. Comparable as a Black-history-focused cultural institution running signature events, K-12 education, and community-based exhibitions.
- Whitney Plantation: Louisiana historic site dedicated to interpreting the lives of enslaved people, with on-site education and memorial programs. Highly comparable as a historic-site nonprofit centered on slavery, freedom, and reconciliation through guided programming.
- Lower East Side Tenement Museum: New York City historic site and member-supported nonprofit that uses immersive storytelling at a preserved building to explore immigration, labor, and social justice. Comparable model of using a single historic site as a platform for education, tours, and public dialogue.
- Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History: National nonprofit that partners with K-12 schools on American history education, including slavery and abolition. Directly comparable mission around history education, teacher professional development, and a partner of JBL! via the Gilder Lehrman Center at Yale.
Broad incumbents
- International Coalition of Sites of Conscience: Global network of historic sites, museums, and memory initiatives using history to spark action on contemporary human rights issues. JBL! was accepted as a member in 2025; the network functions as both peer cohort and ecosystem convener for JBL!'s work.
- National Trust for Historic Preservation: Large national nonprofit that preserves historic sites and supports affiliated Friends groups. Comparable as a steward model for sites like John Brown Farm, though operating at a much larger scale across many properties.
- National Park Service - Network to Freedom: National Park Service program that supports organizations preserving and interpreting Underground Railroad and abolition history. JBL! is a Network to Freedom partner (2021); the program is the umbrella network JBL! operates within for national recognition and resources.
Regional players
- Historic Hudson Valley: New York-based nonprofit that operates multiple historic sites with K-12 programming, public events, and exhibits on American history. Comparable as a NYS-based historic-site operator running education and signature annual events.
Emerging players
- Equal Justice Initiative: Alabama-based nonprofit that runs The Legacy Museum and the National Memorial for Peace and Justice, combining historic-site interpretation with contemporary criminal justice reform work. Comparable as a nonprofit connecting slavery/abolitionist history to modern justice issues, though operating at much larger scale.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
John Brown Lives! social profiles
Digital presenceJohn Brown Lives! financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
John Brown Lives! leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles3 records
John Brown Lives! funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
John Brown Lives! M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about John Brown Lives!
What does John Brown Lives! do?
John Brown Lives! is a non-profit organization that promotes abolitionist history, social justice, and human rights through educational programs, cultural events, oral history collection, and public programming. Operating as the official NYS Friends Group of the John Brown Farm State Historic Site in Lake Placid, NY, the organization delivers school field trips, teacher professional development, artist residencies, oral history projects, community events, and fellowships centered on Adirondack freedom history.
Is John Brown Lives! a public or private company?
John Brown Lives! is a private company. It is classified as nonprofit foundation owned and is currently operating.
When was John Brown Lives! founded?
John Brown Lives! was founded in 1999. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is John Brown Lives! based?
John Brown Lives! is headquartered in Westport, United States, in the North America region.
How does John Brown Lives! make money?
Three revenue lines are on record. Individual Donations and Monthly Sustainers are the primary driver. The others are event-Based Fundraising and grants and Institutional Funding.
Who are John Brown Lives!'s main competitors?
Direct peers on record are National Civil Rights Museum, Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, Whitney Plantation, Lower East Side Tenement Museum and Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. Broad incumbents are International Coalition of Sites of Conscience, National Trust for Historic Preservation and National Park Service - Network to Freedom. Historic Hudson Valley is listed as a regional player. Equal Justice Initiative is listed as an emerging player.
Does John Brown Lives! have an API?
No public API is recorded for John Brown Lives!.