He was a free Black saddler from Fayetteville, North Carolina. He had a wife, a newborn daughter, and a rare kind of stability. He gave it all up — and walked into Harpers Ferry with a rifle.

Most history books remember John Brown's raid. Few remember the five Black men who joined it. Fewer still remember the one who held the line until he took three bullets in a doorway — and refused to surrender.

This week, we're telling the story of Lewis Sheridan Leary. The man history forgot. The man who may have made emancipation possible.