Bleeding Kansas

The Kansas–Nebraska Act of 1854 allowed settlers to determine whether slavery would be legal in the new territories. Antislavery migrants and proslavery forces entered Kansas, competing in elections, forming rival governments and accusing one another of fraud and intimidation.

Political conflict became guerrilla war through raids, murders and the destruction of settlements. John Brown and his sons joined militant antislavery forces, most notoriously killing five proslavery men near Pottawatomie Creek in May 1856.

The Good Lord Bird begins when the fictional Henry Shackleford encounters John Brown during the Kansas conflict.