So Nat wasted no time, he used his influence as a local pastor for slaves to help rally support. He secretly preached against the slave owners while also finding people he could trust to carry out his final plan. Then one day in February 1831 Nat saw an Eclipse in the sky, which was all the confirmation he needed to put his plans in full motion. He called upon his closest friends Hank, Nelson, Henry, and Sam (whom he called his lieutenants) and told them of his plan to strike farm by farm and kill each white person in sight until they got to the main city in Southampton county, Jerusalem (Fires of Jubilee, pg. 52). Nat originally wanted to strike of the 4th of July, knowing that most people would be drunk from the day of partying but he had his doubts and called it off last minute.
Nat Turner was a religious man driven to violence by the unfairness of slavery. According to Document A, Nat Turner stated, “As a child, I knew I surely would be a prophet.” Turner believed he was created by the Lord to fulfill a purpose, this being to end slavery, something he knew he was never meant to participate in. Document B then states, “After pretending to be inspired to rebel by God, he [Turner] made his announcement of rebellion to the Blacks.” Turner believed he was encouraged by God to rebel against the injustice of slavery.
A murderer, but not a monster. It’s hard to believe that anyone would consider the thought of Nat Turner not being a monster after unsympathetically killing around 50 people. However, gaining some knowledge of the circumstances that were happening during this time in 1828 in Southampton, Virginia may justify the actions of a born slave. Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness: a set of qualities promised to all Americans through the adoption of the Declaration of Independence in 1776. Yet, one could argue that liberty was never an option for a slave in the early 1800s.
The revolt lasted up to two days, but what we see if Turner actually does not practice the killing himself. Turner finds it hard to find enough courage to even find his former slave owners and slaughter them and their family. It turns out a lot of them actually influenced a lot of his religious point of views, and that “In spite of his enslavement, in spite of his own preaching’s and prophecies, he did not know that he could do it.” (54). A lot of the slave army actually took it too much into their own hands slaughtering infants, children, and any other whites that did not even have part to do with the
Nat Turner and John Brown are both noted, as being symbols of American reform. Leaders of abolitionist groups, who went on a killing spree believing they were given “extraordinary powers from above” and were executed for their strong beliefs of anti-slavery. Their gruesome murders could easily attract followers and spark interest in others to write their biographies. John Brown and Nat turner both came from strong religious backgrounds.
Turner was sentenced to 82 years and Brown 72 years-Both essentially life terms, since Virginia has abolished parole. Evans was choked to death in Turner’s car outside the Bayou. At the time, Turner and Brown each blamed the other for the murder, and prosecutors conceded that they couldn’t prove which man was the killer. Turner has maintained his innocence from the beginning, saying he was guilty only of being an accessory after the fact-punishable by no more than one year in jail-because he helped Brown dispose of the body and cover up the
The unfortunate events leading up to Emmett Louis Till’s death and unfair trial were for one reason only- he was black. “The word is some nigra boy from Chicago made ugly remarks and then whistled to Miz Bryant.’ The deputy chuckled. ‘Fool boy forgot where he was, and it’s a fact somebody’s sure to give that boy a talking to.
Nat and six other slaves joined him, and his first mission was to murder the Travis family. They killed his wife, children, and John Travis in one night. This was just the beginning of Nat Turner’s rebellion. After they collected more weaponry, horses, and 75 more men to help him. They killed another 51 whites, men, women, and children.
Many African American authors and critics very strongly disagreed with how the white plantation owners and the slaves were portrayed in the book. For example Nat Turner’s first slave owner, Samuel Turner, was presented in very high light. This was probably not the case, and that is the reason it enraged so many readers. The book was also banned in some places because of the sexual violence that was portrayed in the novel. Before I get into the book itself it is important to know about the actual person who was Nat Turner and the rebellion that he led in 1831.
Nat Turner was a mad man because of the things he did during his short rebellion. He is a madman because he thought that God had showed his visions of things that happen before he was born (Gray) This made him a madman because he killed whole families and including the kids and even babies. Supporters of Nat Turner thought that he was a hero
The state reimbursed the slaveholders for their slaves. On October 30, Benjamin Phipps discovered him in a hole covered with fence rails. A trial was arranged; On November 5, 1831, Nat Turner was tried for "conspiring to rebel and making insurrection", convicted, and sentenced to death. He was hanged on November 11 in Jerusalem, Virginia.
In response to that, the militia killed 120 black people, most of whom were innocent. The victims of the militias did not even participate in the rebellion. After that, the rebels eventually got caught and some were killed, some were tried in court and the rest were sold out of state. When almost all the rebels were captured, Nat Turner did not get caught. He was hiding for two months, however, he would get caught and be
but he started all of this off the anger of his wife and child being taken, so you would not expect anything different from him. Nat was convicted and sentenced to death but at that point he had already knew that he did what God told him to do and that he lead his people to do the right thing by rebelling and killing the families. Other families were scared but others started to fight back. He affected Virginia in a lot of ways that he did not knew was possible. On November 11, he was hanged until he died.
Turner was not the only one who committed murdered at that time. Slaves that were not associated with the revolt were murdered too because White people were upset with a group of black slaves. How is what the slave holders did to retaliate any different than what Turner did? If anything, Turner had a strong motive, his freedom, and the Whites simply did it because they were angry. I think the story of Nat Turner should be used as a concrete example of what slavery was.
In the records of American history, Nat Turner stands as a complex figure, his legacy surrounded in controversy and debate. Admired by some as a heroic symbol of resistance against slavery, while viewed by others as a deranged man driven by madness.. Through documents and his timeline, you can answer the question and decide for yourself: Was Nat Turner a hero or madman?
