The Fires of Jubilee is a book by Stephen B.Oates. He tells the story of Nate Turner, a slave who wanted to be free right from childhood. In1831, Nat Turner planned a slave rebellion using to his advantage the special gift he had which gave him trust of the white people. Nat’s insurrection reinforced both the fear and ignorance of Virginia whites toward the institution of slavery, which resulted in numerous consequences for slaves. Turner Oates particularly was an interesting character. and read all he could -especially of the Bible. He discovered from reading the Bible that the whites gave the slaves a totally different interpretation of slavery, which was brutal, and in favor of the whites. The Bible actually had a lot of stories of freedom and …show more content…
His life experiences as a slave, and his interpretation of his mysterious gift convinced him that God had chosen him to be a Moses to free the black slaves of Virginia. Due to his interpretation of his gifts, He created a small gang of rebellious slave followers, who helped carry out his plans of killing all the whites in Virginia. Slavery was a necessary part of Southern life in the early 1800’s.A lot of the slave owners were not unnecessarily cruel to their slaves. Majority of slave owners allowed their slaves days off on Sundays while they went to church and have picnics with their families. In comparison, Virginia – especially Southampton County – was more lenient with slaves than the Deep South, maybe because more than one-third of Southampton’s white families did not own slaves and the county had never expected any rebellious behavior from the slaves. For the most part, “Southampton whites regarded rebellion as an unthinkable