Nat Turner: A True Leader

First of all, both Frederick Douglass and Nat Turner has a lot of similarities. Both were well-educated slaves, and education helped them to be different from other slaves. In fact, while learning to read and write, Douglass understood his real life of being a slave because he could develop his imagination and interpret what was happening around him. For example, at the end of the chapter two of his book “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, Written by Himself”, Douglass mentioned the slave song that he sang with other slaves when they were going to the Great House Farm which is the Colonel Lloyd’s plantation. When Douglass was a slave, he could not understand the real meaning of the song; however, when he grew up

Gray’s “The Confessions of Nat Turner” opened with an overview of Turner’s early life. He included a passage in which Turner said that an odd moment in his life, when he recalled events that happened before his birth, “laid the ground work of that enthusiasm, which has terminated so fatally to many” (44). By declaring his revolt as an enthusiasm, which means that it was a divinely inspired pursuit, he already ingrained the prejudice of the confessions being the one of an overly religious man. The confessions persisted with the idea of Turner being an irrational self-proclaimed prophet. He was said to have many revelations in his life which convinced him that he was “ordained for some great purpose in the hands of the Almighty” (46). The purpose, as he saw it, was to lead his people to freedom.

Nat Turner was born a slave in Richmond, Virginia in 1831. In this narrative Nate Turner recounts his version of events and later recorded during his revolt in Southampton County, Virginia in 1831. The revolt lasted two days but Nate was not captured until six weeks after. He was then tried for insurrection. Thomas Ruffin Gray was said to be the lawyer who questioned Nate as his trial. Gray questions his state of mind, why he led the revolt and whether he felt mistaken in doing so. Gray also documents Nate’s confession as he explains in detail his personal struggles and the visions he encountered prior going through with the revolt. He also describes the people, places and the slaves that assisted him. No one was spared men, women and children were murdered with hand tools.

Nat is without a doubt a “freedom fighter” and although his fight ended in blood, it was necessary at the time to help to end the continuance of such a cruel and inhuman practice. Slavery in itself was much more horrifying than every white death that ensued following the rebellion combined. Oates’s assertion that Turner’s rebellion was the first war against slavery is incredibly accurate, except in one sense, one does not need to be African-American to agree with this claim. Though an African-American could view slavery as a much more personal subject, because it affected and enslaved many of their own ancestors, one does not need to be black to understand how terrible slavery actually is. Any single person who can assess slavery with an open mind and completely unbiased will see that the suggestion that one person can own another person solely because of the color of one’s skin is completely inhumane, and it’s absolutely no surprise that those who were being enslaved decided to react. Nat did in fact commit a crime, he started a

Nat Turner was a leader from the very moment he was born. But unfortunately he was also born into slavery. He was hit with the regulatory slave rules, he could not get married, travel without the permission of his master, could not own property, and he could not earn money. During his slavery, he was sold to many different slave owners and each time, he was sold, he was forced to leave some part of his family, as well as his friends he had made. This was the brutal and demeaning system of slavery that he sought to overthrow. He was not just looking for his own individual freedom, he was fighting for the abolishment of the whole entire system of slavery, along with liberating African Americans from white tyranny. During the 1820s he had many visions of what he believed to be God commanding him to prepare himself to fight against great evil. He was not the only one that was “receiving visions from God” there were many other Americans that said to experience

In realizing the strategies of the whites, Frederick Douglass understood that slavery was not a natural part of society. Mr. Douglass also understood that he was not naturally inferior, but was being held back by the whites need to enforce the lack of knowledge amongst the slaves. Frederick Douglass understood in order to be free he had to learn to read and write. To obtain his education, Mr. Douglass became

     The Fires of Jubilee, is a well written recollection of the slave insurrection led by Nathaniel Turner. It portrays the events leading towards the civil war and the shattered myth of contented slaves in the South. The book is divided into four parts: This Infernal Spirit of Slavery, Go Sound the Jubilee, Judgment Day, and Legacy.

In chapter two, Masur talks about the importance of Nat Turner and his Rebellion to end slavery. Turner, an African American slave was convinced throughout his life that god had put him on this earth for a certain reason. Throughout Turners life and search for why god had put him here, he started to get visions from god as he got older. These visions made Turner believe that he had to end slavery by attacking it. Turner went out killing whites the night of the eclipse and would gain more followers as he went on. The rebellion didn’t last long and it wasn't pretty either. Turner and his followers were executed and other slaves were killed because of it. Turners rebellion simply points out the lie that slavery is a benevolent institution. Another important event in chapter two is the development of abolitionism. William Lloyd Garrison was a journalist who wanted immediate emancipation of every slave and started a newspaper called the Liberator. The Liberator is what helped Garrison get his reputation of being an American abolitionist nation wide. At the time, the Liberator was a popular paper and would turn out to become very

Nat Turner was a man with a vision that would change America forever. His vision may

The book educates readers on the difficult life slaves had in America during the 1800’s and the life of Nat Turner and the rebellion he lead. The book focuses on Nat’s life and the adversities as well as challenges slaves had to go through to survive. The psychological effects slaves had for the fault of the system they were unjustly born into or put in, affected their decision making every day; either by making them obey their masters or fight for their freedom and die, rather than continue living as a slave. In the case of Nat Turner, life as a slave caused him to lead a rebellion whose sole purpose was to kill all of the white people who lived in Southampton County, Virginia, and its surrounding areas. Unfortunately, Nat’s rebellion is what caused his death.

Nat grew up as a polite man who never do anything wronged to anyone and even became the slave preacher. This made the whites trust him. Joseph Travis saw him as the most behaved black and was even given credit to conduct unsupervised meetings in the church (Oates, 2009); which gave Nat room to explain his desire to revolt as asked for the people who could help him.

He had began to see more signs and he had gotten more visions from God. He interpreted them as if he need to attack his enemies with their own weapons. He had a few close trusted friends that he shared his visions with. He shared the visions with them and only them. They would also help him in his revolt. Turner and his close trusted friend met daily to come up with plans for his secret revolt. They came up with a list of about twenty other blacks to help with the revolt. He told his master about his revolt once, and because he told him, he was beaten for it.

What was the importance of Nat Turner and where does he stand in American history? Nat Turner is an American slave, who has been forgotten about in history as well in the hearts of African-Americans. He led and organized one of the bloodiest slave rebellions in American history. This rebellion was "…the rebellion that served to change the course of American history in the three decades before the Civil War" (Goldman 10). Within this paper, it is to analyze on his impact on the nation.

Nat Turner was a man with a vision that would change America forever. His vision may

Fredrick Douglass also came to exude a great sense of racial pride as his life progressed. At first, his only perception of his people was that of a lowly slave nation. Yet, he was dedicated to trying to improve their lot. After his fellow slaves learned that he was literate, they “insisted that I must keep a Sabbath school.” He agreed to this proposal because he felt that the only shot his “brothers” had at gaining their freedom was through the power of the written word. Later, when he and his fellow slaves were jailed after their plans to escape to freedom were revealed, he states that “our greatest concern was about separation.” Douglass felt a sense of responsibility and kinship towards the members of his own race, and was loath to break these bonds. His racial pride reached its peak when he saw the houses that the free blacks in the North lived in. Douglass proudly writes that “I found many, who had not been seven years out of their chains, living in finer houses, and evidently enjoying more of the comforts of life, than the average of slaveholders in Maryland.” When Douglass saw how well some of his kinsmen were living, he could not help but change his impression of his people being a downtrodden slave nation. He came to recognize his race for what they truly were: a people equal in stature to any other, even the lofty Caucasians.