Nat Turner : A Unique Child

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 was filling in the empty spots he did so in his own words, and

Nat Turner rebellion took place in Southampton County, Virginia, in 1831. Turner’s intention was to move through the countryside, household to household, killing as many whites as possible. He did not care whether they were a man or women, child or adult. Turner was quoted as saying that “indiscriminate slaughter was not their intention after they obtained a foothold, and was resorted to in the first instance to strike terror and alarm. Women and children would afterwards have been spared, and men too who ceased to resist.”

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 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

In The Fires of Jubilee Nat Turner's Fierce Rebellion: Stephen Oates gives an account of the brief but deadly slave revolt in and around Southampton, Virginia. His controlling theme is that of religion and the profound influence that it had on the development of Nat Turner's charismatic persona and his rationale for engaging in a project of deliberate murder of people who had at least in the context of slavery as a given of Turner's experience, treated him quite decently. The effects of Nat Turner's rebellion were profound. The insurrection of Nat Turner was inspiration for all slaves, even if just 60 whites were killed to the 140 blacks. I am

After his hardships on the plantation, he began to look at himself as a prophet. He would secretly discuss the dislike of slavery with other slaves and announce his experiences with the spirits.

obedient to the whites. He said if the slaves tried ever to revolt or try to escape they would burn in

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.

The message about a rebellion spread to the slaves in Southampton and small revolts followed. On August 1831 Nat led a group of armed slaves in the middle of the night and went round the homes of the whites killing them and living the bodies behind. They did this for two days but Nat killed nobody because of his Christian belief, but he thought that he was sent by God to free the slaves from bondage (Oates, 2009). The slaves had been mistreated for many years so they killed even women and children.

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.

Some critics may argue that Nat Turner was solely influenced to begin the rebellion because of his hatred towards the cruelty and brutality of slavery, but, the evidence provides that religion was the core reason. If Nat Turner had not been as influenced by Christianity as he was, he would never have received the message from God to make a change in the world around him by striking a rebellion up. Nat Turner affected the world around him by having society implement laws in attempts to prevent another slave rebellion from happening, all because of how it was based upon religion. Not to mention, the Nat Turner Rebellion was also a major precedent for the Civil War. Once more, without Nat Turner’s extreme beliefs in Christianity, a rebellion such as this one would have never taken place, resultantly affecting the regions and areas around

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 is the most famous and most controversial slave rebel on American history. He was living in the innocent season of his life, in those carefree years before the working age of twelve when a slave boy could romp and run about the plantation with uninhibited glee. Nat in his young years cavorted about the home place as slave children did generally in Virginia. He was first lived in Turner's house, who owned a modest plantationin a remote neighborhood "down county" from Jerusalem. His daytime supervisor was his grandmother, Old Bridget- who regaled the boy with slave tales and stories from the Bible. Nat had become very attached to his grandmother. The Turners had become Methodists, who held prayer services on their farm and took

Nathaniel who also went by the alias “Nat” Turner was an African American slave who led the only effective and sustained slave rebellion in U.S. history. A mutiny was planned but rescheduled for August 21, 1831, when