The Fires of Jubilee

The Fires of Jubilee, by Stephen B. Oates, tells an account of Nat Turner’s rebellion. Beginning with Nat’s early life and finally ending with the legacy his execution left the world, Oates paints a historical rending of those fateful days. The Confessions of Nat Turner by Thomas R. Gray and approved by Nat himself is among Oates’ chief sources. Oates is known as a reputable historian through his other works, and has strong credentials however, in the case of The Fires of Jubilee there are some limitations. It is, therefore, worth analyzing Oates’ interpretation for reliability. In doing so one sees that The Fires of Jubilee, because of its weak use of citations, failure to alert the audience of assumed details and the way in which

By freeing the slaves in rebellious states it gave the Union more power because it had all of the African Americans on its side. This was a very intelligent bill President Lincoln did to win the war. Following the victory of the war by the Union President Johnson freed all the slaves and this was the start of equal opportunities for all men and women. This reform movement has influenced America greatly. It was the start of equal rights and began a feeling that all are equal under the constitution.

Finally, Frederick Douglass, one of the most famous black abolitionists and well-known as an eloquent public speaker, made a speech on Independence Day 1952 entitled “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” In this speech Douglass addressed a predominately white

to which the president of the United States has signed his name,” (Dudley 181). Just by demanding that all slavery be abolished in certain areas, this considerably changed the ways of the African American people. With this new feeling of freedom, many African Americans began to fight for other rights to accompany this. (Dudley 180-183)

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

This story was not only riveting, but also one that kept me on my heels for almost the entire time that I was reading it. Stephen B. Oates, a prize-winning author of thirteen books and more then seventy articles, is currently a professor of history at the University of

The American Revolution brought many opportunities to light for African Americans. They used it ultimately as a mechanism of obtaining their freedom. The American Revolution brought changes to the relationships between enslaved and free Americas as they were forced to work together in some circumstances. The American Revolution gave African Americans a voice to express their longstanding grievances. They had many grievances, such as slavery and being treated as inferior due to their skin color. During this time, some enslaved Americans, such as Wheatley, were voicing their opinions on the people who were hypocritically speaking out against Britain for enslaving free colonists, yet had slaves of their own (Holton, 5). One of the people who

     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.

Slavery was a huge issue that both helped and hurt the Union during the Civil War, and later in the Reconstruction. African Americans had to make sacrifices in order to make reality their dream of being freed from the chains of slavery. America reached many changes through the beginnings of Civil Rights legislations, the changes in the power of government, as well as the amount of racism and it’s effects on society.

significant part of Reconstruction, and the abolish of the slavery system even more important to American

The Fires of Jubilee: Nat Turner’s Fierce Rebellion written by Stephen B. Oates, is a biography about a slave that lived in America during the 1800’s and the affects the institution of slavery had on him and society. Being a specialist in the nineteenth-century United States history, Oates, was a reputable history professor at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Oates has composed sixteen books as well as been presented with the Nevins-Freeman Award of the Chicago Civil War Round Table for his historical work on the Civil War.

The author of this book is a professor of history at Columbia University and is one of the country’s most noticeable historians. He graduated from Columbia with his doctoral degree under Richard Hofstadter. Foner is one of only two people to be president of three major professional organizations. They are the American Historical Association, the Organization of American Historians, and the Society of American Historians.

When you think of great Americans in our history there are countless that come to mind. Some immediately think of the many presidents we have had, others think of inventors, but what about the people that are in between – the people that fought for equality. Fredrick Douglass arguably had the greatest impact on American society, especially African American society, in the nineteenth century. Douglass is credited as being an abolitionist, author, editor, and diplomat. He used literature, books, newspapers, and even speeches, to leave a long lasting mark on our society. Douglass advised presidents and lectured to thousands about different causes, including women’s rights. A cause he felt a strong connection with was the abolishing of slavery, being that he was once a slave.

After his successful escape, he began to join the abolitionist and playing an important role in their movement in United States and the world. After experiencing for himself a life of a free man, Frederick Douglass confessed that he was enlightened by the way of life in New Bedford - surprisingly wealthy and equality. And for a while after having a normal life with a normal job that brought back for him fully wages, an event happened and turned his whole life into a brand new page contains either potentials or risks. He became a subscriber to the Liberator – a paper edited by William Lloyd Garrison. Mr. Garrison was a person who inspired Frederick a lot. His papers and lectures in Liberty Hall directly blazing up a fire of an abolitionist inside Frederick. The spirit against slavery inside Frederick was getting bigger by day through absorbing new thoughts and knowledge of the Liberator’s contents. One of his extensive work was in the summer of 1841, in a grand anti-slavery convention, he got the first chance to speak out loud the truth that is burning inside him in front of the public about how cruel and evil the slave system can be. And Mr. William C. Coffin, an abolitionist was the first person that recognized his importance to the draconic fight against slavery system. For the next few months, he really did play an amazing role in popularizing the conception of equality throughout American’s community. Anti-slavery journals were diffusing daily whereabouts he would make

In 1831 William Lloyd Garrison found a newspaper “The Liberator” a very powerful voice for the antislavery movement and in this way he was making powerful enemy for himself. In 1833 Harriet Beecher Stowe had a trip to South by her first trip to South she had a big change on her life by what she saw and it impact on her way of writing. In 1837 John Brown after failing in his business and murder of an antislavery activist he devotes his life to the cause. In 1838 Frederick Douglass run away from slavery and he joined William Lloyd Garrison for an antislavery movement. Douglass became a very powerful public speaker in North with presenting his own personal life story as a slave. Because of his old owner he went to U.K and he experienced a free life. In 1847 he came back to U.S.A and he own an antislavery paper. In that year John Brown met Douglass in Massachusetts and he shared his radical to him to raise army to free the slaves. In 1852 Harriet Beecher Stowe published Uncle Tom’s Cabin. This book changed the heart and mind of Americans through slavery. In 1859 John Brown had a secret meeting with Frederick