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Nat Turner, the slave rebel

Nat Turner, the slave rebel

Overview of Era before Nat Turner

In the late 18th century, a dedicated antislavery movement had been developing. Until the time of Nat Turner's revolt, antislavery societies were most numerous in the South. Established in 1817, the American Colonization Society aimed to free America's slaves and "colonize" them in their ancestral homeland. The Society members bought land and created the black republic of Liberia meaning "free." Money was collected from private donations and state treasuries. Although large sums were raised and worked doggedly, they could not keep up with history. By the 1830s, blacks were born into American slavery at a faster rate than freed blacks could be transported to Africa. The southerners had more interest in strengthening slavery by shipping free blacks out of the country than in encouraging slaveholders to free their human chattel. Colonization continued to receive some support, but by about 1840 most of its efforts had ceased to bear much fruit. Other branches of the antislavery movement, however, were blossoming.

Era after Nat Turner's Birth

Ever since Gabriel Prosser's revolt, attempted in the year Nat Turner was born, nervous whites had watched the sky for the glow of burning barns. In 1822, a more nearly successful rebellion had been staged in Charleston, South Carolina. Planned by Denmark Vesey had uprising involving thousands, of blacks. Vesey said "We hold that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness from the nation's own Declaration of Independence. Vesey was hanged along with 35 of his allies.

Slaveholders had felt deep anxiety before 1831, but Turner's revolt would fill them with unbounded terror and rage.

Turner's character was formed in Virginia's Southampton County, a once-tranquil corner of the "Old Dominion." Southampton was marked by rolling, densely forested hills and small farms carved from the deep woods. Most of these spreads consisted of a simple rectangular main house flanked by a scattering of sheds, slave quarters, and outbuildings. Usually planted nearby was one of the apple orchards that provided Southampton's celebrated and powerful apple brandy.

In the first 12 years of his life Turner enjoyed relative freedom, playing with friends and with the master's children—as young blacks were expected to do—while his parents worked in the fields. But Turner showed early signs that he was no ordinary child. He talked convincingly of events that had taken place before he was born, and he carried odd marks on his chest and head—signs, according to African lore, of a prophet. He showed other remarkable qualities, too: he learned to read, apparently with no outside help. Soon even the whites noticed his sharp mind; many asserted that he was too smart to be raised a slave and that if he was, he would be of little use. Gradually, other blacks came to regard him as a leader.

Turner's early years were shaped both by religion and by his white ...