nat turner
DESCRIPTION
info for African American History studentsTRANSCRIPT
Who Was Nat Turner?
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August 22, 1831:
55 White People Killed in
Southampton, Virginia
August 22, 1831:
55 White People Killed in
Southampton, Virginia
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hNat Turner by Kyle Baker
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Most of the information we have about Nat Turner is in this book.
Thomas Gray visited Nat Turner in jail.
He listened to his story and wrote this book, The Confessions of Nat Turner, right after the revolt happened in 1831.
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1830
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Southampton County,a small community in Virginia
Southampton County farmers grew cotton and apples.They had small properties. White farmers, if they owned slaves, owned only about three or four. http://fineartamerica.com/images-medium/on-the-plantation-robert-lee-hicks.jpg-hands-robert-lee-hicks.html-hands-robert-lee-hicks.html
Southampton County was unusual.
Many African-Americans who lived there were not slaves --they were ‘free persons of color.’
Benjamin Turner was a Southampton County slave owner.
One of his slaves was an African woman, Nancy. In 1800, Nancy gave birth to a son.
He was called Nat.
One report states Nat’s father ran away to the North for freedom, and Nat’s mother was a strong-minded woman who hated being a slave.
When Nat was 10, Benjamin Turner died. Nat became the property of his son, Samuel Turner.
Nat learned how to read.He went to church meetings.Nat was strongly influenced by the bible and by prayer meetings.Reading and going to church were illegal activities for slaves in Virginia but Samuel Turner did not stop Nat.
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tNat Turner was a deeply religious child.He often fasted and prayed.
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Other people –African-American and white-- respected Nat Turner.
Everyone knew him as an intelligent person and a talented Baptist preacher and expert on the bible.As a young adult, he traveled around Southampton preaching in the African-American community.
In 1822, Nat Turner ran away.
His friends were shocked because after thirty days, he returned.
Some began to gossip about him.http://www.library.wisc.edu/etext/WIReader/Images/WER1140.html
Nat Turner said he came backbecause he had a vision.
God told me to return to the service of my earthly
master.
Soon, Nat married a young woman, Cherry, another slave who lived on the Turner farm.
They were not far away from each other, but their separation was difficult.
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When Samuel Turner died the next year, Nat Turner and his wife were sold to different masters in Southampton.
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Turner had another vision: “I saw white spirits and black spirits engaged in battle,” he declared later, “and the sun was darkened—the thunder rolled in the heavens…”
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“…and blood flowed in streams.”
“I heard a voice saying, ‘…You are called…”
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On May 12, 1828, Nat Turner had another vision:
“I heard a loud noise in the heavens. The Spirit instantly appeared to me and said, “The Serpent was loosened.
“Christ had laid down the yoke he had borne for the sins of men, and that I should take it on and fight against the Serpent.”
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“I should arise and prepare myself, and slay my enemies with their own weapons.”
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February, 1831: Nat Turner saw a new sign from God.
He waited...
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…for another sign in August.
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Sunday night, August, 21, 1831: Turner and his followers made plans.
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Monday morning, August 22: The men moved from farm to farm ‘to fight the serpent.”.
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At first, there were just a few followers. Soon, there were about 50.
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That Monday, they murdered fifty-five slave owners and their family members.
People were especially shocked because babies, children and women were murdered, too.
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By Tuesday night, news of the killings spread.
Angry white mobs looked for the murderers.Mobs forced free African Americans to leave their homes.
The mobs murdered 200 African-Americans. Many were not involved with Nat Turner.
We don’t know their names of those 200 people.
Many of the men were captured but the police could not find Nat Turner.Turner was hiding.
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Forty-eight captured African-Americans were tried in Virginia courts. Eighteen people (including one woman) were found guilty and sentenced to hang.
Others were sent away from Virginia.
August September October
August September October
August September October
Three months later, a farmer found Nat Turner hiding in the woods near Southampton.
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The order to put Nat Turner to trial.
Turner went to trial on November 5, 1831.His attorney was a slave owner.The judge was a slave owner. Turner said…http://gracewalk.files.wordpress.com/2008/04/judge-gavel.gif
I am not guilty..
Thomas Ruffin Gray interviewed Nat Turner in jail. He asked,
Do you not find yourself mistaken now?”
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Was not Christ crucified?
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Nat Turner’s lawyer was a slave owner.The judge was a slave owner.The court said he was guilty.He was hung on November 11, 1831.
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Harriet Beecher Stowe
Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote a book called Dred in 1856.
Stowe was a northern abolitionist.
The story is a novel, but her character was inspired by Nat Turner.
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William Styron
This book was written in 1968. It was controversial.
On one hand, it was popular, won awards and exposed many readers who never heard of Nat Turner’s story.On the other hand, some African-American writers said the book encouraged prejudice.
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Nat Turner —was he a religious, crazy man?--was he a freedom fighter?
Why should Americans of 2011 study the Nat Turner Rebellion?
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FINIS
http://www.virginiamemory.com/reading_room/this_day_in_virginia_history/october/31
James Trezvant Issued a Writ Concerning Nat TurnerOn August 21, 1831, in Southampton County, an insurrection of slaves under the leadership of Nat Turner (died 1831) resulted in the death of fifty-seven white people. Militiamen and armed volunteers killed dozens of slaves and drove hundreds of free persons of color out of their homes. This writ from a justice of the peace James Trezvant to the county sheriff required the sheriff to summon five other justices of the peace who had no “interest in said slave” to hold the first judicial proceedings following Turner's capture.