Tuner’s Rebellion is known as one of the most brutal slave uprisings in history. A man named Nat Turner thought himself to be chosen by God to lead the slaves out of slavery into freedom. Turner was a second generation slave; his mom was taken from Africa when she was a young teenager. Since she knew what it was like to live as a free independent person. Nat was raised with many stories of his mother’s free child hood, which made him a dreamer from the beginning. He could not wait for the day that he could experience the freedom his mother did.
Nat was a very religious man. He was the preacher of many slaves. He knew how to speak to crowds and was very influential. This trait was very helpful when it cam to the uprising. Nat was also an extreme oddity because he was literate. He was thought to be taught by his first plantation owner’s son. This extra knowledge made him even more of an idol to many slaves. Although he wanted to have more slaves behind him, 75 slaves was still very impressive being that many of them new the punishment of rebelling was very severe.
Following an eclipse of the sun, taken as a sign from God, him and 75 slaves slaughtered the family of the new plantation he was at then went into the city to kill around 60 white men, women, and children. The rebellion last for two days, August 21, 1831 through August 23, 1831. The state militia was able to stop the slaughtering, but many of the slaved were not immediately arrested. He was able to escape being captured for six weeks, but eventually him and 16 others that had joined him in the rebellion were caught and executed.
Although this rebellion did scare many white slave owners, it did not achieve what it was supposed to. Some could even say it had a negative affect because it made many white people develop bad stereotypes of slaves as being savages and heartless. People, when all they really wanted was to be heard. Also many slaves that had nothing to do with the rebellion were accused and executed. This also made the laws involving the treatment and restrictions of slaves much more harsh. Another negative affect was that many slaves saw the consequence of rebelling and were discouraged from continuing the movement and standing up to for their rights.
In the end this tragic event led to around 60 white and 100 black deaths with little positive outcome. This will forever be known as one of the largest slave rebellions in history. Without it who knows how long it would have taken for slaves to finally stand up for what was right. Although it did not have the ultimate outcome, it gives many people who look back at history great respect for he courage of the slaves that rose up and did what they thought was right.
Sources
1)"Confessions of Nat Turner, The (1831)." Encyclopedia Virginia. Web. 28 Oct. 2011. <http://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/_Confessions_of_Nat_Turner_The_1831>.
2)http://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/turner/bio.html
3)"Nat Turner Rebellion." Spartacus Educational. Web. 28 Oct. 2011. <http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USASturnerR.htm>.
"Confessions of Nat Turner, The (1831)." Encyclopedia Virginia. Web. 28 Oct. 2011. <http://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/_Confessions_of_Nat_Turner_The_1831>.
No comments:
Post a Comment