Nat Turner, born October 2, 1800 and died November 11, 1831, was an African-American slave. In 1831, he led a revolt in Southampton County, Virginia. Defeated, it was a demonstration of indiscriminate violence by black slaves (55 whites of all ages killed in one day) and one of the justifications for the Civil War. Nat Turner was a precocious child; he had learned to read and impressed the other slaves with his ability to know what had happened before his birth. So they said he was a prophet. Indeed he was very mystical, read the Bible with fervor, and it is in the name of God that he attacked the planters. His parents, his family thought he had a great destiny, something to accomplish. Nat watched everything that was going on, investigated, prayed fervently, he knew a lot about strategy and was very honest. As he was literate, he soon became the leader of the slaves. He despised his status as a slave, especially since his father had escaped. One night he had a vision and decided to take matters into his own hands and bring the wrath of the Almighty down upon the planters. On August 13, 1831, seeing in an annular solar eclipse the divine sign he was waiting for, he decided to launch his action and the revolt was unleashed a week later, on August 21, 1831.
This revolt lasted two days, during which his band, which included up to 70 men, massacred 55 whites, men, women or children1. A militia twice as powerful as the faction of rebellious slaves ends up putting an end to its actions. However, Nat Turner was not captured until October 30. He was tried on November 5 and hanged on November 11, his body then mutilated. He left a memoir which was published. Fears of a slave revolt like the one in Santo Domingo were heightened within the slavocracy and race relations hardened.
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Nat Turner's Confessions
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Part Number | A-158-559 |
Release Date | 1982-12-16T00:00:01Z |
Language | Français |
Number Of Pages | 544 |
Publication Date | 1982-12-16T00:00:01Z |