![]() Frightened by the rebellion, Southern whites, in turn, tightened their grip on enslaved and free blacks. The rebellion had given firm lie to the self-serving myth that enslaved African-Americans were content and happy. Turner himself eluded capture for two months, time enough for the rebellion and its leader to generate Southern alarm and national attention. In the rebellion’s immediate aftermath, more than 200 black men and women, enslaved and free, were executed. In less than two days, an estimated 60 whites-men, women and children-had been murdered before the rebels-a group that had swelled to more than 60 in number-were vanquished by local and state militia. On August 21, 1831, Turner led a small group of conspirators from plantation to plantation, slaughtering unwary whites and rallying enslaved people. The film is lately mired in controversy stemming from 1999 rape allegations against the film's director and star Nate Parker, yet some critics contend that the compelling drama should be judged on its own merits. Turner is the subject of the new film The Birth of a Nation, which premiered in January at the Sundance Festival and broke a record for distribution rights, which sold for $17.5 million. The small volume-shorn of covers, part of its spine, and the Book of Revelations-will be on display when the museum opens on September 24, 2016. His Bible, which he is believed to have been holding when he was captured, serves now as a centerpiece of the National Museum of African American History’s collection. Six days later, the 30-year-old Turner was hanged and his body mutilated, but his powerful legacy transcended the punishments.Īlmost 200 years later, Turner endures as a powerful symbol of uncompromising resistance to slavery, a latter-day voice insisting that Black Lives Matter. As confiscated chattel, Turner’s life was valued at $375. Northern abolitionists, however, viewed the uprising differently and intensified their efforts to end slavery throughout the nation.On November 5, 1831, when Judge Jeremiah Cobb, of Southampton County, Virginia, sentenced slave rebel Nat Turner to death by hanging, he ordered the Commonwealth to reimburse the estate of Turner’s slaughtered master. Pro-slavery advocates began calling for greater restrictions on free blacks and slaves in the South and made more demands on Northern whites to cease their interference with the servile institution. In retaliation for the abortive rebellion, nearly two hundred innocent slaves were killed.Īlthough Nat Turner did not end slavery as he may have hoped, he nonetheless shook the institution to its core. He was executed six days after his trial on November 5, 1831. Turner escaped and eluded Virginia authorities for two months but was finally captured and tried for insurrection and murder. One was killed and the others were captured. Turner and his followers were confronted by militiamen. They were soon pursued by over 3,000 members of the state militia. Only 75 slaves and free blacks joined the rebellion. They first murdered the entire Travis family and eventually fifty whites in the futile effort to incite a general slave uprising. ![]() With this confidence, Turner and seven other slaves moved forward with their plans. ![]() While still planning the uprising, Turner saw that the color of the sun had changed to a bluish-green, which he believed was the final sign to initiate the uprising. After sharing this experience with a few close friends, they began to plan an insurrection. Less than a year after the sale, Turner received what he assumed was a sign from God when he witnessed the eclipse of the sun. Turner was sold to slaveholder Joseph Travis in 1830. He soon became known among fellow slaves as “The Prophet.” Turner also began to believe that God had chosen him to free his people from slavery. Taught to read by the son of his owner, Turner studied Christianity which he interpreted as condemning slavery. Nathaniel “Nat” Turner was born in Southampton County, Virginia on October 2, 1800, the son of slaves owned by Benjamin Turner, a prosperous farmer. ![]()
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