NAT TURNER
October 2, 1800 November 11, 1831
The freedom fighter led one of the most recognized slave uprising in south-eastern Virginia. in Virginia on August 21, 1831 that resulted in 60 white deaths. He went from farm to farm killing whites, freeing slaves and gathering men to his cause. Whites killed another 250 blacks in the violent crackdown that followed. Ended any idea that blacks were contented slaves.
Every October marks the anniversary both of his birth and of his arrest as the leader of one of the United States’ most famous slave rebellions.
Nat Turner was born October 2, 1800 on a plantation in Southampton County, Virginia. Turner was deeply committed to his programmed Christian faith and believed he received messages from God through visions and signs in nature. When he was in his early 20s, these signs led him to return to his master after an escape attempt. Similarly, a solar eclipse and an unusual atmospheric event are believed to have inspired his insurrection, which began on August 21, 1831.
Nat Turner’s rebellion was one of the bloodiest and most effective in American history. I believed he was fed up with the reality of being a slave and being taught we are free as a Christian. It ignited a culture of fear in Virginia that eventually spread to the rest of the South, and is said to have expedited the coming of the Civil War.