During his life, Nat Turner
believed that he was hearing from God telling him that he should kill white
people. Turner was a slave preacher who felt a spiritual connection with God.
Then he started seeing signs and visions. At the third sign, which was a vision
from God, Turner decided that it was time to act. After a direct vision of God,
Turner decided to start planning a rebellion with other slaves. In 1831 the sun
was greenish-blue so Turner saw this as the final sign. He and 40 slaves went
through white towns killing people they encountered. In the end, they had
killed 55 white people.
At the time, this large slave
rebellion was a tragedy that endangered the precious lives of white people.
After the Nat Turner Rebellion, hundreds of slaves were accused of trying to
kill white people or for being involved with Nat Turner. The punishment for these
accusations was death. White people were killing blacks in mobs and terror.
Many would say that Nat Turner was a terrorist for using violence and murder to
advocate for his beliefs. The rebellion could be seen as unnecessary violence
from a crazy man but was the rebellion effective? After the rebellion, Virginia
almost abolished slavery. The rebellion produced the desired result of making
white people question slavery. If after the rebellion Virginia had decided to
abolish slavery, would the textbooks write the Nat Turner Rebellion as a success?
I believe
that Nat Turner is actually a patriot. Nat Turner did not do anything radical
by using violence and Christianity to try to accomplish his freedom. It only
seemed radical because he was a slave. Less than 100 years before, the white
Americans had used violence to gain their freedom. They fought in the
Revolutionary War because they felt they needed freedom from England. Young
Americans are now raised believing that fighting for freedom is a vital part of
their history. Americans are patriots that are not afraid to stand up for what
they believe in. Yet, when the Nat Turner Rebellion is taught in American
schools, they still teach it as a terrorist slave rebellion. Using Christianity
as an excuse or justification for violence is not a radical idea either.
Countless wars in the past were fought over Christianity. Perspective is what
makes white Americans patriots but Nat Turner a terrorist. White Americans have
been writing the history and so they wrote the terror they felt after the
rebellion.
In respect to upholding the fundamental ideals of freedom that this country was founded upon at least on paper, and from the perspective of anyone of revered the aforementioned sentiments, Nat would be seen as a Patriot. Only to those who valued maintenance of the status quo in order to ensure the comfort of white society above the lives of blacks could associate the actions or aspirations of Nat with terrorism. Realistically the only entities that should be fearful of Nat or his message are those who wished to keep him and his people in bondage.
ReplyDeleteI believe that people have the right to rebel against something fundamentally wrong, slavery is an example. Nat turner's rebellion is an interesting case because it was brutal and bloody. Some people call him a terrorist for that reason. But I think that if you have your freedom stripped of you, you have to re-secure it by any means necessary. In this case, Nat Turner's rebellion resulted in the deaths of many slave owners.
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