The Slave Rebellion

Today In History with The Retrospectors

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1d ago 13:31

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Nat Turner, leader of the deadliest slave rebellion in U.S. history, was captured on 30th October, 1831. For over two months, he’d hidden out in the woods of Virginia, having led a violent uprising that terrified white Southerners and electrified the enslaved population. When finally caught, by farmer Benjamin Phipps, Turner was armed only with a sword and a few branches.

Born into slavery in 1800, Turner was marked from birth - literally - with mysterious symbols on his chest that his family interpreted as a sign from God. A prodigious reader and deeply religious, he became known as a preacher, believing he was divinely chosen to free his people.

In the early hours of August 22, he and his accomplices started their killing spree by murdering Turner’s master, Joseph Travis, and his family. They then moved swiftly across Southampton County, recruiting others and attacking slaveholders. Their plan was to reach the county seat of Jerusalem, seize weapons, and spark a full-scale revolution. By the rebellion’s end, about 60 white people were dead, but so were over 120 Black people, many of them innocent victims of revenge killings by militias and vigilantes.

In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly uncover the manhunt for Turner and the brief trial before he was hanged; reveal how white lawmakers responded to events with ever-harsher laws prohibiting the movements of enslaved people; and consider Turner’s complex legacy…

CONTENT WARNING: descriptions of extreme violence, racist violence, racism, mutilation.

Further Reading:

• 'Nat Turner’s Insurrection’ (The Atlantic, 1861): https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/02/nat-turners-insurrection/308791/

• 'Black History | Nat Turner’ (African-American History Online): https://www.africanamericanhistoryonline.com/natturner.php

• 'THE BIRTH OF A NATION’ (Searchlight Pictures, 2016): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gm15udgj3zs

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