The Confessions of Nat Turner by Nat Turner

The Confessions of Nat Turner by Nat Turner

Perhaps no other moment in history crystallized the fears of slave owners in the South like the August 21-22, 1831, slave insurrection led by Nat Turner in Southampton, Virginia. The Confessions of Nat Turner details Turner's life and the events surrounding that armed revolt, which left more than fifty men, women, and children dead and that culminated in Turner's execution. Interviewed by Thomas R. Gray while in prison for his crimes, Turner begins his story with his earliest childhood memories, and the subsequent narrative leads the reader through his decision, formed over years in slavery, to strike for freedom. He discusses his religious conversion and his belief that he was called by God to murder slave owners. He spares no detail as he describes each murder he oversaw or committed. Unique in its historical moment and powerful voice, The Confessions of Nat Turner provides an uncensored look into one of the key events in the slave-holding South.

A DOCSOUTH BOOK. This collaboration between UNC Press and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Library brings classic works from the digital library of Documenting the American South back into print. DocSouth Books uses the latest digital technologies to make these works available in paperback and e-book formats. Each book contains a short summary and is otherwise unaltered from the original publication. DocSouth Books provide affordable and easily accessible editions to a new generation of scholars, students, and general readers.

Nat Turner (October 2, 1800 – November 11, 1831) was an African-American slave who led a slave revolt in Southampton County, Virginia on August 21, 1831, which ended in the deaths of 60 white people. He went on a killing spree with a squad of slave followers carrying farm implements. They gathered horses and weaponry as they traveled from plantation to plantation, freed more slaves along the way, and encouraged other blacks to join their insurrection. They were blamed of the killings of fifty white persons at the end of their insurrection. A colonization bill, which dedicated increased financing to remove free blacks, and a police bill, which denied free blacks jury trials and rendered any free blacks convicted of a crime vulnerable to sale and relocation, were also targeted by Virginia politicians.

To put down the uprising, whites formed militias and dispatched regular troops. In addition, mobs attacked blacks in the neighborhood, killing an estimated 100-200 people, many of whom were not participating in the insurrection at all.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9781628452174
ISBN 10	162845217X
Title	The Confessions of Nat Turner
Author	Nat Turner
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Windham Press
Year published	2014-06-03
Number of pages	26
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.