Chapter 22: Nat Turner’s Rebellion Alarms the Nation

1831

While Garrison’s lecturers are relying on “moral suasion” to make their case, some slaves turn to violence in a desperate attempt to win their freedom.

Four early “black uprisings” are recorded for posterity: the first near Richmond in 1800 led by the slave Gabriel; another in 1805 at Chatham Manor along the Potomac; a third in 1811, much bloodier, within Louisiana’s “German Coast,” involving one Charles Deslondes; and a fourth, planned by Denmark Vessey in 1822, around Charleston.

The fifth, and most famous, belongs to Nat Turner, whose four-day revolt in Jerusalem, Virginia in 1831 results in the slaughter of 60 white men women and children before it is put down.

At his trial Nat remains defiant, saying “I’m not sorry I killed all those white people.” He is then hanged and his body is mutilated, with “souvenirs” made from his skin.

The uprising affects both regions of the country. In the South it leads to widespread lynching of any Blacks thought to be a threat; in the North, it simply reinforces the fear of all Blacks as violent savages.