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Birth
Nat Turner was born into slavery in Southampton Virginia on October 2, 1800 on a plantation own by Benjamin Turner -
Nat Turners parents
Nat Turner's mother's name was Nacy Turner. Nat knew little about his father but he is believed to have escaped from slavery and apart of an group called the nottoway people -
Marriage\Children
Wife: Cherry Turner(?-1831)
Children: Riddrick Turner -
Fun Fact
Turner learned to read and write at a young age. he was extremely religious, Nat was often seen fasting, praying, or immersed in reading the stories of the Bible. -
Nat Turner was inherited
At the age of ten Nat's previous owner Benjamin Turner died, Nat was inherited as property by Benjamin's son Samuel Turner. -
Interesting fact
Nat ran away from his owner and returned a month later claiming to have received a spiritual revelation -
FUN FACT
Turner often conducted services, preaching the Bible to his fellow slaves, who later called him "The Prophet". Turner even gathered white followers such as Etheldred T. Brantley, -
TURNER CONVINCED HIMSELF TO BE A PROPHET OF GOD
Nat convinced himself and everyone else that he was put on this earth to for a purpose and that purpose was to save them -
FUN FACT
Turner said that he
"heard a loud noise in the heavens", "And the Spirit instantly appeared to me and said the Serpent was loosened, and that Christ had laid down the yoke he had borne for the sins of men, and that I should take it on and fight against the Serpent, for the time was fast approaching when the first should be last and the last should be first" -
Nat Turner marries
Nat Turner married Cherry Turner and later had his son Riddrick Turner -
The rebellion begins
An solar eclipse was visible in Virginia. Turner envisioned this as "a black man's hand reaching over the sun". He initially planned the rebellion to begin on July 4, -
Turner murdered the Travis family with 6 other slaves
Nat and six other slaves killed the Travis family, and managed to secure arms and horses, and enlisted about 75 other slaves in a disorganized insurrection that resulted in the murder of 51 white people -
120 blacks died because of rebellion
Whites organized militias and called out regular troops to stop the uprising. In addition, white militias and mobs attacked blacks in the area, killing an estimated 120. Many had nothing to do with the rebellion -
Nobody was charged with such crimes
Nobody was arrested, or executed for these crimes against black men, women and children. -
Facts
In the aftermath, the state tried those accused of being part of Turner's slave rebellion: 18 were executed, 14 were transported out of state, and several were acquitted. -
The rebellion
The rebellion caused the death of approximately 60 white men, women and children. -
The rebels
The rebels went from plantation to plantation, gathering horses and guns, freeing other slaves along the way, and recruiting other blacks who wanted to join their revolt. -
Turner hid and was executed
Turner hid successfully for two months. When he was found, he was tried, convicted, sentenced to death, hanged and possibly beheaded. -
Virginia past laws
Across Virginia and other southern states, state legislators passed new laws to control slaves and free blacks. They prohibited education of slaves and free blacks, restricted rights of assembly for free blacks, withdrew their right to bear arms and to vote and required white ministers to be present at all black worship services. -
What Turner thought of whites during the rebellion (FUN FACT)
They spared a few homes "because Turner believed the poor white inhabitants 'thought no better of themselves than they did of negros.'" Turner also thought that revolutionary violence would serve to awaken the attitudes of whites to the reality of the inherent brutality in slave-holding. Turner later said that he wanted to spread "terror and alarm" among whites.
