Nat Turner (October 2, 1800 – November 11, 1831) was an enslaved Black carpenter and preacher who led a four-day rebellion of both enslaved and free Black people in Southampton County, Virginia in August 1831.
Nat Turner's Rebellion resulted in the death of 55 White men, women, and children before state militias suppressed the uprising, while 120 Black men, women, and children, many of whom were not involved in the revolt, were killed by soldiers and local mobs in retaliation. Turner was captured in October 1831 and executed after a trial in November. Before his execution, he told his story to attorney Thomas Ruffin Grey, who published The Confessions of Nat Turner in November 1831.
In 2002, scholar Molefi Kete Asante included Nat Turner on his list of 100 Greatest African Americans. Turner has been depicted in films, literature, and plays, as well as many scholarly works.
Early life
Turner was born into slavery on October 2, 1800, in Southampton County, Virginia. Southampton County was a rural plantation area with more Black people than White. Benjamin Turner, the man who held Nat and his family as slaves, called the infant Nat in his records. Even when grown, the slave was known simply as Nat; but after the 1831 rebellion, he was widely referred to as Nat Turner.
Turner knew little about the background of his father, who was believed to have escaped from slavery when Turner was a child. However, Turner grew up "much attached to his grandmother".
Turner learned how to read and write at a young age. He was identified as having "natural intelligence and quickness of apprehension, surpassed by few". He grew up deeply religious and was often seen fasting, praying, or immersed in reading the stories of the Bible.
Benjamin Turner died in 1810, and his son Samuel inherited Nat. When he was 21, Nat Turner escaped from Samuel Turner; but he returned a month later, after becoming delirious from hunger and receiving a vision that told him to "return to the service of my earthly master". In 1830, Joseph Travis purchased Turner; Turner later recalled that Travis was "a kind master" who "placed the greatest confidence" in him.
An 1831 reward notice described Turner as:
Turner was deeply religious and was often seen fasting, praying, or immersed in reading the stories of the Bible. He had visions that he interpreted as messages from God, and which influenced his life. The historian Patrick Breen stated, "Nat Turner thought that God used the natural world as a backdrop in front of which he placed signs and omens." Breen further states that Nat Turner claimed he possessed a gift of prophecy and that he could interpret these divine revelations.
Turner often conducted religious services, preaching the Bible to his fellow slaves, who dubbed him "The Prophet". In addition to Blacks, Turner garnered some White followers such as Ethelred T. Brantley, whom Turner baptized after convincing him to "cease from his wickedness".
When he was 21, Nat Turner escaped but returned a month later, after receiving a vision that told him to "return to the service of my earthly master". In 1824, Turner had a second vision while working in the fields for Thomas Moore: "The Saviour was about to lay down the yoke he had borne for the sins of men, and the great day of judgment was at hand".
Historian David Allmendinger notes that Turner had ten different supernatural experiences between 1822 and 1828. These included appearances of both the Spirit communicating through a religious language and scripture along with the visions of the Holy Ghost. By the spring of 1828, Turner was convinced that he "was ordained for some great purpose in the hands of the Almighty".
Turner said he "heard a loud noise in the heavens" while working in Moore's fields on May 12th "and the Spirit instantly appeared to me and said the Serpent was loosened, and 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". Historian and theologian Joseph Dreis says, "In connecting this vision to the motivation for his rebellion, Turner makes it clear that he sees himself as participating in the confrontation between God's Kingdom and the anti-Kingdom that characterized his social-historical context."
During the 1820s, Turner was motivated by strong convictions, at least partly inspired by his religious beliefs, to organize his fellow slaves against enslavement. His deep spiritual commitment served as a significant influence on slaves within the surrounding plantations in Virginia. After Turner viewed the solar eclipse in 1831, he was certain that God wanted the revolt to commence.
