Today is the anniversary of Nat Turner’s Rebellion which began on this day in 1831. It was a slave rebellion that took place in Southampton County, Virginia, in August 1831. Led by Nat Turner, the rebels, made up of enslaved African Americans, killed an estimated 55 White people, making it the deadliest slave revolt in U.S. history. Nonetheless, the rebellion was effectively suppressed within a few days, at Belmont Plantation on the morning of August 23, but Turner survived in hiding for approximately ten weeks afterward.
There was widespread fear among the White population in the rebellion’s aftermath. Militias and mobs killed as many as 120 enslaved people and free African Americans in retaliation. After trials, Virginia executed eighteen enslaved people accused of participating in the rebellion, including Turner himself; many Black people who had not participated were also persecuted in the frenzy.
Because Turner was educated and a preacher, Southern state legislatures passed new laws prohibiting the education of enslaved people and free Blacks, restricting the right of assembly and other civil liberties for free Blacks, and requiring White ministers to be present at all worship services.
Today is also the anniversary of a Vodou ceremony held by enslaved Africans in Saint-Domingue, led by Dutty Boukman. his gathering sparked a mass uprising against slavery, marking the beginning of the Haitian Revolution.
“Nat Turner & His Confederates in Conference”, engraving from Orville J. Victor’s History of American Conspiracies
75!
People sing about ‘Ophelia’! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xe7y7ByOrwQ
Lots of people… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTOC_q0NLTk
But it has to end somewhere… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ko70cExuzZM
