He was asked, if he knew of any extensive or concerted plan. As a lawyer working on Turners case and a supporter of slavery, Gray probably did not feel compelled to present Turners motives and description of the insurrection. Turner immediately understood this peculiar event as a signal from God that the time to begin the revolt had arrived. Turner, on the other hand, learned how to read as a child, and his Bible was the book that he knew intimately. Compares douglass' fictional story, the heroic slave, with turner's non-fiction document, which depicts black people as insane, fanatical, and barbaric. Although his literary output was slight, he was the dominant poetic figure in the mid-18th century and a precursor of the Romantic movement. I looked on him and my blood curdled in my veins. Also, Turner thought it was God's will for him to lead a [6], Although Thomas Gray is commonly thought of as Nat Turner's lawyer, James Strange French is the person listed in official records as Turner's lawyer. The exact number killed remains unsubstantiatedvarious sources claim anywhere from fifty to sixty-five. Information . While in jail, Nat Turner dictated a confession to his attorney, Thomas R. Gray. Cookie Notice [16] On the other hand, other scholars have extensively analyzed Gray's confession and have deemed it to be an, overall, reliable source. Turner eluded his pursuers for six weeks but was finally captured, tried, and hanged. How did Thomas R. Gray describe Nat Turner? Why was the account of Turner's confession viewed as controversial among historians? Like many 19th-century American Protestants, Turner drew his inspiration and much of his vocabulary from the Bible. ), English poet whose "An Elegy Written in a Country Church Yard" is one of the best known of English lyric poems. The biggest was led in 1831 by Nat Turner, a Virginia slave preacher, whose rebels killed 60 whites before he was captured and hanged.. This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged. Turner believed that God continued to communicate with the world. Even when Nat Turner was captured, on October 30, 1831, the Compilers question had remained unanswered. FAQ | How did he conclude that that something had to do with slavery and rebellion? Early life [ edit] Nat Turner escaped until October 30, when he was caught in the immediate vicinity, having used several hiding places over the previous 9 weeks. Well occasionally send you promo and account related email. he knew that his interview would be used as evidence in court. Your Privacy Rights Turner described himself as uncommonly intelligent for a child (Gray, 6). Gray appears to portray Turner in a way intended both to ease the insurrections impact and to aid in the conviction of turner for his actions. Both Gabriel and Nat Turner were expected to confess their guilt, provide information on means and motive, and, if necessary, help put idle rumors to rest. and then Add to Home Screen. Magazines, Digital In November of 1831, shortly before to his execution, Turner gave a jailhouse confession, to attorney Thomas Gray, to answer the question. > . Nat Turner . His book, The Land Shall Be Deluged in Blood: A New History of the Nat Turner Revolt, was published by Oxford University Press in 2015. During the observation, he found a survivor, a 12-year-old girl who gave him a recounting of her experiences of the events of the rebellion. . It ought to teach [William Lloyd] Garrison and the other fanatics of the North how they meddle with these weak wretches. Garrison, for his part, read the Confessionsof Nat Turner as a testimonial to the heroic stature of Turner. Turner had many reasons for revolting, but his most important Cookie Policy While The Confessions of Nat Turner remains the ur-text for anyone who wants to understand Nat Turner, this 5,000-word account creates as many questions as it answers. In 1967, the novelist William Styron published a novel based upon Turners Confessions. The Confessions of Nat Turner was published within weeks of the Turner's execution on November 11, 1831, and remains an important source for historians. Styron takes the bare facts of Turners life and embellishes them with relentless and bountiful license. Reddit and its partners use cookies and similar technologies to provide you with a better experience. Retrieved from http://studymoose.com/rhetorical-analysis-of-the-confessions-of-nat-turner-essay. It was intended by us to have begun the work of death on the 4th July last (Gray, 7). ". Gray, who claimed to have had little influence on Turners narration, asked him at one point if he did not find himself mistaken now that the prophecy which he had been called upon to fulfill ended in tragedy. Also, Turner thought it was God's will for him to lead. Nathaniel Turner, also known as Nat Turner, was an African American slave who organized and led a slave revolt in South Hampton, Virginia that led to the murders of 60 whites on August 21, 1831. . (2016, Dec 25). Turners views on private revelation were not unlike those of his contemporaries Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism, and William Miller, the father of the Adventist movement. The last date is today's Thomas Ruffin Gray, an enterprising white Southampton County lawyer, assumed the task of recording Turner's confessions. He asked Willwho would become the most enthusiastic of the rebelswhy he joined the revolt. 12. A white southerner, steeped in the history of his region, had boldly entered the mind of a black slave, according him the dignity of an articulate voice and making him into a modern hero. Give us your email address and well send this sample there. [1], Later in life, at the age of 21, Gray inherited 400 acres of land at the Round Hill plantation which kickstarted his tentative career as a planter. Again, Styron rarely departs from what he calls the known facts of the rebellion in which 55 white people were killed and subsequent to which 131 black people were killed by white people in fear and retaliation. That was why, shortly before his execution, he reflected, I am here loaded with chains, and willing to suffer the fate that awaits me., Grays judgment on all this? Turner describes two other ways that God communicated with him. Of the rebellion itself, Turners participation as leader is portrayed as weak and ineffectual; he himself is initially unable to kill, and the one person he does kill, Margaret Whitehead, is symbolically the white, innocent virgin who actually has been kind to Turner and is the only white person to treat him with decency and respect. Gray depicts Turner as a religious leader who at a young age was touched by divine greatness, and whose mother concluded that "surely" he would "be a prophet." According to Confessions, a divine spirit also dictated Turner's otherwise unexplainable return after running away in 1825. The next day he was delivered to the county sheriff and lodged in the county jail in Jerusalem (now Courtland), Virginia. Describe Southampton Nat Turner Slave in Virginia who started a slave rebellion in 1831 believing he was receiving signs from God His rebellion was the largest sign of black resistance to slavery in America and led the state legislature of Virginia to a policy that said no one could question slavery. Students looking for free, top-notch essay and term paper samples on various topics. Even though Turners situation was a unique one, slave owners at the time had to recognize the potentiality for violence iven the peculiar mix of social, psychological, and racial tensions shaping life on the antebellum plantation thus required a certain logic with which threats to that way of life might be explained (Browne, 316). Turner describes two other ways that God communicated with him. While he was in his 20s, Turner ran away from his owner. But in the weeks immediately afterward, Americans everywhere clamored to know something that may now seem obvious: Why had he done it? Gray attempts "to commit his [Turner's] statements to writing, and publish them, with little or no variation, from his own words" (p. 3-4). The confessions begin with a description of events from Turners childhood that, according to Gray, led him to believe that he destined to fulfill a prophecy. Note: When citing an online source, it is important to include all necessary dates. Dont waste Your Time Searching For a Sample, The Fires of Jubilee: Nat Turners Fierce Rebellion, Slavery And Freedom of Nat Turner Rebellion, An Analysis of the Supreme God in Confessions, a Book by Augustine of Hippo, A Brief Reflection on St. Augustines Confessions, The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner, "The Tell Tale Heart" by Edgar Allen Poe and "Confessions found In a Prison" by Charles Dicken, Evaluation of St. Augustines Work, Confessions and City of God, The Internal Conflicts with Christianity in the Book, Augustine's Confessions by Augustine of Hippo, An Analysis of the Character Foil between Herald Loomis and Bynum Walker in August Wilson's Joe Turner's Come and Gone. My Account | Description Nat Turner (1800-1831) was known to his local "fellow servants" in Southampton County as "The Prophet." On the evening of Sunday, August 21, 1831, he met six associates in the woods at Cabin Pond, and about 2:00 a.m. they began to enter local houses and kill the white inhabitants. Archived post. The Portal for Public History. The second is the date of [5] A month later, in October, the magistrates certified his qualifications as an attorney and in December they admitted him to practice in court at which point Gray resigned as justice of the peace. In the 1960s, William Styron published a fictional and controversial account of the Nat Turner rebellion using the same title as Gray's pamphlet, The Confessions of Nat Turner. There, from November 1 through November 3, he was interviewed by Thomas Ruffin Gray, a 31-year-old lawyer who had previously represented several other defendants charged in the uprising. While he claims that these confessions were recorded with little or no variation, Grays verbose introduction addressed to the public was intended to frame Turner and as a psychotic villain that was rightfully punished for his unlawful acts against society. The purpose was to carry on in words the work he had begun with a sword. Anne later appeared in Benjamin's will as "Nancy." She may have been Nat Turner's mother. Thomas R. Gray: Nat Turner is a complete fanatic. What evidence do you have for answering this . Gray vividly describes Turners unrelenting nature as, The calm, deliberate composure with which he spoke of his late deeds and intentions, the expression of his fiend-like face when excited by enthusiasm, still bearing the stains of the blood of helpless innocence about him; clothed with rags and covered with chains; yet daring to raise his manacled hands to heaven, with a spirit soaring above the attributes of man; I looked on him and my blood curdled in my veins (Gray, 11). NAT TURNER, THE LEADER OF THE LATE. This was the second time since 1800, when a rebellion planned by a Henrico County slave named Gabriel was thwarted, that white Virginians had experienced the chaos and terror of a conspiracy of enslaved people. While there was a tradition of white anti-slavery in the regiononly five years before the revolt, Jonathan Lankford was kicked out of Black Creek Baptist church for refusing to give communion to slaveholdersit seems unlikely that Brantley, who was not involved in the revolt, was converted by Turners antislavery. "The Confessions of Nat Turner - Summary" Literary Essentials: Christian Fiction and Nonfiction In 1829, he bought his recently deceased brother's property as well as a house on the Main Street in town, which supplied him with 800 acres of real property. The years between 1822 and1830 was a financially unstable time for his family, with his father and brother falling into debt. Turner does speak in the accents of nineteenth century Virginia; he thinks very much like Styron. 14. He makes no attempt (as all the other insurgents who were examined did,) to exculpate himself, but frankly acknowledges his full participation in all the guilt of the transaction, he wrote. The second date is today's Source: Thomas Gray, The Confessions of Nat Turner: The Leader of the Late Insurrections in Southampton, Va. As Fully and Voluntarily Made to Thomas R. Gray, in the Prison Where He Was Confined, November 5, 1831. In the first of several book-length studies to dateThe Return of Nat Turner: History, Literature, and Politics in Sixties America (1992)Albert E. Stone credited Styron with leading twentieth-century readers back to the original scene of the rebellion and, in effect, resurrecting the single most powerful narrative circulating in Nat Turners own day and aftermath. The power of the Confessions of Nat Turner, Stone suggested, lay in its articulation of a basic story, to which all subsequent narratives returned. With the help of his father, Gray acquired extensive holdings in land and enslaved people. Cookie Settings, The Land Shall Be Deluged in Blood: A New History of the Nat Turner Revolt, Five Places Where You Can Still Find Gold in the United States, Scientists Taught Pet Parrots to Video Call Each Otherand the Birds Loved It, The True Story of the Koh-i-Noor Diamondand Why the British Won't Give It Back. Thomas R. Gray was a lawyer in Southampton, Virginia, where he visited Nat Turner in jail. Despite this, Gray had had passing experiences with the law that may have included an apprenticeship alongside his cousin in the county clerk's office as well as a run in with the law due to a public fight with one of his brothers. 2006 eNotes.com In August, a sun with a greenish hue appeared across the eastern seaboard. Styrons point is that Turner was, in many ways, ahead of his time: This self-taught slave probably had the mind of a genius, and it would be condescending to express his thoughts in language less sophisticated than the writers own. Nat Turner (1800-1831) was known to his local "fellow servants" in Southampton County as "The Prophet." On the evening of Sunday, August 21, 1831, he met six associates in the woods at Cabin Pond, and about 2:00 a.m. they began to enter local houses and kill the white inhabitants. Born into a prosperous but unhappy home . Turner believed that God also communicated to him through the natural world. [8][9], In 1831, for 10 weeks following Turners rebellion, Gray took it upon himself to do research on the events of the revolt, completely immersing himself in the factual details of the uprising. In Southampton county Black people came to measure time from "Nat's Fray," or "Old Nat's War." date the date you are citing the material. Nate Parker portrayal highlights the religiosity of the slave rebel leader whose personal Bible has been put on display for the first time at the Smithsonians new National Museum of African American History and Culture. Gabriel used the promise of a confession to secure his safe transportation from Norfolk, where he was discovered hiding aboard a ship, to the state capital in Richmond, where he was to stand trial on charges of conspiracy and insurrection. [2], As a planter, Grays status in society began to rise; however, simultaneously his familys fortunes began to sink. On August 27, 1831, the Richmond Compiler asked: Who is this Nat Turner? At the time, Turner was hiding in Southampton, Virginia, not far from the site where he launched the most important slave revolt in American history. For more info on your About the Text T h is electronic edition of Th e Confessions of Nat Turner reproduces the text of the fi rst edition, published at Baltimore, Maryland, in November of 1831 by Th omas R. Gray, its . Gray partook in a military observation of the murders committed by the participants of the rebellion. The citation above will include either 2 or 3 dates. In an effort to make Turner appear more sinister, Gray described Turner as being a gloomy fanatic revolving in the recesses of his own dark, bewildered, and overwrought mind, schemes of indiscriminate massacre to the whites (Gray, 3). Nat Turner (18001831) was known to his local fellow servants in Southampton County as The Prophet. On the evening of Sunday, August 21, 1831, he met six associates in the woods at Cabin Pond, and about 2:00 a.m. they began to enter local houses and kill the white inhabitants.
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