Nat Turner’s Fierce Rebellion

The Fires of Jubilee: Nat Turner’s Fierce Rebellion by Stephen B. Oates in the Portrait of America Essay Book Nat Turner’s rebellion was the bloodiest slave revolt in Southern history, and it had a profound and irrevocable impact on the destinies of Southern whites and blacks alike. Nat Turner lived in Southampton County, which is in Virginia. In Southampton County, there were many slaves. The masters of these slaves believed that the “Negroes” …

…schools, religious meetings, and preachers. The Great Reaction followed this. The Great Reaction was a slave-based civilization that believed in the positive good of slavery. For whites, Nat Turners’ name became a symbol of fear, terror and violent retribution. For African Americans, Nat Turners’ name symbolized the “legendary black hero who broke his chains and murdered white people because slavery had murdered Negroes”. To the African American community, he stood for legal rights and freedom.