Answer:
In America 1831, there was no sign of slavery ending. Nat Turner, a 31-year-old slave seen as a genius by many, was in belief that he was a prophet, and that it was god’s plan for him to revolt against and kill the whites in order to end slavery. He grouped up with others and created a rebellion that lasted only a few days but ended with the deaths of 55 to 65 men, women, and children. Of the 55 – 65 people that were killed, many were children too. Opinions over the years, decades and centuries vary about Turner. Hero or villain? Savior or scourge? Was he insane? He reportedly had a vision about the rebellion shortly before launching it. Maybe he was ‘mad.’ Slavery might do that to a person. He actually may have been all of the above.
In order to truly understand Nat Turner’s action you have to place yourself into the psychic of a slave in America during the 1400 to 1800s. If one believes that men and women can be used as “beasts”, murdered and raped then one cannot truly offer a perspective. One must understand the series of traumatic events that led up to the uprising. The slave owners had forced African Americans into slavery generations after generations. Tortured and abused men, women and children every single day of their lives, and it was never questioned but when the slaves decided to rebel, they were suddenly “madmen”. If you believed that it is your right to destroy family, whole families, why would you not believe it was your right to destroy a race and put an end to it once and for all?
