When you first contacted me about creating an exhibit for the new museum, it became a challenge to develop one. It is not as if there is not enough history to pull from. My concern was about leaving a lasting impression on the museum visitors. I wanted to show them that even in the darkest times of African American history, there were still some people who were able to see the light. Particularly, when it comes to slavery, slave revolts are a shining example of the oppressed somehow managing to find the strength to battle against their suppressor, all in the name of fighting injustice. With this exhibit I will focus on Nat Turner’s Rebellion. I find it crucial that attendees learn about this for it was a turning point in the slave era. Nat Turner and his co-conspirators did something truly incredible, although it was through extreme violence, the statement would shape slavery’s future, and their reasons behind their brutality were incredibly human. Nat Turner rebellion took place in Southampton County, Virginia, in 1831. Turner’s intention was to move through the countryside, household to household, killing as many whites as possible. He did not care whether they were a man or women, child or adult. Turner was quoted as saying that “indiscriminate slaughter was not their intention after they obtained a foothold, and was resorted to in the first instance to strike terror and alarm. Women and children would afterwards have been spared, and men too who ceased to resist.”
Nat Turner was born a slave in Richmond, Virginia in 1831. In this narrative Nate Turner recounts his version of events and later recorded during his revolt in Southampton County, Virginia in 1831. The revolt lasted two days but Nate was not captured until six weeks after. He was then tried for insurrection. Thomas Ruffin Gray was said to be the lawyer who questioned Nate as his trial. Gray questions his state of mind, why he led the revolt and whether he felt mistaken in doing so. Gray also documents Nate’s confession as he explains in detail his personal struggles and the visions he encountered prior going through with the revolt. He also describes the people, places and the slaves that assisted him. No one was spared men, women and children were murdered with hand tools.
The story takes place in Southampton County, Virginia where little Nat Turner is introduced. Nat led a normal childhood for the most part, supervised by his beloved grandmother. They were working as slaves on a plantation owned by Benjamin and Elizabeth Turner. The Turners became Methodists due to the emphasis on free will and salvation. The
Graphic novels such as Nat Turner by Kyle Baker challenges the ways in which notable traditional novels refer to slavery by using panels to convey his message on the topic more explicitly. Kyle Baker discloses the power of learning contrasted with the disempowerment of not being educated by using powerful graphics. In the graphic novel, slaves were told who to be and how to be. Their opinions were never heard nor asked. Since birth, they had someone who told them that learning was forbidden for their kind. By showing the reader the state of the slaves, Kyle Baker introduces ignorance as a key factor to controlling individuals into accepting what they are told without questioning whether is right or wrong. It makes people weak and more likely to be manipulated. Baker also introduces the idea of how much power knowledge can give to an individual. Knowledge is power because what you have learned cannot be taken away – it can only be enhanced. Without knowledge, there would be no disobedience to an unjust act. Baker depicts the idea that knowledge is power through Nat Turner, who discovered different worlds through reading, became more eager to learn, and used what he had learned from his readings to become a leader. The chapter “Education” is an important chapter for this novel because it shows who was allowed to be educated, who was not, the benefits of being educated and the consequences.
The Fires of Jubilee: Nat Turner’s Fierce Rebellion written by Stephen B. Oates, is a biography about a slave that lived in America during the 1800’s and the affects the institution of slavery had on him and society. Being a specialist in the nineteenth-century United States history, Oates, was a reputable history professor at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Oates has composed sixteen books as well as been presented with the Nevins-Freeman Award of the Chicago Civil War Round Table for his historical work on the Civil War.
Founded in 1965, Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History showcases the world's largest permanent exhibit on African American culture. My visits there are always educational and profoundly moving. The museum has an incredible perspective on the past and the present journey of African Americans. At the same time, it takes us on a comprehensive journey of the African American contribution to the world. Today, I will take us on that journey and paint a vivid image of Charles H. Wright Museum.
Gray was filling in the empty spots he did so in his own words, and
The home of Frederick Douglass is a peculiar type of museum. Located in Anacostia, Southeast DC, the home sits on top a hill removed from the rest of the neighborhood. Frederick Douglass named this hill Cedar Hill: an astounding place. The park is a national site, so park rangers guides the tours and gives any information one wanted to know about Mr. Douglass, his family, or the house. Before going into the actual museum, the park rangers give the option of watching a film about Frederick Douglass. While the rangers prepared the film, visitors are allowed to look around the part of the museum that hold quotes and busts of Mr. Douglass. What I read and saw is a warped narrative in comparison to how Howard University taught me. The works displayed gives the false pretense that Mr. Douglass’ radical agenda was for the progress of the United States for the ends of the liberation of Black
Throughout history society has to go through many changes that not only affect many of the people but also the areas around the transformation. The main point of Fredrick Jackson Turner’s thesis is what the real essence of America is, and how we’re all influenced by the many changes we have to go through. He believes that American history should not be focused on the extension of European enterprise. The society will have to realize that America will have to be emancipated because of the fact that we had a country with an unlimited amount of boundaries and have to come to realization that we have many closed-spaced limits. The views in the seminal essay share his thoughts on the idea of how the frontier shaped
"Nat Turner's Southampton Slave Revolt and How it Paved the Way for the Abolitionist and
Nat is without a doubt a “freedom fighter” and although his fight ended in blood, it was necessary at the time to help to end the continuance of such a cruel and inhuman practice. Slavery in itself was much more horrifying than every white death that ensued following the rebellion combined. Oates’s assertion that Turner’s rebellion was the first war against slavery is incredibly accurate, except in one sense, one does not need to be African-American to agree with this claim. Though an African-American could view slavery as a much more personal subject, because it affected and enslaved many of their own ancestors, one does not need to be black to understand how terrible slavery actually is. Any single person who can assess slavery with an open mind and completely unbiased will see that the suggestion that one person can own another person solely because of the color of one’s skin is completely inhumane, and it’s absolutely no surprise that those who were being enslaved decided to react. Nat did in fact commit a crime, he started a
Thomas Gray included in “The Confessions of Nat Turner” a letter addressed to the public in which he reassured the white slave owners that the revolt was “the offspring of gloomy fanaticism” (Greenberg 42). Therefore, the reader can conclude that many passages in the confessions were entirely focused on distorting Nat Turner to fit the description of a religious fanatic rather than to give the true narrative of the slave leader. In “Blake, or, The Huts of America,” Delany challenged Gray’s portrayal of slave revolutions being the delirious byproducts of religious fanaticism by creating Henry Blake, an educated revolutionary leader who mainly used religion as a rallying tool.
Nat Turner was a man with a vision that would change America forever. His vision may
What was the importance of Nat Turner and where does he stand in American history? Nat Turner is an American slave, who has been forgotten about in history as well in the hearts of African-Americans. He led and organized one of the bloodiest slave rebellions in American history. This rebellion was "…the rebellion that served to change the course of American history in the three decades before the Civil War" (Goldman 10). Within this paper, it is to analyze on his impact on the nation.
He had began to see more signs and he had gotten more visions from God. He interpreted them as if he need to attack his enemies with their own weapons. He had a few close trusted friends that he shared his visions with. He shared the visions with them and only them. They would also help him in his revolt. Turner and his close trusted friend met daily to come up with plans for his secret revolt. They came up with a list of about twenty other blacks to help with the revolt. He told his master about his revolt once, and because he told him, he was beaten for it.
This is the one place out of all our class treks, I have visited. I took my church Sunday school class during spring break last year, but I was still surprised when I entered into the building. The museum has added, new exhibits, an Art Gallery in the front, and a movie room. A prominent artist, James Pate from Ohio, displays wall to wall art of KKK (Kin Killin’ Kin) black on black crime. It was sad to see, the more we think things have changed; the more they actually stay the same. A long time ago, black people were used to capture black, men and women, to be sold into slavery. Today, black slavery is depicted in another form; drugs and killing each other.