Nat Turner and the Virginia slave revolt
Commentary by dopper0189, Black Kos Managing Editor
Nat Turner, born into slavery October 2, 1800, on a Southampton County plantation, became a preacher who claimed he had been chosen by God to lead slaves from bondage. On August 21, 1831, he led a violent insurrection. The slave rebellion resulted in 60 white deaths and at least 100 black deaths, the largest number of fatalities to occur in one uprising prior to the American Civil War in the southern United States. He gathered supporters in Southampton County, Virginia. He hid for six weeks but was eventually caught. Turner was convicted, sentenced to death, and hanged. In the aftermath, the state executed 56 blacks accused of being part of Turner's slave rebellion. Two hundred blacks were also beaten and killed by white militias and mobs reacting with violence. Across Virginia and other southern states, state legislators passed new laws prohibiting education of slaves and free blacks, restricting rights of assembly and other civil rights for free blacks, and requiring white ministers to be present at black worship services.
At birth, Turner's owner recorded only his given name, Nat, although he may have had a last name within the slave community. In accordance with common practice, the whites referred to him by the last name of his owner, Samuel Turner. This practice was continued by historians. Turner knew little about his father's background, who was believed to have escaped from slavery when Turner was a young boy. Turner remained close to his paternal grandmother, Old Bridget, who was also enslaved by Samuel Turner. Turner's maternal grandmother was one of the Coromantee from present day Ghana, a group known for slave revolts. She was captured in Africa at thirteen years of age and shipped to America.
Turner spent his life in Southampton County, Virginia, a predominantly black area. After the rebellion, a reward notice described Turner as:
5 feet 6 or 8 inches high, weighs between 150 and 160 pounds, rather bright complexion, but not a mulatto, broad shoulders, larger flat nose, large eyes, broad flat feet, rather knockneed, walks brisk and active, hair on the top of the head very thin, no beard, except on the upper lip and the top of the chin, a scar on one of his temples, also one on the back of his neck, a large knot on one of the bones of his right arm, near the wrist, produced by a blow.
Turner had "natural intelligence and quickness of apprehension, surpassed by few." He learned to read and write at a young age. Deeply religious, Nat was often seen fasting, praying, or immersed in reading the stories of the Bible. He frequently experienced visions which he interpreted as messages from God. These visions greatly influenced his life; for instance, when Turner was 22 years old, he ran away from his owner, but returned a month later after having such a vision. Turner often conducted Baptist services, preaching the Bible to his fellow slaves, who dubbed him "The Prophet". Turner also had influence over white people, and in the case of Ethelred T. Brantley, Turner said that he was able to convince Brantley to "cease from his wickedness".
By early 1828, Turner was convinced that he "was ordained for some great purpose in the hands of the Almighty." While working in his owner's fields on May 12, Turner "heard a loud noise in the heavens, and the Spirit instantly appeared to me and said the Serpent was loosened, and Christ had laid down the yoke he had borne for the sins of men, and that I should take it on and fight against the Serpent, for the time was fast approaching when the first should be last and the last should be first." Turner was convinced that God had given him the task of "slay[ing] my enemies with their own weapons."Turner "communicated the great work laid out for me to do, to four in whom I had the greatest confidence" – his fellow slaves Henry, Hark, Nelson, and Sam.
Beginning in February 1831, Turner came to believe that certain atmospheric conditions were to be interpreted as a sign that he should begin preparing for a rebellion against the slave owners.
On February 11, 1831, an annular solar eclipse was seen in Virginia. Turner saw this as a black man's hand reaching over the sun, and he took this vision as his sign. The rebellion was initially planned for July 4, Independence Day, but was postponed for more deliberation between him and his followers, and due to illness. On August 13, there was another solar eclipse, in which the sun appeared bluish-green (possibly from debris deposited in the atmosphere by an eruption of Mount Saint Helens). Turner took this occasion as the final signal, and about a week later, on August 21, he began the rebellion.
Turner started with a few trusted fellow slaves. The rebels traveled from house to house, freeing slaves and killing the white people they found. The rebels ultimately included more than 70 enslaved and free blacks.
Because the rebels did not want to alert anyone to their presence as they carried out their attacks, they initially used knives, hatchets, axes, and blunt instruments instead of firearms. The rebellion did not discriminate by age or sex, until it was determined that the rebellion had achieved sufficient numbers. Nat Turner only confessed to killing one of the rebellion's victims, Margret Whitehead, whom he killed with a blow from a fence post.
Before a white militia was able to respond, the rebels killed 60 men, women, and children. They spared a few homes "because Turner believed the poor white inhabitants 'thought no better of themselves than they did of negros.'" Turner also thought that revolutionary violence would serve to awaken the attitudes of whites to the reality of the inherent brutality in slave-holding, a concept similar to 20th century philosopher Franz Fanon's idea of "violence as purgatory". Turner later said that he wanted to spread "terror and alarm" among whites.
The Capture of Nat Turner
The rebellion was suppressed within two days, but Turner eluded capture until October 30, when he was discovered hiding in a hole covered with fence rails. On November 5, 1831, he was tried for "conspiring to rebel and making insurrection", convicted and sentenced to death. Turner was hanged on November 11 in Jerusalem, Virginia, now known as Courtland, Virginia. His body was flayed, beheaded and quartered. In the aftermath of the insurrection there were 45 slaves, including Turner, and 5 free blacks tried for insurrection and related crimes in Southampton. Of the 45 slaves tried, 15 were acquitted. Of the 30 convicted, 18 were hanged, while 12 received mercy and were sold out of state. Of the 5 free blacks tried for participation in the insurrection, one was hanged, while the others were acquitted.
Public Enemy - Can't Truss It
After his execution, a local lawyer, Thomas Ruffin Gray, took it upon himself to publish, "Confessions of Nat Turner: The Leader of the Late Insurrection in Southampton, Virginia" a first-hand account of Turner's confessions published by a local lawyer, Thomas Ruffin Gray, in 1831. This work is derived partly from research done while Turner was in hiding and partly from jailhouse conversations with Turner before trial. This work is the primary historical document regarding Nat Turner. This work should not be confused with a book of the same name "The Confessions of Nat Turner" a 1967 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by U.S. writer William Styron. Presented as a first-person narrative by historical figure Nat Turner, the novel concerns the slave revolt in Virginia in 1831. It is supposedly based on The "Confessions of Nat Turner: The Leader of the Late Insurrection in Southampton, Virginia". Turner and one of his supporters are shown fantasizing about sexually assaulting white women. Critics took issue with Styron using the "myth of the black rapist", as portraying black men as prone to sexual violence against white women. Suspected sexual assault was a longstanding racist stereotype used as rhetorical justification for lynching black men.
In terms of public response and loss of white lives, slaveholders in the Upper South and coastal states were deeply shocked by the Nat Turner Rebellion. While the 1811 German Coast Uprising in Louisiana involved a greater number of slaves, it resulted in only two white fatalities. Events in Louisiana did not receive as much attention in those years in the Upper South and Lowcountry. Because of his singular status, Turner is regarded as a hero by some African Americans and pan-Africanists worldwide.
Turner became the focus of historical scholarship in the 1940s, when historian Herbert Aptheker was publishing the first serious scholarly work on instances of slave resistance in the antebellum South. Aptheker wrote that the rebellion was rooted in the exploitative conditions of the Southern slave system. He traversed libraries and archives throughout the South, managing to uncover roughly 250 similar instances, though none of them reached the scale of Nat Turner's Revolt.
Bob Marley ---- Redemption Song
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
News by dopper0189, Black Kos Managing Editor
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Bail has become nothing more than a shockingly effective way to coerce guilty pleas from poor people. Slate: The Problem With Bail.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In America we tend to incarcerate a higher percentage of our citizens than any other country on Earth. And fueling that pipeline to jail and prison is a criminal justice system that processes more than 12 million arrests every year and has left nearly one-third of working-age adults saddled with a criminal record. Nearly all of these arrests are for relatively minor offenses. Indeed, less than 10 percent of arrests (and less than 4 percent of criminal cases when one counts the millions of criminal summonses issued every year) concern what the FBI terms “violent offenses.”
The sad truth is the millions of misdemeanor cases disproportionately affect the lives of people of color, and especially the poor, and there are few ways in which this effect is more dramatic than in the way that bail decisions affect case outcomes. Working as a public defender in the Bronx, I regularly saw clients languish at Rikers Island simply because they couldn’t afford to buy their way out. These were not people who had been convicted and were serving sentences; they were just poor clients sitting in their jail cells waiting for their chance to fight their case. But few are able to do that. Because once in jail, people are faced with a terrible choice: Plead guilty and go home saddled with a criminal record, or maintain innocence and remain in jail. Spend a night or two at a place like Rikers Island and you’ll understand why almost everyone opts to just plead and go home. After watching this fundamental unfairness almost nightly for several years, my former office—the Bronx Defenders—and I decided to try to do something about it.
It’s important to remember that this system of exploitation is not an accident. It is by design. Because without coercing pleas from as many defendants as possible as expeditiously as possible, the criminal justice system would collapse under its own weight. In 2013, New York City arraigned 365,752 criminal cases (a number that does not include more than 450,000 summonses). Those cases resulted in 691 trial verdicts, leaving 365,061 cases to be disposed of without a trial.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
RIP Kalief BrowderThe New Yorker: Before the Law, A boy was accused of taking a backpack. The courts took the next three years of his life.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In the early hours of Saturday, May 15, 2010, ten days before his seventeenth birthday, Kalief Browder and a friend were returning home from a party in the Belmont section of the Bronx. They walked along Arthur Avenue, the main street of Little Italy, past bakeries and cafés with their metal shutters pulled down for the night. As they passed East 186th Street, Browder saw a police car driving toward them. More squad cars arrived, and soon Browder and his friend found themselves squinting in the glare of a police spotlight. An officer said that a man had just reported that they had robbed him. “I didn’t rob anybody,” Browder replied. “You can check my pockets.”
The officers searched him and his friend but found nothing. As Browder recalls, one of the officers walked back to his car, where the alleged victim was, and returned with a new story: the man said that they had robbed him not that night but two weeks earlier. The police handcuffed the teens and pressed them into the back of a squad car. “What am I being charged for?” Browder asked. “I didn’t do anything!” He remembers an officer telling them, “We’re just going to take you to the precinct. Most likely you can go home.” Browder whispered to his friend, “Are you sure you didn’t do anything?” His friend insisted that he hadn’t.
At the Forty-eighth Precinct, the pair were fingerprinted and locked in a holding cell. A few hours later, when an officer opened the door, Browder jumped up: “I can leave now?” Instead, the teens were taken to Central Booking at the Bronx County Criminal Court.
Browder had already had a few run-ins with the police, including an incident eight months earlier, when an officer reported seeing him take a delivery truck for a joyride and crash into a parked car. Browder was charged with grand larceny. He told me that his friends drove the truck and that he had only watched, but he figured that he had no defense, and so he pleaded guilty. The judge gave him probation and “youthful offender” status, which insured that he wouldn’t have a criminal record.
Late on Saturday, seventeen hours after the police picked Browder up, an officer and a prosecutor interrogated him, and he again maintained his innocence. The next day, he was led into a courtroom, where he learned that he had been charged with robbery, grand larceny, and assault. The judge released his friend, permitting him to remain free while the case moved through the courts. But, because Browder was still on probation, the judge ordered him to be held and set bail at three thousand dollars. The amount was out of reach for his family, and soon Browder found himself aboard a Department of Correction bus. He fought back panic, he told me later. Staring through the grating on the bus window, he watched the Bronx disappear. Soon, there was water on either side as the bus made its way across a long, narrow bridge to Rikers Island.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Because conservative policies fail to appeal to black voters, rather than modify their policies, they attack black voters. The New Republic: Stop treating black voters they vote only based race.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Symbolism, rhetoric, and promises are key to any presidential contender, but seen through the lens of the media, we have given them an outsized weight when discussing black voters. Our support for President Obama in the past two elections is often depicted as sycophantic, as if we merely saw his melanin and pulled the lever, his policy positions utterly inconsequential to our choice. Sure, there were folks who voted for Obama just because he’s black, or for the sake of history. But it’s a mistake to brand black voters this way because it paints them as uncritical participants in our democracy who are not engaged in arguably the most critical issues that afflict this country, particularly since our communities bear the brunt of the failures of political leadership. It’s a characterization that has led many a Republican leader and pundit to be taken seriously when they opine that black voters are slavishly devoted to a Democratic Party that, they say, offers less than a conservative agenda that has been provably regressive for black Americans.
Such a framing doesn’t allow for a nuanced assessment of what many feel are the Obama presidency’s myriad failures and disappointments with respect to issues that most directly influence black Americans, namely in how he has addressed (or skated by) discussions about racial justice and black death, as well as more conventional political cornerstone issues such as neighborhood safety, education, and employment. Nor does it provide proper space to examine his many successes in what I believe will be later judged as a thoroughly accomplished presidency.
Many on the right seek to capitalize instead on a perceived weakness that doesn’t seek to woo black voters so much as demonize them, insulting an electorate as “takers” and welfare junkies hooked on the gifts of the state who obsess about the lack of an immediate quid pro quo from the man they put into the White House. One might think they were talking about a rookie pro athlete having to fend off his gold-digging family members angling for the scraps of his newfound fortune rather than a president.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
For nearly three decades Atlanta, Georgia has been a mecca of music culture. Artists of all genres and creeds have come to Atlanta to find their way. The Grio: Atlanta’s exploding art scene is not to be missed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Now a fairly new trend is on the rise in the A.T.L. The underground art scene is making its presence felt in a big way. Artists who once looked to LA and New York to hone their craft are now finding their own voice in this burgeoning melting pot.
It’s not hard to find evidence of this phenomenon all over the city of Atlanta. A quick drive through downtown, midtown, Inman Park or Little Five Points and you’ll find yourself surrounded by creative energy. Walls, viaducts, and storefronts are covered in murals and portraits and these aren’t your typical vandalistic spray-can doodles. These pieces are gallery-worthy works of art tattooed on Atlanta’s landscape. Many of these murals have been commissioned by an organization called “Living Walls” who since 2010, has sought to promote, educate, and change perspectives about public space in Atlanta communities via street art (livingwallsatl.com). A collective of nearly of 100 artists have worked on these walls.
Atlanta is welcoming the contributions of these artists with open arms. Local and national street art has become a part of one of the largest infrastructure redevelopment programs ever undertaken by the city. The Atlanta BeltLine is a 22-mile long network of public parks, trails and transit circling downtown and connecting some of the city’s most popular neighborhoods. One of the core components of the BeltLine is public art. Sculptures and murals are incorporated into the parks and BeltLine design. Every year, Art On The Atlanta BeltLine public art initiative selects new and returning artists to showcase dynamic installations and performances.
Part of the Living Wall initiative in Atlanta. (Artist: Blief)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
North Korea on the Red Sea? Foreign Policy: Why Thousands of Migrants Are Fleeing Eritrea.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Besides Syrians, no refugee population is trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea in greater numbers than Eritreans — or paying so heavy a price in lives lost beneath the waves. There’s been scant attention paid to why, but a 500-page U.N. report published Monday offers a detailed and disturbing explanation for why citizens of Eritrea are fleeing their country en masse: The country, the world body’s researchers concluded, is a modern-day police state where basic freedoms are restricted, and the population lives in fear that they will be informed upon by the secret police’s ubiquitous network of informants.
That means it’s little surprise that Eritreans are leaving in such eye-opening numbers. According to the U.N. report — written by a three-person committee and submitted to the U.N. Human Rights Council — some 5,000 Eritreans flee their country every month. As of October, there were about 200,000 Eritrean refugees living in Sudan and Ethiopia.
According to the U.N., these people are fleeing a veritable house of horrors: torture by regime forces, arbitrary arrest and imprisonment, disappearances of dissidents, total state control of the media, religious persecution, and mandatory military service that can last for undefined periods of time.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Every year in June the floods come. BusinessWeek: Filth Swamps Ghana Capital in Floods as Regular as Rains.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Rokia Gedle has lived for 23 years in a blue wooden shack without a bathroom or kitchen in Ghana’s capital, Accra. She has raised six children there. She can’t remember not having her home flooded in the rainy season.
“This year was the worst,” said Gedle, a 54-year-old shopkeeper who lost her fridge, TV, cash and clothes to floods last week. “I didn’t realize the water was still going up, up, up until my eldest daughter said we should run outside.”
The hardest hit neighborhoods, including Gedle’s, are still choked with filth left by the city’s overflowing drains and gutters a week after floods killed more than 200 people. Ghana’s failure to improve public sanitation limits growth by 1.6 percentage point, according to the World Bank, in an economy set to expand at the slowest pace in 20 years.
Flooding is an annual problem for the capital, where 4 million residents are packed into a space originally planned for roughly half a million people. Donor-sponsored plans to clean the polluted drainage network and organize efficient garbage collection, some dating back to the 1990s, haven’t made any headway.
“Despite initiatives taken by the local government in recent years to improve drainage, Accra is not well-prepared to deal with heavy rains at all,” said Joe Melara, a former program manager at an urban project in Accra financed by New York-based Columbia University.
A woman walks through debris following floods in Accra. Photographer: Pauline Bax/Bloomberg
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The forced marriages of children needs to end. Talking Point Memo: Child Bride Accused Of Poisoning Husband Will Be Freed In Nigeria.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A child forced to marry at just 13 who then poisoned her 35-year-old husband and three friends is set to be freed in Nigeria, lawyers and a judge said Wednesday, amid fears for her safety and future.
Human rights lawyer Hussaina Aliyu Ibrahim said she convinced the prosecutor to drop the case and on Tuesday a High Court judge in Gezawa ordered Wasila Tasi'u to be released from juvenile detention.
She can count herself lucky. Another 13-year-old who killed her 35-year-old husband remains on death row despite a ruling, exactly one year ago from the West African Community Court of Justice, that her sentence is illegal because she was a minor.
Forced marriage and child marriage are also against the law here, but widely practiced.
Both girls had become second wives in the Muslim northern part of Nigeria where polygamy and child marriage is common. Neither had ever been to school and couldn't read or write.
Prosecutors had tried to convict Tasi'u on the strength of a confession to police written in English — she speaks only Hausa — and signed with her thumbprint.
A woman protests against underage marriages in Lagos, Nigeria. Nigeria’s secular and Islamic laws clashed when a senator notorious for marrying a 14-year-old filibustered a vote to amend the constitution by insisting that a girl child comes of age when she marries, not at 18. Enraged activists are demanding the senate revisit the vote, asking how a known pedophile could get away with subverting the country’s constitution. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From liberation hero to failing his country by not stepping down. Yahoo News: As currency dies, Zimbabweans will get $5 for 175 quadrillion local dollars.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Zimbabweans will start exchanging 'quadrillions' of local dollars for a few U.S. dollars next week, as President Robert Mugabe's government discards its virtually worthless national currency, the central bank said on Thursday.
The southern African country started using foreign currencies like the U.S. dollar and South African rand in 2009 after the Zimbabwean dollar was ruined by hyper-inflation, which hit 500 billion percent in 2008.
At the height of Zimbabwe's economic crisis in 2008, Zimbabweans had to carry plastic bags bulging with bank notes to buy basic goods like bread and milk. Prices were rising at least twice a day.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Welcome to the Black Kos Community Front Porch!
Pull up a chair and sit down a while and enjoy the company.