Highway markers and road signs directing people to where the houses stand or stood should be erected, Francis said. The home of Margaret Whitehead, the only person killed by Turner, crumbles. The metal roof sinks into the ground on the home where Turner's wife lived. The few remaining houses from the time appear indistinguishable from other abandoned wooden structures in the county that have fallen victim to weather and disrepair. A movie based on Styron's work had been planned but ceased production under bitter criticism. Many important people, including Turner's wife, Cherry, and his children, are absent from the pages of Styron's work.īlack writers and historians attacked the novel for its inaccuracies. But William Styron, who wrote the Pulitzer Prize-winning book, "The Confessions of Nat Turner," fictionalized the insurrection, portraying Turner as a sexually frustrated slave who craved the love of a white woman, instead of the revolutionary some black leaders declared him. Black Panther Eldridge Cleaver called Nat Turner one of "the spiritual fathers of today's urban guerrillas."Īt the same time, Turner's rebellion recaptured media attention. Turner's memory was resurrected in the 1960s through voices of black militant organizations, such as the Black Panther Party. Slave education and all-black religious assemblies became outlawed in parts of the South because of such fears.Īfter the Civil War, very little was written about Turner beyond Drewry's 1900 book. John Floyd considered Garrison's words venom that could poison the minds of enslaved and free blacks "in this and the other states to rebellion and to murder the men, women and children of those states." Be dumb! Cast no reproach upon the conduct of the slaves but let your lips and cheeks wear the blisters of condemnation." ye Christian declaimers for liberty! ye valiant sticklers for equal rights among yourselves!. "Ye patriotic hypocrites," he wrote in The Liberator, ". Insurrections, he said, resulted from "superstition, religious fanaticism, love of plunder and pillage."Ībolitionist William Lloyd Garrison became a national figure by admonishing Southerners for advocating their freedom while enslaving others. In the first substantial work on Nat Turner, author William Drewry considered the Turner and other slave rebellions "weak and cowardly acts" while "brave and intelligent slaves" remained loyal. The Norfolk-Herald labeled him a "wretched culprit," saying the mere mention of his crimes makes "the blood run cold." That negative view is still present among some Southampton County whites. The absence of other tangible monuments for the insurrection may stem from the negative view immediately taken by Southern whites, especially in the press. Only one of the markers mentions the murdered blacks. Two roadside markers tell of the rebellion. Blackhead Signpost Road - where the heads of blacks were impaled on fences to warn against future insurrections - stands as the lone street hinting of the blacks killed at that time. Whitehead, Waller and Barrow - names of some whites killed in the insurrection - have been memorialized with street names. A drive through Southampton County reveals the opinions that some residents will not.
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