Some
Questions on Slave Revolts
1. What kinds of social conditions were most likely to permit or cause slave revolts? To what extent were these conditions present in Southampton County, Virginia?
2. How much preparation had Turner made for his revolt?
3. What was the role of religion in the revolt? Does this support the often-cited comment of Karl Marx that religion is the Aopiate of the masses@?
4. Did the Turner revolt have any chance of success? What would success have consisted of?
5. One distinguished radical historian has stated that Nat Turner was "quite possibly mad." Was he? Does that affect your evaluation of him and what he undertook?
6. Another distinguished radical historian has written, "Every slave rebellion in Southern history culminated in the execution of the rebels, the murder of innocent slaves, and a tightening of the slave code." Is this a fair summary? Is there anything else to say on the subject?
7. Do you see Turner's revolt as a rebellion or revolution against the institution of slavery? Or was it an effort of some individuals to escape from their own enslavement? Is this a valid distinction?
8. Is Nat Turner a hero today? To whom? To you?
9. The “Confessions of Nat Turner” that I’ve asked you to read online is a document compiled by the lawyer Thomas Gray who interviewed Turner shortly after his capture. It is one of the documents that Oates uses in constructing his story of the revolt. Think about what value and what limitations the “Confessions” has as historical evidence. Do you think Oates uses it well?
History 350
Winter 2009