>John Paul Jones was a pirate 

Not quite; I would suggest -

Callo, Joseph. John Paul Jones: America's Fist Sea Warrior. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2006

John Paul ( he added the "Jones") was far from being a pirate ... and you probably would not want to yell that he was a "pirate" at a Cavaliers home game.  John Paul had a vast and varied (hands-on) naval education; piracy would have been low on his list of occupations.  

>In general, Nat Turner should be taught about as a "freedom fighter". 

Nat Turner was a cold-blooded killer ... period.  

> Typically, the slaveowners over-reacted to his attempt and squashed
the cry for freedom under more oppression.

Uhm, you don't suppose that had anything small thing to do with the fact that he arbitrarily murdered 60 people do you?

Teaching an elightened view to students is one thing, but teaching that Nat Turner was a freedom fighter is way out there, IMO.  

R. Burnett Jenkins

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