Anita,

  I have no tolerance for those who defend slavery, or who suggest it might 
have been a "good thing",  but let's keep the record straight.  If  you read 
Nate Turner's own words, you'll find he was not "whipped into submission." 
Yes, there were other fanatics, but I don't necessarily suggest they should 
be compared to G.W. either.  And please tell me, where I said --or anyone 
else on this list has said-- that it was "okay to enslave people, take away 
their lives, but not for one of  those enslaved, oppressed people to rebel? 
"   Is it really necessary for posters on this list to put forth a list of 
disclaimers to stop you from putting words into their mouths?


Gus



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Anita Wills" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Monday, July 02, 2007 8:43 AM
Subject: Re: [VA-HIST] Nat Turner and unchanging history


> So it is okay to enslave people, take away their lives, but not for one of 
> those enslaved, oppressed people to rebel? You would have to see him as a 
> man born a slave, whose family was sold away from him, and he being 
> whipped into submission. He was not the only religous fanatic of that day. 
> There were other religous fanatics who believed that Africans were born to 
> be slaves for whites, and used the Bible to justify it. .
>
> That would mean you would need compassion, and the ability to walk in his 
> shoes. Don't judge him until you can do that.
>
> Anita
>
>
>>From: myfriends <[log in to unmask]>
>>Reply-To: Discussion of research and writing about Virginia history 
>><[log in to unmask]>
>>To: [log in to unmask]
>>Subject: Re: Nat Turner and unchanging history
>>Date: Mon, 2 Jul 2007 08:25:02 -0700
>>
>>No doubt there were other planned rebellions that were put on hold or 
>>never got off the ground due to  the Turner fiasco, but I doubt if any new 
>>facts will do much to change Nat Turner from a religious fanatic who saw 
>>blood on the corn and interpreted an eclipe as the sign he should listen 
>>to the voices he heard.
>>
>>I realize not everyone sees him that way,  but it's  downright scary to 
>>read  a former teacher's posting that she could see:
>>
>>"...  a teacher asking the children to compare Nat Turner to George 
>>Washington or Thomas Jefferson who both advocated freedom for the colonies 
>>and fought/wrote so that they jeopardized their lives to make it happen. 
>>Nat Turner did the same, had many supporters in Virginia and elsewhere, 
>>but unlike George Washington he was not successful in defeating "The 
>>British" and paid the
>>price that would have been paid by George and Thomas had the war not been
>>won."
>>
>>Sure, for highschoolers, but  4th graders?   Would they be asked to read 
>>Turner's confession?
>>
>>Gus
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>----- Original Message ----- From: "Henry Wiencek" <[log in to unmask]>
>>To: <[log in to unmask]>
>>Sent: Monday, July 02, 2007 6:52 AM
>>Subject: [VA-HIST] Nat Turner and unchanging history
>>
>>
>>Charles L. Dibble writes that "factual history - is fixed." Yes and no. 
>>Nat
>>Turner provides an excellent example. We know some of the basic facts of 
>>his
>>uprising, but not all of them; and when we learn new facts, the meaning of
>>the event changes.  Lyle writes that the Turner uprising provides "an
>>amazingly good definition of futility. . . . No real plan, just a sort of
>>generalized instruction to slaughter."  But I recently heard a fascinating
>>lecture by a historian who is finding convincing evidence that Turner was
>>not a lone nut, as many have thought, but part of a network of 
>>conspirators
>>across the South planning to rise up in a very well planned, coordinated
>>assault against the slave power. Turner jumped the gun, fouled up the 
>>whole
>>plan, and everybody else ran for cover.  No general uprising took place. 
>>We
>>will have to await publication of the research to judge its accuracy, but 
>>if
>>this historian is right, we get a whole new view of what happened, and the
>>event changes.
>>
>>Henry Wiencek
>>Charlottesville
>
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