Ms. Pemberton, 

The quote below is from Mr. Turner's confession after the rebellion.  

"It was then observed that I must spill the first blood. On which armed with a 
hatchet, and accompanied by Will, I entered my master's chamber; it being 
dark, I could not give a death blow, the hatchet glanced from his head, he 
sprang from the bed and called his wife, it was his last word. Will laid him 
dead, with a blow of his axe, and Mrs. Travis shared the same fate, as she lay 
in bed. The murder of this family five in number, was the work of a moment, 
not one of them awoke; there was a little infant sleeping in a cradle, that was 
forgotten, until we had left the house and gone some distance, when Henry 
and Will returned and killed it;...."  This passage can be found at:   
http://afroamhistory.about.com/library/blturner_confession3.htm

Is this the type of man we want to glorify as a prophet and preacher to our 
youth?  Yes slavery was wrong but to honor a mass murderer as a 
counterweight is unthinkable.  This man and his rebellion should only be 
mentioned when discussing people like Jeffry Dahmer, John Wayne Gacy, or 
David Berkowitz.  He should not be afforded a lofty or revered place in 
history.  

You website and its treatment of Mr. Turner and his rebellion greatly disturbs 
me.  This is as disturbing as teaching that the Dutch bought Manhattan for 
twenty-four dollars worth of beads.  

Why can we not just teach our children the truth without the political bent of 
the day?

v/r

Tony Lister

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