Anne:  

I think your essay is overall accurate in details, but as some other commentators have noted, a bit simplified in depicting Turner's character.   One thing that you should definitely edit is this sentence: "Nat Turner learned that God had a mission for his life."  This was Turner's belief (or delusion?), but it is entirely unprovable that God had any such plan that Turner could "learn" of -- either of the wanton violence or even of Turner as an agent of ending slavery.   If you however will indicate that this was simply Turner's belief, then you can perhaps satisfy some of the critics who claim you are explaining away Turner's violence.   It was his belief, and thus his actions -- give Turner the "ownership" of those murders (the ones he directly committed and those he called others to commit) for which he was, and still can be, held responsible.   Placing the crimes in the context of slavery's social and relational complexities should not allowed to appear a justification.

David Kiracofe



David Kiracofe
History
Tidewater Community College
Chesapeake Campus
1428 Cedar Road
Chesapeake, Virginia 23322
757-822-5136

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