Nat Turner and the Virginia Slave Revolt

by Rivvy Neshama

Examines the life of enslaved African-American Nat Turner and the events leading up to the slave rebellion he led in 1831. Additional features include detailed captions and sidebars, critical-thinking questions, a phonetic glossary, an index, and sources for further research.

Genres: Biography

32 pages, Library Binding

First published July 1, 2000

About the author

Rivvy Neshama is a writer, editor, and community organizer who has written for Ms., Glamour, Spirituality & Health, and The New York Times. As a storyteller, she is known for her warmth, honesty, and humor, which are abundantly offered in her book Recipes for a Sacred Life: True Stories and a Few Miracles. (It charms and inspires. What more could one ask? says Hal Zina Bennett, author of Write from the Heart)

Rivvy holds degrees in philosophy, comparative literature, social work, and education. Her spiritual path draws from many sources: Eastern and Western religions, Native traditions, strangers on the subway — and her mom!

Her life experiences have included being a teacher and social worker in Harlem, a campaign manager in Boulder, a college instructor in Queens, and a Tarot card reader at Macy’s on Halloween.

Born in Philadelphia and a longtime New Yorker, Rivvy now lives in Boulder, Colorado, with her husband, British author John Wilcockson.

Reviews

[Monique · Rating 4 out of 5]

The infamous Nat Turner—in Black History Month he is a footnote but after reading this book you realize was a powerful leader, a self proclaimed prophet and a rare, intelligent man who had a vision and plan for freedom..I admit I knew basics about Nat and got a little more insight over the years and through the movie Birth of a Nation but I learned a lot I didn’t know like that his mother was born a slave and instilled a strong desire for freedom within him..his father ran away and was never heard from again which taught him again that freedom is worth doing anything for even being brave and dying..I also thought it was interesting for the information on his visions and there are examples from him being as old as four and then more intense after praying and fasting in his twenties. Nat was one of the few slaves that could read and he was very interested in religion and when he saw a vision of the sun darkening and whites and blacks fighting he took that as a view of what’s to come with a solar eclipse in February ..From there his planning took him all the way to July 4th and then moved to August 21 when Nat, six other slaves, a few axes and a hatchet started their revolt killing his master and family..They moved on to other plantations that night murdering 55 people armed with their guns fighting for their freedom..The book doesn’t glorify anything or promote the killings even stating in its easy to read language that no one has the right to take the life of any other human being though slavery had made these men so angry they no longer cared what was wrong or right. The men kept on, growing in numbers and entered into their first battle with 18 white men they defeated and now that everyone was aware of their revolt no place was safe and after three days he returned to his old plantation, dug a cave and hid. Due to the violent nature of his revolt the slave masters and whites were horribly angered and wanted revenge so they killed over 100 slaves and beat and tortured many others..
I like how the book plainly states that all of this death and sadness happened from slavery and because slavery was wrong only wrong things can come from it. Nat would go down in history for leading the largest slave revolt in history and until he was found no one was safe. Nat ended up hiding for six whole weeks and when captured he stated he was just doing what he thought was necessary for slavery to end.
After his death in 1831 life for slaves got worse, new laws were passed prohibiting gatherings of negroes without a white person present, banning African American preachers and even harsher restrictions of slaves learning to read..though now people were aware of slaves’ deep desire for freedom and what they would do to get it. His revolt made people take notice of slavery’s evil, inspired abolitionists and proved the strength of blacks to die if necessary for freedom….This forty page book read easily for middle school, is chocked full of facts and interesting tidbits and will be a great recommendation for sure…Really enjoyed this one…Nat Turner, the reader and the leader who showed the world how important freedom truly is..