Famous Slave Revolts

Douglass's humiliating anecdotes about slavery create sympathy for people held in bondage. Slaves were punished by whipping, hanging, branding, beating, or burning. Punishment was most often dole out in response to disobedience or perceived error. Since the government allowed it, slaves suffered dramatic physical abuse during and outside of work. One of the most common instruments used against a slave was the whip. Slaves were punished for a number of reasons: breaking a rule, working too casually, or leaving the plantation without permission. Most states did not allow slaves from holding religious activities for fear that these meetings could facilitate communication and later lead to rebellion. Frederick Douglass (1995), states, “Our food was coarse corn meal boiled, which was called mush. It was put into a large wooden tray or trough, and set down upon the ground. The children were then called, like so many pigs, and like so many pigs they would come and devour the mush; some with oyster-shells, others with pieces of shingle, some with naked hands, and none with spoons. He that ate fastest got most; he that was strongest secured the best place; and few left the trough satisfied" (Chapter 5, page 1). This clearly indicates how children were treated like animals and their inability to act in the presence of a normal educated child. Douglass states, "I was broken in body, soul, and spirit. My natural elasticity was crushed, my intellect languished, the disposition to read departed, and the cheerful spark that lingered about my eye died; the dark night of slavery closed in upon me; and behold a man transformed into a brute!" (Chapter 10) Douglass makes it clear that slavery weakens a man, and makes him surrender his manhood. Accor...

There have been few significant slave revolts in the United States before 1831 despite the large amounts of slaves. Because of the lack of unsuccessful slave revolts, slave owners felt confident in their control over their slaves. Nat Turner’s rebellion overthrew the idea altogether. Nat Turner and s group of rebel slaves killed around 55 to 65 whites, being the highest deaths by a slave revolt. Though take down in a few days it arose a widespread of fear. The state of Virginia killed 56 slaves being accused of being involved and hundreds more were murdered by whites. The rebellion caused state legislatures to prohibit the education of slaves in the south to potentially stop any future uprising by slaves.

Nat Turner led the largest slave revolt in history. The organization was one of the bloodiest slave rebellions before the civil war. This was the rebellion that served to change the course of American history. Nat Turner led a life by helping other slaves overcome suffrage during the 1800s by starting a rebellion between them and their slave masters. He also had a large religious following, which went on to inspire some of the greatest African American activist in history like Martin Luther King and Malcolm X. While he was a slave, he showed others how the divisions of blacks and whites shouldn’t be tolerated in this world. Nat Turner was living through god and justifying his actions as an act of god. And felt like his job was to be the punisher of evil on earth sent from god.

After reading autobiographies by three different former slaves, I recognized a common theme. Each of the author’s stories appeared to be in a gray area, in between rebellion and compliance with slavery. The diversity of their reactions to slavery was primarily dependent on their differing circumstances. In this essay I will briefly analyze each individual’s circumstances and connect it to their choices to rebel or to comply with the regime of slavery.

Slavery was implemented and enforced on the lives of many African Americans since the beginning of America's birth. However, as America progress towards a more liberal and less conservative mind set, public institutions are implementing courses that shed light on this particular topic. Names such as Nat Turner, Denmark Vessey, and Gabriel rings throughout history's ears as the leaders of the many insurrections that had an impact on America's views on slavery. The Haitian Revolution also took the lime light as the rebellion that encouraged the insurrection in many other places including those that took place in America. Though scholars and historians explore these individuals and events in detail, they also over looked an important event that had a great impact on slave rebellion as much as the Haitian Revolution if not more. Almost every history book does not have any content or detail of the Black Seminole Rebellion only until recently where few scholars have done extensive research to shed light on the importance of this rebellion. Even though many rebellions were successful, none of them were as successful and large as the Black Seminole Rebellion, this was due to the fact that they kept the stability of their freedom, and amassed an army composed of many African slaves and Indians big enough to win a war against a European power, which in turn, shook the foundation of America's ideology on slavery to the point where the event was concealed for over half a century.

Many insinuated Turner was chosen by God himself to lead the enslaved from bondage. Turner achieved to be one of the few enslaved African Americans who left his mark where it was needed, terrorizing the south with his rancorous slave rebellion. Turners rebellions began to march on the road killing white folks in more than 12 plantations. Dozens of whites were killed in the rebellion. Turner became wary due to the actions taken by the white folks, who which tightened restrictions on African Americans over the course of two days. At first turner was successful in hiding from authorities but later in which ended in Turner being caught and skinned. Nat Turner could not be vindicated for he was now recognized as one of the most well known escaped slave of Southampton. Turner never abdicated the position of being the messenger of Jesus Christ, it was only death that stopped Turner from his

Nat Turner was a Virginian slave, and most importantly a preacher, who believed he had a different interpretation of the bible and that it was his call from God to lead a rebellion against the slavery institution in America. After enlisting as many men as he could to join his cause, he and about 80 of his followers rose up, killing a total of 51 white people in the rebellion’s full force. Because slavery was the driving force behind America and Virginia’s success economically, slaveholders, local military, and especially the established US government were not willing to allow slavery to be challenged. Virginia’s slaveholders and local military brought in reinforcements from the national military to destroy every part of the rebellion they could

Nat Turner was a black slave who led the only effective, sustained slave rebellion in the United States History. Nat Turner by himself spread terror throughout the white south because he saw a solar eclipse as a sign from God that led to violent attacks against plantations to free fellow slaves by killing approximately 50 people. The whites retaliated, and the punishment for violating the rules became harsher. It created tension between the north and south because Nat Turner Killed a lot of people because he tried to end slavery and free the slaves and it made matters worse.

The text discussed how the first African-Americans were brought by force to serve white colonists of Jamestown, Virginia in 1619. Many Virginians during this time period were in need of labor to grow a sufficient supply of food in order to survive. During 1609-1610, the colony had been faced with starvation, decreasing the original group of five hundred colonists to sixty. They were not able to force Indians to work for them, but blacks who were taken in Africam brought far from their homes and helpless, could be seen as useful. And so slave importing started, with the first twenty blacks brought from the West Indies to Jamestown and constrained in chains. Some historians claim that slaves did not accept their fate. Instead, they did in fact resist in a lot of ways, including physically, as revealed in the documents in the text show.

After spending the night near some slave cabins, Turner and his men attempted to attack another house, but were repulsed. Several of the rebels were captured. The remaining force then met the state and federal troops in final skirmish, in which one slave was killed and many escaped, including Turner. In the end, the rebels had stabbed, shot and clubbed at least 55 white people to death ("Nat Turner 's