Black History: Nat Turner
Written by wdkxwp on February 2, 2016
Nat Turner was born into slavery on October 2, 1800 in Southhampton County, Virginia. He is known for leading the only effective slave rebellion in U.S back in the summer of 1831. In early 1831, Nat Turner interpreted a solar eclipse as a sign from God that the time for a revolution was near.
On August 21, 1831, Turner and his group of followers murdered his slave owners and started heading towards a small town Jerusalem in order to recruit more followers. 
Within two days Turner recruited about 75 African Americans and murdered around 60 white people before being stopped by the state militia. Turner was able to escape, but was captured six weeks later, tried and hanged. Turner’s rebellion and the increased repression of southern blacks strengthened anti–slavery feeling in the North through the 1860s and intensified the regional tensions building toward civil war.
