Nat Turner : a slave rebellion in history and memory / edited by Kenneth S. Greenberg.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Greenberg, Kenneth S.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Turner, Nat, 1800?-1831.

Turner, Nat.

Nat Turner's Rebellion, Virginia, 1831.

Enslaved persons--Virginia--Southampton County--Biography.

Enslaved persons.

Turner, Nat, 1800?-1831--Influence.

Virginia--Southampton County.

Genre:

Biographies.

Physical Description:

xix, 289 pages ; 25 cm

Place of Publication:

Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2003.

Summary:

Nat Turner's Name Rings Through American History with a Force All Its Own. Leader of the Most important slave rebellion on these shores, variously viewed as a freedom fighter, a murderer of unarmed women and children, an inspired religious leader, a fanatic -- this puzzling figure represents all the terrible complexities of American slavery. And yet we do not know what he looked like, where he is buried, or even if Nat Turner was his real name. In Nat Turner: A Slave Rebellion in History and Memory, Kenneth S. Greenberg gathers twelve distinguished scholars to offer provocative new insights into the man, his rebellion, his time, and his place in history. The historians here explore Turner's slave community, discussing the support for his uprising as well as the religious and literary context of his movement. They examine the place of women in his insurrection and its far-reaching consequences (including an extraordinary 1832 Virginia debate about ridding the state of slavery). Here are discussions of Turner's religious visions -- the instructions he received from God to kill all of his white oppressors. Louis Masur places him against the backdrop of the nation's sectional crisis, and Douglas Egerton puts his revolt in the context of rebellions across the Americas. We trace Turner's passage through American memory through fascinating interviews with William Styron on his landmark novel, The Confessions of Nat Turner, and with Dr. Alvin Poussaint, one of the "ten black writers" of the 1960s who bitterly attacked Styron's vision of Turner. Finally, we follow Nat Turner into the world of Hollywood. Nat Turner has always been controversial, an emblem of the searing wound of slavery in American life. This book, coinciding with a major documentary film written and produced by Greenberg, in collaboration with Frank Christopher and director Charles Burnett, offers a clear-eyed look at one of the best known and least understood figures in our history.

Contents:

Part 1 The Search for Nat Turner

1 Name, Face, Body / Kenneth S. Greenberg 3

2 The Construction of The Confessions of Nat Turner / David F. Almendinger, Jr. 24

Part 2 Stories of the Rebellion

3 The Event / Herbert Aptheker 45

4 Covenant in Jerusalem / Thomas C. Parramore 58

Part 3 Communities and Contexts

5 Symptoms of Liberty and Blackhead Signposts: David Walker and Nat Turner / Vincent Harding 79

6 A Prophet in His Own Land: Support for Nat Turner and His Rebellion within Southampton's Black Community / Patrick H. Breen 103

7 Reading, Revelation, and Rebellion: The Textual Communities of Gabriel, Denmark Vesey, and Nat Turner / James Sidbury 119

8 Nat Turner in a Hemispheric Context / Douglas R. Egerton 134

9 Nat Turner and Sectional Crisis / Louis P. Masur 148

10 "What Happened in This Place?": In Search of the Female Slave in the Nat Turner Slave Insurrection / Mary Kemp Davis 162

Part 4 Memory

11 Styron's Choice: A Meditation on History, Literature, and Moral Imperatives / Charles Joyner 179

12 Interview with William Styron 214

13 Interview with Alvin F. Poussaint, M.D. 228

Epilogue: Nat Turner in Hollywood / Kenneth S. Greenberg 243.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [251]-289).

ISBN:

0195134044

OCLC:

49699421