On this day in 1831, Nat Turner, a slave preacher in Southampton County, Virginia, initiated a rebellion in which groups of slaves went house to house in the area, liberating the enslaved and killing their masters.

Turner (1800 - 1831) was born and raised in Southampton County, Virginia, an area where black people outnumbered whites. He learned how to read and write at a young age and was deeply religious, eventually becoming an influential preacher in the area.

In early 1831, on the basis of religious visions, Nat Turner began preparing an insurrection. The rebellion began on August 21st, 1831, and rebels traveled from house to house, freeing slaves and killing many of the white people that they encountered.

At least 55 whites were killed, among them men, women, and children. The group spared a few homes "because Turner believed the poor white inhabitants 'thought no better of themselves than they did of negroes'", according to historian Stephen Oates.

The rebellion was put down by a combined force of local militia and three companies of artillery. The state executed 56 black people, and militias killed at least 100 more, some of whom were not involved in the rebellion.

Turner went on the run, eluding capture for six weeks. On October 30th, 1831, a white farmer discovered him hidden among the local Nottoway people in a depression in the earth, created by a large, fallen tree that was covered with fence rails.

After being tried and convicted for "conspiring to rebel and making insurrection", Turner was asked if he regretted what he had done. He responded "Was Christ not crucified?"

Turner was hanged by the government on November 11th, 1831. His body was dissected and flayed, with his bones and skin being used to create trophies and souvenirs such as purses.

After Turner's execution, state legislatures passed new laws prohibiting education of slaves and free black people, restricting rights of assembly and other civil liberties for free black people, and requiring white ministers to be present at all worship services.

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  • Rem [she/her]
    ·
    2 years ago

    Once you realize North Korea is just kind of a normal country that got eviscerated by the US, the casual propaganda about it becomes ridiculous to the point I genuinely don't understand what point is being made half the time.

    Like theres this 15 second long video going around allegedly of north Korean students at a computer station and the computers look pretty slow compared to what you'd find in the west, but otherwise it's just people at computer terminals. And all the comments are about how horrifying it is, or how it's obviously fake to trick foreign visitors into thinking there are working computers there or something? It makes no sense! It's just people at slow computers! Get over urself??

    • companero [he/him]
      ·
      2 years ago

      There was a Vice documentary too where they showed a NK university computer lab and they were like "look at this dude staring at the Google home page doing NOTHING". His cursor was visibly doing a loading animation and he was moving it around just like anybody would do on a slow computer.

      And then they were like "NOBODY is doing ANYTHING here" and everyone was very obviously just reading/studying.

    • WoofWoof91 [comrade/them]
      ·
      2 years ago

      i am absolutely astounded that a country that has been barred from trade with... pretty much everyone has slow, outdated PCs
      clearly Juche ideology angers the machine god

    • Rem [she/her]
      ·
      2 years ago

      HOW ARE WE SUPPOSED TO AIR DROP USB STICKS OF CARS 2 TO SHOW THEM THE SUPERIORITY OF WESTERN CULTURE IF THEY DONT HAVE COMPUTERS GET UR STORY STRAIGHT

      • itsPina [he/him, she/her]
        ·
        2 years ago

        i wanna visit too but i think theyll think im a fed since ill be asking the dumbest questions possible

        "could you really just nuke america? thatd be pretty cool"

    • CyborgMarx [any, any]
      ·
      2 years ago

      Even western historians who study the period can't help but conclude a genocide was carried out. But the US doesn't want the correct usage of genocide to enter the historical record, to accomplish that excessive amounts of propaganda are generated, the media campaign also serves the South Korean ruling class