Slave Voices

In 1831, Nat Turner led a slave rebellion in Southampton, Virginia. Blacks killed whites as they fought for freedom. Although the uprising was only one of about 250 rebellions documented during America's slave years, many historians consider it the most important. Thirty years later, the country was at war with itself.

In assessing what caused the revolt, John Floyd (the governor of Virginia) wrote to James Hamilton (the governor of South Carolina) blaming Christians in the North, especially "peddlers" and "traders." From the first page of Floyd's letter:

The course has been by no means a direct one - they began first, by making them religious - their conversations were of that character - telling the blacks God was no respector of persons - the black man was as good as the white - that all men were born free and equal - that they cannot serve two masters - that the white people rebelled against England to obtain freedom, so have the blacks a right to do so.

One could fairly ask the question: Doesn't the second fight for freedom (by American slaves) naturally follow from the first (by American colonists)? And - given the cruelty many slaves endured, why would they not rebel?