Guardian of A Temple Gate:
The Right Honourable Deacon. Nat Turner
Nat Turner was born October 2, 1800 and ascended on November 11, 1831. Turner was born and lived in Southampton County his entire life. This county was a plantation area where slaves made up the majority of the population.
At a very early age, it was evident that Nat, as he was affectionately known, had a natural intelligence surpassed by few others in his circumstance. He learned to read and write at a young age and became deeply religious. Nat was a very zealous and devote Karastian (Christian) and was often seen fasting, praying, or immersed in reading the stories of the Bible. His religious convictions manifested as visions, which he interpreted as messages from Yahovayah (God). Nat often conducted services, preaching the Bible to his fellow slaves, who referred to him as "The Prophet".
In early 1828, one of Nat’s visions convinced that he "was ordained for some great purpose in the hands of the Almighty."
While working in his owner's fields on May 12, Turner said later that he;
“Heard a loud noise in the heavens, and the Spirit instantly appeared to me and said
the Serpent was loosened, and Christ had laid down the yoke he had borne for the sins of men,
and that I should take it on and fight against the Serpent, for the time was fast approaching
when the first should be last and the last should be first”.
Nat’s vision also saw him as participant in the confrontation between God's Kingdom and the anti-Kingdom that characterized his social-historical context, i.e physical & spiritual Slavery vs Freedom. Nat had believed that revolutionary violence would serve to awaken the attitudes of whites to the reality of the inherent brutality, ungodly and anti-christ-like, was the system of chattel slavery.
On August 7th 1831 there was a solar eclipse, Nat interpreted this as a final signal, and about a week later, on August 21, he began his uprising and insurrection. The uprising was suppressed within two days, Nat however wasn’t captured until October 30. On November 5, 1831, Turner was tried for "conspiring to rebel and making insurrection", convicted, and sentenced to death. He was latter hanged on November 11 in Jerusalem, Virginia. His body was flayed and beheaded as an example to frighten other would-be Christian revolutionary’s.
The Credentials and Significance:
Although only lasting two days, this insurrections is one of the only recorded successful revolts or attempted insurrections in African American history. It therefore symbolises the total African American resistance. This is further proof that Gospel when seen through Ethiopian Spectacles, does not and cannot equate to being passive, submissive and inactive, but to the contrary forces you to action, gives you confidence so that in your faith, you leave a legacy for generations that follow.
