The Confessions of Nat Turner

The Confessions of Nat Turner (1831) is a historical pamphlet by Nat Turner and Thomas Ruffin Gray. Published shortly after Turner’s execution, The Confessions of Nat Turner is comprised of an interview with the revolutionary in the days leading up to his death, as well as independent research conducted by Gray, an attorney who represented some of the rebels involved. “And on the 12th of May, 1828, I 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 born 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 shall be first.” Known as “The Prophet” by his fellow enslaved people, Nat Turner was an inspiring preacher who planned and executed an insurrection against the white slaveholding class in Southampton County, Virginia in the summer of 1831. Although his rebellion was crushed, leading to the execution and lynching of over a hundred African Americans in the area, his message of liberation lived on, inspiring generations of abolitionists and revolutionaries in opposition to slavery and oppression throughout the United States and the world. This pamphlet, published shortly after his trial and execution, contains a powerful interview conducted by Thomas Ruffin Gray, an attorney who worked on the case and met Turner in the jailhouse where he was held. This edition of The Confessions of Nat Turner is a classic of African American literature reimagined for modern readers.

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