Nat Turner and the Southampton Revolt of 1831
Cassandra's Reading Corner

Home | LS 5623 Author Study: Walter Dean Myers | LS 5603 Author Spotlight: Angela Shelf Medearis | LS 5903 Poet Study: Nikki Giovanni | Multicultural Literature Author Study: Julius Lester

Goldman, Martin. 1992. Nat Turner and The Southampton Revolt of 1831.  Imapct.  New York:  ISBN: 0531130118

 

"White spirits and black spirits engaged in battle, and the sun was darkened-the thunder rolled in the heavens, and the blood flowed in the streams-and I heard a voice saying, Such is your luck, such you are called to see,"

 

Martin Goldman profiles Nat Turner, a slave and preacher who led the most successful slave rebellion in American history.  In Nat Turner and the Southampton Revolt, Goldman highlights the events and circumstances that led to the revolt.  Born to a mother who was believed to be of royal African blood, Nat Turner was born in the year 1800 on the plantation of Benjamin Turner in Southampton County, Virginia.  Turner was recognized for his intelligence and ability to read at an early age.

 

"My uncommon intelligence for a child, remarked I had too much sense to be raised, and if I was, I would never be any service to anyone as a slave."

 

Nat Turner despised slavery. Goldman dedicates a great deal of attention to the history of slavery as an institution and Nat Turner's childhood in an effort to provide readers with the historical perspectives connected to Turner's uprising. 

 

An African -American history professor, Goldman does a remarkable job describing the events that occurred on August 23, 1831. With a high degree of dramatic interpretation combined with extremely violent accounts of the events, the details of the revolt are definitely not sugarcoated for young readers.  Black and white illustrations of how slaves were packed on ships during the Middle Passage as well as pictures of individuals being abused paint a grueling picture of a dark period in American history.  These illustrations complement Goldmans text and provide realistic visual images of the circumstances slaves had to endure.  Goldman uses advanced vocabulary and some of the concepts in Nat Turner and the Southampton Revolt require sophisticated comprehension skills. High school students will appreciate Goldman's historical account of this significant event in American history.  Source notes and a bibliography are included for future research interests.

LS5623