Early Life

Nat Turner was a man born into slavery who made history by being the leader of one of  Americas most bloodiest and gruesome slave rebellions. Turner was born to a black woman, Nancy, who was owned by a plantation aristocrat who’s name was Benjamin Turner (1). Nat Turners master, Benjamin Turner, allowed him to fulfill his desire and passion to read, write, as well as become educated about religion (2). Growing up as a child Turners mother and grandmother thought he had special and unique talents because he could describe situations and events that happened before he was even born (3). In Nat Turners Confession he states, “Being at play with other children, when three or four years old, I was telling them something, which my mother, overhearing, said it had happened before I was born”(4).  Turner’s grandmother told him growing up that he “was intended for some great purpose" (5).  Turner was noticed as a very intelligent man from a young age and people had stated that he had too much sense to be raised. In True Confessions Turner states, “To a mind like mine, restless, inquisitive, and observant of everything that was passing, it is easy to suppose that religion was the subject to which it would be directed; and although this subject principally occupied my thoughts, there was nothing that I saw or heard of to which my attention was not directed”(6).  In his adult life Tuner became a preacher to the slaves he lived with. 








(1) Mellard, James M. "Nat Turner, 1800-1831." Nat Turner, 1800-1831. http://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/turner/bio.html (accessed April 19, 2014).http://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/turner/bio.html  
(2) "Nat Turner, 1800-1831"
(3) A&E Networks. "Nat Turner Biography." Bio.com. http://www.biography.com/people/nat-turner-9512211#awesm=~oBW3TcAmDfVIGR (accessed April 17, 2014). http://www.biography.com/people/nat-turner-9512211#early-life&awesm=~oBNc2XH0SZPZZh  
(4) PBS. "The Confessions of Nat Turner." PBS. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part3/3h500.html (accessed April 16, 2014).
(5) A&E Networks: Nat Turner Biography. 
(6) The Confessions of Nat Turner.