The Resurrection Of Nat Turner: The Testimonial Part 32

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Discussion Questions for The Resurrection of Nat Turner, Part 2: The Testimony.

1. What made Nat Turner different from his peers? What made him more likely to embrace rebellion?

2. Nat Turner describes the other captives (slaves) as heroes. Why?

3. What is the difference between the words captive and slave? Captor and master?

4. What relations.h.i.+p or relations.h.i.+ps in the book most surprised you? What relations.h.i.+p or relations.h.i.+ps most pleased you?

5. Captives were not allowed to speak their native language. Why? Captives were not allowed last names. Why?

6. Who were "the witnesses" who spoke to Nat Turner?

7. According to local lore, Nat Turner and the other slaves met outside the local church. Though they were not welcomed inside, why would they continue meeting there?

8. In his original handwritten diary, Governor Floyd describes the August 1831 "indigo sun." Why might it have caused excitement? Would it cause excitement today?

9. Modern-day scientists say many Atlantic hurricanes begin over the highlands of Ethiopia. According to NASA, Hurricane Isabel began in Ethiopia, making its way to the Chesapeake Bay. An "Act of G.o.d" beginning in Africa may have triggered one of the deadliest hurricanes in American history, the Great Barbados Hurricane of 1831, and Nat Turner's revolt. Discuss.

10. As he is questioned by Trezvant, Nat Turner laments slavery's legacy for captives and captors. Describe that legacy.

11. In both parts 1 and 2, Nat Turner refers to a "family debt" that he owes. What do you think he means? How did he pay for that debt?

12. What made it easy for American slave owners to justify their behavior? What makes it easy for modern-day slave owners to justify their behavior?

13. Harriet Beecher Stowe, her brother, and others, such as Benjamin Phipps and William Parker, seemed to feel frustrated and hopeless in the face of slavery. Why?

14. Southampton County, in particular the Jerusalem area, was home to two very famous Civil War generals. General George H. Thomas, nephew to County Clerk James Roch.e.l.le, was fifteen at the time of Nat Turner's revolt. Thomas became a famed Union general known as the "Rock of Chickamauga." General William Mahone was almost five at the time of the revolt. Son of tavernkeeper Fielding Mahone, he became a famed Confederate general known as the "Hero of the Crater." Though they were from similar backgrounds, what might have caused the two men to go on such divergent paths?

15. The court records contradicting the original Confessions of Nat Turner have existed for 180 years. Why do you believe that evidence has remained hidden?.

Author Q & A A Conversation with Sharon Ewell Foster.

1. In The Resurrection of Nat Turner, Part 2: The Testimony, we get a unique vantage point into the unrest that ultimately resulted in the Civil War. What was the most difficult part of re-creating these moments on the page?

There were a couple of things that made the process challenging. First was giving myself permission to tell a new story.

We all have stories that we own, stories that we've been told, and those stories are part of who we are. Civil War stories and antebellum stories are part of our American heritage. There are people vested in this history, in the way this story has been told. I'm an African American, but these narratives were taught to me, too. I am an American and the American narrative is my own.

I realized, as I was writing, that most of our Civil War stories tend to be more sympathetic to the South. For example, part of our national story is that we feel sorry for the South because Atlanta was sacked. That's one of the themes of Gone With the Wind-that this great way of life was torched, good people were torched. We feel sympathy for Scarlett and Atlanta. So we have this beautiful, poignant literature rising from Atlanta's ashes and bemoaning what happened.

But what isn't part of our national narrative is that instead of Atlanta, Philadelphia might have burned. That's what Gettysburg was about, to keep the South from reaching Philadelphia and destroying what was the North's financial heart.

Part of our national narrative, part of what helps us cope corporaly and psychologically with the foulness of slavery, is a story that says everyone believed in slavery. No one thought it was wrong. No one spoke against it, except for a few fanatics. Of course, this narrative negates the efforts of abolitionists like Harriet Beecher Stowe and Frederick Dougla.s.s. It also negates the patriotism of people like Benjamin Franklin, Bishop Richard Allen, and everyday people from Philadelphia, Boston, New York, and other towns across America, who risked their lives to speak out against slavery.

Part of our national narrative, because to think otherwise is painful, is that slavery wasn't so bad. Most slave owners were good people and the slaves were content. All slave owners were kindly. I can't think of one account of a slave owner who called himself cruel. No one wants to be that person.

I had to give myself permission to consider and embrace a new story, a new narrative, before I could even recognize the facts in front of me. There were other heroes, there were voices crying in the wilderness, and I gave myself permission to sing their songs and to sing songs about the beauty of cobblestone streets, s.h.i.+ps, and immigrants of northern cities. I had to give myself permission to sing the songs of brutalized slaves who had no voices... and also one of cruel masters.

As I researched, I had to finally accept that I would never know everything; then, I had to give myself permission to take the creative leap so that I could tell the story. I had to give myself permission to tell the story through my own eyes-a different story of the time before the war.

2. What prompted you to intersect the stories of Harriet Beecher Stowe and Nat Turner, two of the most famous figures in the American abolitionist movement? How do you think their very distinct personalities inform our current view of African American history?

I wonder if you know what a leap you have made with the question you've posed. The narrative surrounding Nat Turner has been that he was a monster, not an abolitionist or a freedom fighter. Your understanding is significant.

But, to answer you, I had a few unresolved questions while researching that I think were answered in a letter that Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote to an English d.u.c.h.ess.

Long ago, I was a pre-broadcast screener at PBS-I screened programs before they were aired nationally. One of my favorites was called Connections-the host would find unexpected connections between seemingly unrelated historical events. The linking of Stowe and Turner was a Connections kind of thing.

In preparation for writing the book, I read everything I could get my hands on that mentioned Nat Turner, including other novels. Stowe wrote a book called Dred: A Tale of the Great Dismal Swamp, a novel which she said was inspired by Nat Turner. Though she is most well known for Uncle Tom's Cabin, whose protagonist is a long-suffering, pa.s.sive slave hero, the hero of Dred is a fiery, revolutionary refugee slave ready to take up arms against his oppressors. There is a chasm between Tom's and Dred's responses to slavery. I wanted to know what inspired Stowe to make the leap.

As part of my research, I also visited Southampton County, Virginia, and talked to local historians. One of them told me the story of Will, one of the slaves involved in the rebellion. Will was counted as dead, but his body was never found. The mystery of it piqued my interest. "Aha! Will got away," I thought.

Some months later, I visited the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center in Connecticut looking for some hint as to what might have inspired her point of view in Dred. I wanted to know what might have inspired her to write about Nat Turner, who, by then, was already much vilified. There I came across reference to a letter in which Stowe mentions writing Dred. Upon obtaining a copy of the letter, I learned that in the same letter she mentions being inspired by a runaway slave named William. My eyebrow lifted higher when I read a novel, published around the time Stowe was writing Dred, by African American author William Wells Brown. Out of nowhere in his novel, Brown begins to write about Nat Turner and Will. Brown describes Will just as the local historian described him-very dark with a prominent scar on his face. That is part of how Stowe describes Dred in her novel. Hmmmm. Also, online, there is a letter from Stowe requesting that Dougla.s.s help her meet a refugee slave who might tell her more about slavery.

The connection was made for me and I wrote Stowe into the novel. But her role as the "tour guide" who helps readers through the story and history was inspired by the first editor who worked on the ma.n.u.script, Dave Lambert. Harriet was a section in The Witnessesat the time of his review and he suggested that I place her story more prominently among the other witnesses. His feedback was so insightful: He questioned whether the story, as it was, had enough arc. Lambert's comments reflected a doubt I had. As I mulled his notes, I soon realized that Harriet's journey to write Dred could be the bridge that tied things together in my own story. His comments helped make this a better book.

In response to your second question, I don't think of this as only an African American history story. What I see in Harriet Beecher Stowe is a person willing to learn from others and adjust her views. I see her as a symbol of hope for people who struggle with racism or any other kind of response to others that is based on ignorance. Her life and understanding says that change is possible. To me, she says that we should encourage positive change and acknowledge growth when we see it.

Generally speaking, I don't think that Nat Turner is part of our national view of African American history. While many know of Stowe and her contribution, far fewer have ever heard of Nat Turner.

Stowe is a much more acceptable hero. She was courageous. She fought with the weapons available to her-her pen, her words, and her faith. She had the benefit of formal education. Turner did not. There were no publis.h.i.+ng doors open to him. He used the weapons available to him. His war against slavery was much more violent. People-men, women, and children-died.

Of course, as a nation we sing songs about the violent overthrow of oppressors. It is our patriotic duty to take up arms against tyrants. The fourth stanza of our national anthem says: Then conquer we must, when our cause is just, And this be our motto: "In G.o.d is our trust"

And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

Nat Turner's story challenges us. The questions are troubling. Does a person held against his will have a patriotic duty to take up arms? What defines a hero? What if that person is of another hue? Were we once a nation who wrote tyranny into our national laws? Were our national heroes also villains?

I think it's because the questions are so difficult that we have not really had a national debriefing on slavery. We have not had the discussion. We don't ask these questions of ourselves or of our children.