Most historians agree that what is known of his personal life defies the standards for most slaves. By the time he was 31, the year of the revolt, Turner’s ownership had changed hands at least four times. But in historical records, he was described as a “mulatto,” a man of mixed race whose complexion was probably much lighter than Parker’s.Īt the heart of “The Birth of a Nation” is a man born into slavery. Over the years, Turner has been mostly reduced to a story of an archetype – the irrational, villainous black man, an early American harbinger to the “dangerous thug.” Re-enactments and drawings of Turner through the years have often depicted him as a threatening, dark-skinned man. Justin Chang at Variety called it “a biographical drama steeped equally in grace and horror,” that “the film is perhaps even more accomplished as a theological provocation, one that grapples fearlessly with the intense spiritual convictions that drove Turner to do what he had previously considered unthinkable.” It’s the first big-budget Hollywood film to center on Turner and the uprising. 7 with a limited screening Tuesday at Regal MacArthur Center Stadium. “The Birth of a Nation,” starring Norfolk-born, Virginia Beach-raised actor Nate Parker, hits theaters Oct. A new movie may continue to do that for some, while it also illuminates the brutality of slavery. Some of it has been distorted in the service of myth. Much has been written about the insurrection in the last 180 years. Turner was hanged, beheaded and skinned, his remains used in the making of soap and purses. Their heads were posted on pikes along roads in Southampton County. Some sources estimate that more than 200 slaves and free blacks were killed in retaliation. 21 and strategized what would become one of the bloodiest slave revolts in American history that, in two and a half days, left 60 white people dead. They retreated deep into the woods the night of Aug. When the sun seemed to change from gold to green to blue, Nat Turner saw it as a sign that he had to make a move.Ī solar eclipse in February 1831, and another strange appearance of the sun six months later, galvanized Turner to round up seven other slaves in Southampton County, a 600-square-mile area west of Suffolk bordering North Carolina. E-Pilot Evening Edition Home Page Close Menu
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