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HomeShop at BookSurgeFictionShort Stories (single author)The Nat Turner Insurrection Trials: A Mystic Chord Resonates Today |
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3 of 3 found the following review helpful:
Is Black America and Muslims still being trialed for Nat Turner's rebellion? Jul 22, 2010
By MLG
Walter L. Gordon, III presents a compelling analysis of the trials and aftermath of the Nat Turner rebellion and the effects it has today both legally and culturally towards Black people.
Many of us are somewhat familiar with the legend of Nat Turner. Nat Turner, literate, intelligent, well versed in the bible and deeply guided by his religious beliefs, led a successful rebellion against slavery some 30 years before the Civil War. His rebellion was documented as the most brutal and bloodiest killing spree of white slave owners and their families, including women, children and infants, in American history.
Mr. Gordon presents evidence suggesting American history repeated itself with her response to the attacks on 9/11 against Al-Qaeda, Taliban and the Muslin world at large and her response to the Nat Turner rebellion and the African American race. As a practicing lawyer in Los Angeles, Mr. Gordon also provides evidence that Nat Turner and his core comrades were given more `fair' trials in 1830's Virginia, than 21st century African American men in Los Angeles.
In the rebellion aftermath, are the documented statements from government officials such as "The public good requires the negro preachers to be silenced." and "........Deep rooted prejudices entertained by whites.........will probably never end but in the extermination of the one or the other race.", still in effect today? Or is the election of President Obama the result of "equality for all" in the 21st century in America?
Mr. Gordon's presentation of history and present day facts lends itself to great discussions.
The Nat Turner Insurrection and Its Relevance Today Aug 27, 2010
By Nom de plume
I appreciate the meticulous research--the author frequently cites two or more sources to corroborate facts--which provides a solid contextual framework into which Walter Gordon places the details of the Nat Turner Insurrection. It would be easy to get lost in the sensational nature of the violence committed in the course of the insurrection and its aftermath, but the author doesn't give in to a gratuitous use of grisly facts. Instead, Gordon has provided scholarly details of economy, class, demographics, and social and political power that provide depth and permit the present-day reader to understand how the insurrection came about and the legal framework in which it was addressed.
The inclusion of less well-known historical facts, such as why Thomas Jefferson came to be known as the "Negro President" (it has nothing to do with Sally Hemmings) help distinguish this book as a scholarly history rather than a popular history. Gordon has achieved a very balanced representation of the people--both blacks and whites--involved in the insurrection and its aftermath: they are not reduced to good and evil, heroes and villains. Such characterizations belong in the realm of fiction and Gordon has skillfully avoided these over-simplifications.
Extensive footnotes encourage the interested reader to investigate further, without bogging down the narrative of the legal history in which the Nat Turner Insurrection occurred. As a student of political science, I appreciated Appendix 3, in which Virginia's transition from a "society with slaves" to "a slave society" is explained. The tragic institutionalized prevention of an alliance between blacks and working-class whites is key to understanding the antebellum south. Ruling class elites have been, and continue to be, 100% effective at isolating groups (based on race, gender, etc.) to keep them bickering at each other and competing with each other for ever-dwindling resources so that they don't act on what should be their common focus: a reversal of the ever-increasing polarization of "haves" and "have-nots" in this country, and indeed, globally.
Now that Southampton County is slated to receive federal funds to develop a Nat Turner trail, this book ought to be required reading for anyone who wishes to walk in the footsteps of Nat Turner and those who fought with and against him.
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