Rise Up: The Legacy of Nat Turner airs Friday 10/9c on the National Geographic Channel. Early on, he interpreted that the Bible said that slaves should remain subservient to their earthly masters, but a series of prophetic visions changed his views. His wisdom and natural orating skills led him to become a respected preacher among the surrounding slave community. Throughout his life, Turner would look to the Bible to better understand the reason behind the enslavement of his people. Having learned to read at an early age, he was considered an intellectual at the time, as it was highly frowned upon to teach slaves to read. He was born with several marks on his chest that family members regarded as the marks of a prophet. Nat Turner was born into slavery on October 2, 1800, on the Benjamin Turner family plantation in Southampton County, Virginia. WATCH: Rick Francis describes how his ancestor Lavinia Francis escaped the fate of other slave owners during Nat Turner's revolt. Since then, Turner has remained little more than a footnote in some history books, a fact that may very well enable his legacy to evolve as the United States continues to grapple with the legacy of slavery. The volume remains controversial as its Caucasian author takes on the voice of the black slave preacher turned revolutionary and steeps it with a fevered sexual obsession for white women. Many other popular ideas about Turner were shaped by a work of outright fiction: William Styron’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Confessions of Nat Turner, which was released in 1967. Some historians think Gray took personal liberties with how he presented Turner, and they believe the authenticity of the pamphlet may be compromised. " This serves as the main historical record of who Nat Turner the man may have been. The interviews were compiled in a pamphlet entitled "The Confessions of Nat Turner: The Leader of the Late Insurrection in Southampton, Virginia. Between his trial and execution, he was interviewed by lawyer Thomas Ruffin Gray. Much of our knowledge of Turner comes from Courtland.
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