...The Fires of Jubilee; Nat Turner’s Fierce Rebellion by Stephen B. Oates. This book is a US History narrative that focuses on a man named Nat Turner, a gifted black slave who convinced servants into a revolt against their masters. Oates describes these events through Nat Turner’s perspective while also recording his life and struggles. The book is an attempt to make Turner’s and his followers’ actions justifiable and explain that it led to what was probably the bloodiest slave revolt in American History [The Fires of Jubilee page ix]. According to Oates, Turner’s rebellion was the first step of many in the movement to free the United States. Oates book depicts the unjust treatment Serfs had to undergo, their struggle for freedom as well as the events occurring about fifty years prior to the civil war....
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... In this same way, the role of significant revolutionaries to the attainment of freedom is equally important. One of the most significant characters was Nat Turner who life and activities are clearly reconstructed in Stephen Oates’ the Fires of Jubilee. Ideally, it is reasonable to assume that prior to many of the events leading to the civil war, the white and black children were living peacefully with each other. But of more importance however, is the role that religion played in enhancing the events as explained in the Fires of Jubilee. To understand the issue further, the essay’s focus hopes to analyze the various aspect of the book; the Fires of Jubilee. Ideally, the author argues that regarding Nat Turner’s rebellion, oppression is an equally similar occurrence to violence and whose price is like a double-edged sword. This means that the rebellion...
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...with great unbiased eloquence that a reader can make their own assumptions to the story of Nat Turner. Using his expertise of 19th century history, Mr. Stephen B. Oates tells the story of Nat Turner with countless details that makes the reader feel as if they were there in person. From the origins of Nat Turner’s parents to the legacy he left, The Fires of Jubilee surely did Nat Turner’s story justice. In Fires of Jubilee, the story of Nat Turner is told. He is born into slavery in Southampton County of Virginia. His mother Nancy originated from the North’s Nile River country and had met his father (name unknown) when she arrived at the Turner plantation. During his youth years before attending to the fields on the Turner plantation, the slave children were raised without the hard effects of racism that he would even play with the Turner children due to the children being raised closely by each other. It was said that he could recite events that happened way before he was born and could read and write without being taught. Since then,...
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...ires of Jubilee Pt 4 Antwan Rowel Mr.Kimbrough History B20a MW 9:35 November 7, 2011 Fires of Jubilee Pt.4 In The Fires of Jubilee Nat Turner's Fierce Rebellion: Stephen Oates gives an account of the brief but deadly slave revolt in and around Southampton, Virginia. His controlling theme is that of religion and the profound influence that it had on the development of Nat Turner's charismatic persona and his rationale for engaging in a project of deliberate murder of people who had at least in the context of slavery as a given of Turner's experience, treated him quite decently. The effects of Nat Turner's rebellion were profound. The insurrection of Nat Turner was inspiration for all slaves, even if just 60 whites were killed to the 140 blacks. I am impressed by his courage. The attitudes of many plantation owners changed as a result of Nat. Many people had believed that slaves would never think of hurting their "loving, Christian" master. What Nat did scared many whites tremendously. The Virginia state legislature actually debated freeing all slaves to avoid future conflict. Of course this never happened but this was the first time that such an idea had ever been discussed. Many slave holders blamed the rebellion on the abolishment movement. The same year of Nat's rebellion, William Lloyd Garrison began publishing "The Liberator". Some people attributed this to the cause of the killings. Laws were passed that forbid teaching slaves to read or write. An educated slave...
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...Antwan Rowel Mr.Kimbrough History B20a MW 9:35 November 7, 2011 Fires of Jubilee Pt.4 In The Fires of Jubilee Nat Turner's Fierce Rebellion: Stephen Oates gives an account of the brief but deadly slave revolt in and around Southampton, Virginia. His controlling theme is that of religion and the profound influence that it had on the development of Nat Turner's charismatic persona and his rationale for engaging in a project of deliberate murder of people who had at least in the context of slavery as a given of Turner's experience, treated him quite decently. The effects of Nat Turner's rebellion were profound. The insurrection of Nat Turner was inspiration for all slaves, even if just 60 whites were killed to the 140 blacks. I am impressed by his courage. The attitudes of many plantation owners changed as a result of Nat. Many people had believed that slaves would never think of hurting their "loving, Christian" master. What Nat did scared many whites tremendously. The Virginia state legislature actually debated freeing all slaves to avoid future conflict. Of course this never happened but this was the first time that such an idea had ever been discussed. Many slave holders blamed the rebellion on the abolishment movement. The same year of Nat's rebellion, William Lloyd Garrison began publishing "The Liberator". Some people attributed this to the cause of the killings. Laws were passed that forbid teaching slaves to read or write. An educated slave could be a dangerous slave...
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...Dequan Green Fire of Jubilee 3 Kimbrough November 9, 2015 The title of the third chapter, "Day of Judgment," is religiously self-explanatory, in that it describes the progress of the murder spree undertaken with Nat Turner's leadership. The chapter titled "Legacy" deals with the aftermath of the rebellion, which was marked by a profoundly reactionary response and a further hardening of attitudes toward slavery, both pro and con. Even in the early period of the American republic the lines of contentious slavery discourse had been drawn, with slavery-friendly grand juries accusing foes of slavery such as the Quakers of "agitating" unrest in the slaves and the Quakers responding "that it was not their pronouncements but the slave system itself that caused Negro unrest. The basis for opposition to slavery came from certain religious quarters, and it was articulated in religious terms. Meanwhile, in this context, there was the maturing figure of Nat Turner, referred to as the "smart nigger" of Southampton, Virginia. His personality appears to have been distinctive in various ways. As Oates explains, Turner was "generally regarded him with mixture of disdain, curiosity, indulgence, humor, and even a little respect. They let him have a last name. That is important because slaves either had no last name or were given the surname of their masters. Unlike many slaves, he was able to read. In his powerless situation and in a society that valorized Christianity and Christian...
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