The Fires of Jubilee : Nat Turner's Fierce Rebellion

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Recommended: Civil war and the freedom of slaves

The Fires of Jubilee : Nat Turner's Fierce Rebellion The Fires of Jubilee, is a well written recollection of the slave insurrection led by Nathaniel Turner. It portrays the events leading towards the civil war and the shattered myth of contented slaves in the South. The book is divided into four parts: This Infernal Spirit of Slavery, Go Sound the Jubilee, Judgment Day, and Legacy. The story takes place in Southampton County, Virginia where little Nat Turner is introduced. Nat led a normal childhood for the most part, supervised by his beloved grandmother. They were working as slaves on a plantation owned by Benjamin and Elizabeth Turner. The Turners became Methodists due to the emphasis on free will and salvation. The impact of religious institutions on slavery gave whites second opinions on slavery. Methodists, Quakers and anti-slavery Baptist made it their duty to see that their voices were heard. Stephen B. Oats, the author, recalls the unlawful accounts of Nat's mother, Nancy, while being forced into slavery. Being just a teenage girl, she was abducted in North's Nile River Country by slave raiders. She was then marched hundreds of miles to the coast and sold to the Europeans. She endured the "middle passage" which was the dreaded voyage of being in a crammed small area with many other chained Africans. The results of this torment included suicide, starvation, and death from white man's disease. It was also noted that Nancy tried to kill her ba...

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