Nat Turner

1800 – 1831

Nat Turner was an enslaved Black carpenter and lay preacher who in August 1831 led a four-day rebellion of enslaved and free Black people in Southampton County, Virginia—the most consequential slave revolt in U.S. history. The uprising killed roughly 55 white enslavers and family members before being suppressed by state militias, who, along with vigilante mobs, killed approximately 120 Black people in retaliation, many uninvolved in the revolt. Turner was captured in October 1831, tried, hanged, and skinned, but his rebellion permanently shattered the antebellum South's myth of contented enslavement.

Last checked: May 10, 2026, 1:06 PM