Dr. Scot French - Associate Director of the Carter G. Woodson Institute for African and African-American Studies lectured on the Nat Turner revolt.   Dr. French analyzed  The Confessions of Nat Turner   in his lecture.

    The document allows people who study it to learn about many facets of the era: the great men, religion, slavery, abolition, politics and economics. One seminarian pointed out the misquote in the confession; “seek ye first the kingdom of heaven, etc.” was quoted as  “seek the kingdom of heaven.”  This lead to discussion of the validity of other parts of the document.

    The incidents described in the document aroused great discussion among the seminarians and demonstrated the effectiveness of using primary sources in the classroom.

The Confessions of Nat Turner

Nat Turner's Insurrection  by  Thomas Wentworth Higginson Atlantic Monthly, 1861

Thomas Wentworth Higginson was a prominent figure in abolitionist politics in Massachusetts during the 1850s.  Dismissed from his Unitarian pulpit in Newburyport, Massachusetts, in 1849 because of his anti-slavery politics and sermons, he spoke and agitated on behalf of the abolitionist cause during the next decade.  He was a leader amongst the abolitionists who attempted to liberate captured fugitive slave Anthony Burns in Boston in 1854, later became a confidante and supporter of John Brown, and eventually served as colonel of the 1st South Carolina Volunteers, the first black regiment of the Union Army.