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The freedom fighters of America

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FOR slavery to be abolished in America there was continuous resistance in the form of slave rebellions and pressure from slave abolitionists.
The white Americans now want to make it seem as if their fathers willingly released blacks from slavery after some moral awakening but this is not the case.
The slave holders faced numerous acts of terror from slave rebels which eventually forced them to reconsider their stance on enslaving blacks.
The other factor that led to the freeing of black slaves and the campaigns that came with it was the growth of industry which substituted manpower with machine power.
In this article we discuss some of the notable people who led the slave rebellions which eventually earned blacks their freedom.
Nat Turner was a slave in Virginia and was born about 1800. His full name was Nathaniel and ‘Turner’ was the last name of his master — a white man called Benjamin Turner. Nat’s maternal grandmother was a descendant of the Akan people of Ghana.
She had been captured and taken to America from her homeland when she was 13 years of age.
Nat knew his maternal history well but he was not sure of his father’s. When children were born to slaves, the child would have the mother as the only recognised parent and the children were born as slaves. Even when the fathers were freed, the wife and children of the freed slave would remain the property of the slave master.
Nat grew up a smart man with notable natural intelligence.
He learnt at a very young age how to read and write and this was uncommon among blacks in those days.
The blacks found a loophole to literacy in the church for they were encouraged by their masters to be Christians.
In the process of learning the scriptures they learnt how to read the Bible and how to write out the verses.
Many states relaxed their laws to allow their black slaves to read and write for purposes of studying Christianity.
Nat Turner, in particular, was a very spiritual man who often fasted and read the Bible. Nat saw visions that made him understand that the blacks who were being enslaved by whites in his time were the descendants of the tribes of Israel who were written about in the Bible.
Nat Turner often declared to his friends that he held commune with the Almighty God and thus he was often referred to as ‘the Prophet’.
On May 12 of 1828, while working in his owner’s field, Nat had a great vision. Nat said of this vision, “I heard a loud noise in the heavens, and the Spirit instantly appeared to me and told me that the serpent was loosened and Christ had laid down the yoke he had borne for the sins of men.
I should take it on and fight against the serpent for the time was fast approaching when the first should be last, and the last should be first.”
Nat Turner was convinced that his God-given task was to slay his enemies with their own weapons.
Shortly after that he began plotting a rebellion and recruiting slaves and free blacks to raise a small army. He was fearless though he knew that if found out he would be put to death.
He was faithful in his mission and called this coming rebellion the great work that the Lord had given him.
They operated discretely and recruited slaves and free blacks from around their neighbourhood.
The use of songs was instrumental in passing coded messages without disclosing their secret plot. Before long, Nat Turner had mobilised a group of more than 70 blacks; slaves and freed ones too.
On August 21 of that year, Nat and his men began their rebellion and they marched from house to house, plantation to plantation, freeing the black slaves and killing the whites they found. By the time their rebellion was suppressed, they had altogether slain 60 white men, women and children.
Nat’s goal was to spread terror and alarm among the whites and to get them to reconsider the continued inhumane act of enslaving blacks. Nat was successful in this goal although he was eventually caught and put to death by hanging. His execution was on November 11 and after his death, his body was instantly flayed, beheaded and cut into pieces. Like the likes of Patrice Lumumba and Thomas Sankara, Nat’s body was not formally buried and his skull was kept for scientific use and moved to many different laboratories.
Apart from Nat Turner, the whites executed 56 other blacks who were suspected of being involved in the rebellion. However, 200 plus blacks were later murdered by angry white mobs.
The blacks were now more restricted from learning how to read and write and new laws were passed to punish literate slaves and to separate them from illiterate ones.
Many whites became fearful of blacks from the time of the Nat Turner rebellion because no black slave had killed so many whites until then.
The worst fear of the whites was the popularisation of Nat Turner’s ideas and methods of rebellion which involved terror and self sacrifice.
Another notable figure in the fight for the freedom of black slaves in America is John Brown. As mentioned earlier, John Brown was a white abolitionist. Like Nat Turner, John Brown fought against slavery after proclaiming that it was his calling from God to use violence against his fellow whites in order to end the enslavement of blacks in America.
John Brown was hated by men, states and governments because of his controversial stance against his fellow whites. He worked with blacks like Harriet Tubman in organising a rebellion known as the Harpers Ferry raid.
John Brown like Nat Turner conducted his rebellion in the state of Virginia and he finally led the rebellion on the 16th of October of 1859.
The raid was unsuccessful because information about the plot had been leaked to the white authorities. John Brown was captured and convicted of treason. He was sentenced to death and was hanged in December of that year.
Harriet Tubman who had been absent on the Harpers Ferry raid but had helped John Brown in recruiting and planning it said of him after hearing the news of his death; “ He done more in dying, than 100 men would in living.”

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