Reorienting to Enslaved People’s Perspectives

My students were split on whether they believed Nat Turner, an enslaved Black preacher who started a violent uprising to free enslaved people, was a fanatic or a calculated risk-taker. I wanted my students to understand that even though Nat Turner and other enslaved folks violently killed white enslavers, they were dealing with circumstances that we can’t even begin to imagine in our own lives and had few other options. I felt that the class was beginning to get too wrapped up in the fact that Nat Turner and other enslaved folks had murdered the white enslavers in the rebellion. I wanted them to really give it some more thought and see the complexity of the situations. For seven turns-in-a-row, they focused on the white enslavers, not giving much thought to why enslaved folks took such drastic action. I didn’t know how to get them away from this point. I thought about letting them continue on this path because they were genuinely engaged. I also thought about asking the central question again, but emphasizing why someone might believe he was a calculated risk-taker. Finally, I thought about just leading them to a different text that described how the uprising was planned. I didn’t know what to do!