Talk:Nat Turner

Here are some suggestions of items to include:

• There is a story about a severe beating that Turner received as a child, resulting in the scar that is described in the article. This caused Turner to have horrible headaches and lighter work assignments. The source needs to be tracked down so this can be included. It might be in Grey.
• I recall an illustration of Turner's head that showed the scar. It would be better than the 1880s illustration currently used in the infobox.
•  Done Turner was known to baptize converts, including a famous instance of baptizing a white man. The article mentions the man, but not his baptism. Sources needed so this can be included
•  DoneIt might be helpful to add more about Grey's book, maybe under the legacy section or in its own section. It is the most detailed account from the time but was challenged at the time for it tone (ie educated whiteness) that Grey gave Turner. Grey's work has also been questioned by modern scholars. --since there is now an article about Gray, that may be better placed there Rublamb (talk) 15:22, 5 July 2025 (UTC)
•  Done There are more items to add to pop culture
• Does someone live in Richmond who can take a photo of the monument? Any other images such as parks or streets?
•  Done Another piece was in the Atlantic in 1861. I am pretty sure it would had some biographical details that were not in Grey. This was a Northern piece so will be different from earlier Southern writings.
• There is potential for a section on the evolution of Turner from a "rebel" into a hero. The scholar's response to Styron would be one source. But there are many out there. Probably the first biography for children about Turner was the Coretta Scott King Black history series that came out in the mid-1980s. I was loath to include that under pop culture.

Rublamb (talk) 05:26, 21 February 2024 (UTC)

"This caused Turner to have horrible headaches" The underlying cause may have been a head injury, which is not an uncommon result of physical assaults. But we would need a source about that. The typical symptoms of concussions include headaches. Dimadick (talk) 10:52, 21 February 2024 (UTC)

Exactly. I included this in a paper in the early 1980s, so sources do exist. Interesting point: this injury has been used to explain Turner's visions, implying some sort of brain damage. At the time, it was also used to explain why he was "different" or rebellious. Today, it can be interpreted as physical trauma caused by the brutality of slavery and also counters the stories of his "kind" masters. I suspect some of the newer books may address this last point. Rublamb (talk) 14:07, 21 February 2024 (UTC)

This article follows the style decisions editors made in Nat Turner's Rebellion, including using capitalization for race. Thus, both Black and White races are capitalized. Rublamb (talk) 14:33, 18 November 2024 (UTC)

This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 27 January 2025 and 26 May 2025. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Ejmararac2001 (article contribs). Peer reviewers: 8ritan.

— Assignment last updated by Lscott5 (talk) 12:52, 26 May 2025 (UTC)

There are two citations regarding the use of Turner’s body parts by white people after his death, but the second one, from a 2005 AmericanHeritage.com article, does not cite its own sources and lists the uses of the body parts (skin for purses, rendering grease from his body, bones for souvenirs) in the exact same order as the first source from 1920, which leads me to believe that it may simply be repeating the first source’s claim. As such, I think it makes sense to remove the second citation. Nbhive (talk) 16:42, 24 February 2025 (UTC)

Thanks for your suggestion. In this case, I think it is fine to keep both sources, especially given the the controversial nature of this content and the reliable nature of American Heritage. We also need to be careful about over-reliance on sources from the early 20th century. Although this group of resources collectively formed the first historical canon of Turner, these were almost all from the perspective of white male scholars/historians of a racist era. Thus, it is beneficial to pair these sources with a more recent source for balance. Although both sources appear to use the same primary source, we are showing two interpretations of the archival sources. Rublamb (talk) 17:17, 24 February 2025 (UTC)

This doesn't address, much less rebut, the claim being made, though, which is that the American Heritage article appears to be relying on the 1920 article. If that's case, the 1920 source isn't being "balanced" by the American Heritage article. ~2025-34183-37 (talk) 06:29, 17 November 2025 (UTC)

As stated above, both American Heritage and the 1920s source appear to be using the same primary source which is why they are similar. Rublamb (talk) 08:02, 17 November 2025 (UTC)

Towards the beginning of this article the statement is made, "Nat Turner's Rebellion resulted in the death of 923 white men, women, and children..." However, later in this article, under the "Rebellion" section, the statement is made, "Nat Turner's Rebellion resulted in the death of 55 white men, women, and children." I found at least five other sources, including the Wikipedia article on titled "Nat Turner's Rebellion", Billofroghtsinstitute.org, Battlefields.org, and Gilderlehrman.org, who put the white deaths between 53 and 60. What is the source for the 923 deaths, and why does this article reference 55 deaths later? Coulston (talk) 05:36, 12 March 2025 (UTC)

Someone is vandalising the page. When I first looked, Nat Turner's birth was given as the year 1236! I though I wasn't seeing right. Looking at the history, I saw that it had been changed only a few moments before. Then I spotted the 923 deaths too and checked other resources. Someone had evidently just changed 55 into a random number. Not to mention the change about white men eating his dead body. 2.204.167.77 (talk) 08:31, 12 March 2025 (UTC)

This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 26 May 2025 and 16 July 2025. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Gideonajiboye1 (article contribs).

— Assignment last updated by Nayelimorocho (talk) 03:13, 4 July 2025 (UTC)