In August 1831, Nat Turner, an enslaved preacher, acted on visions he believed were divine. The uprising he led in Virginia, is often remembered in stark terms: a bloody slave rebellion that hardened the South’s defenses of slavery. But the true story of how his story was told during the past two centuries, is far more complex.

Was Nat Turner's faith a source of personal liberation, a strategic blueprint for revolt, or a combination of both? We move beyond the simple narrative of a “mad prophet” or a purely political revolutionary to explore how his religious convictions shaped a radical challenge to the slave system.

We explore how Turner’s faith was neither simple nor singular, and how, in the two centuries since, his figure has been claimed, interpreted, and weaponised for vastly different agendas—by abolitionists, white supremacists, Black nationalists, and artists.

To unpack this, we are joined by Professor Greg Downs, who has co-authored a new book on the Nat Turner Revolt with the late Anthony E. Kaye.

To find out more about our guest and his book, click here.

Watch the 'Birth of a Nation' trailer here from the 2016 film that is being discussed on this Putschcast episode.

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