"Nat Turner, Black Prophet: A Visionary History" - Conflicting History as Taught in the 1950s in the 7th Grade Virginia History Textbook and Modern Revised History, Does It Make a Difference to the Bottom Line?

This article appeared in the Washington Post Book Section this past week and my immediate reaction was expressed in my below comment in the article’s comments section.  My initial reaction to reading the synopsis of this new book declaring Nat Turner a “Black Prophet” and a “Visionary” was this account clashes with what I had learned in my 7^th Grade Virginia History class in Southside Virginia in the 1959, which I initially interpreted to show how far we had come as a society since back then. Then Turner was portrayed as a poor dumb slave that led a revolt leading other slave to slaughter White people in the mistaken believe he was leading his followers to the biblical Promised Land of Jerusalem. At that time the County Seat of Southampton County, Virginia was named Jerusalem but has since been renamed Courtland. We were taught that Turner was so ignorant that he mistakenly thought the County Seat was the same Jerusalem as the one in the Bible.

After reflecting on this more, I have come to realize it’s not really important which narrative was correct, my 7^th grade textbook or this paperback, what was important is that Nat Turner realized slavery was not right and he took steps to correct it, steps that made an important statement which cost him his life.

14 new paperbacks that hit shelves in August

The month’s notable new releases include the latest novels by Elizabeth Strout and Louis Bayard, a biography of Audre Lorde, and the account of a hostage crisis in London.

August 15, 2025

https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/2025/08/15/new-recommended-paperback-releases/

Black history

‘Nat Turner, Black Prophet: A Visionary History’ by Anthony E. Kaye and Gregory P. Downs

Turner blazed into the American history books in 1831, when he led an uprising of enslaved people in Virginia that killed at least 55 White people, the bloodiest such insurrection in U.S. history. This heartfelt, meticulous account, which plants him in the world of early-19th-century American Methodism, centers his self-conception as a prophet with visions and as a general prosecuting a war with biblical resonance.

14 new paperbacks that hit shelves in August - Comments

This treatment of the Nat Turner rebellion shows how far history has evolved since I attended school is Southeast Virginia in the late 1950s - early 60’s. History then portrayed Turner as a poor dumb slave with a rudimentary knowledge of the Bible who read some weather conditions as a sign from the heavens to go on a murdering rampage leading his followers to “the Promised Land” which he believed was the biblical town of Jerusalem. Unfortunately, the County Seat of Southampton County, the location of the rebellion, was then named “Jerusalem” (now Courtland) which Turner mistakenly thought was the same Jerusalem in the Bible. And that’s how history was taught in Southeast Virginia under the Byrd Machine back when Virginia schools were still segregated. Don’t laugh but that’s how the 7th grade mandatory Virginia history class was taught back then and shows how far we have come.