Many, many years ago I wrote my first term paper (does that “term” even still exist?) on Nat Turner’s revolt. At the time my high school research was primarily based on William Styron’s acclaimed fictional novel that was written as a first person account from Nat Turner based on his supposed confession that was in fact published by a White lawyer, Thomas Ruffin Gray, in 1831.

William Styron’s novel was supported by legendary African American authors Ralph Ellison (“The Invisible Man”) and James Baldwin and received widespread critical acclaim including the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1968. READ MORE