Chapter 12 Extra Credit

Nat Turner rebellion was one of many events that caught my interested. I do not recall reading or studying this rebellion before. He was a religious African American man who was a Baptist minister. On the night of August 21^st Turner and about 70 slaves (the people who joined the rebellion) killed approximately 60 slaves. I looked into it more and found out that the rebellion was one of the bloodiest and most effective in American history. This did bring fear throughout the white community in Virginia however many Southern States (including N. Carolina) tightened restrictions on African Americans. (Many states emancipated slaves.) Militia and vigilantes were able to retaliate and killed slaves. The south was then divided into 2 sections; the upper south and the lower south. Around this time the cotton and corn were in high demand. Also the separation between the south and north came to be. The South was rural but the North was urban (completely different.) The south lacked industrialization. There was a man who wanted to improve the south he goes by the name of William Gregg. He created a company of textile town. The slaves actually caused problems for the southern industrialization. Slaves were employed, worked over time and since they were working in factories their attitudes changed. The southern did not want the slaves to gain any education. For example, law makers made it a crime to teach slaves how to read.  When I read that I couldn’t believe my eyes. They took it to the extreme.  Another section that caught my interest was the social groups of the White South. I read that there was diversity in the south between slave holding class and non-slave holding class. ( they were more diverse) Back then the wealth was based off of the value of the slaves. There was a term “mulatto” which refereed to mixed children. (Mixed with African Americans & whites) What I do not seem to understand is the whites were disgusted of the slaves, treated them unequal as if they weren't human however the whites would let the blacks raise their children or look after them. I also found interesting the “logic of slavery” which states “invest in slaves and have them work on profitable crops. Basically you should buy slaves to do work for your convenience.

There was a difference between the north and south in terms of treatment of slaves. George Fitzhugh compared the northern and southern treatments. He concluded; Northerners would get rid of their slaves who were ill or too old to work whereas the southerners could care and tend towards their slaves health and clothing. You can clearly see the distinction between the two.  This chapter had too many sections to talk about them all. I found myself just reading one section after the other. Each section was very interesting and very informative.  But in the end the author closes with the development of African American Culture, which is still expressed today.