Nat Turner's Revolt

Yesterday was the anniversary of the day, in 1831, that a slave named Nat Turner, a 30-year-old man legally owned by a child, and six other slaves, began a violent insurrection in Southampton County, Virginia. They began by killing the child’s stepfather, Joseph Travis, and their family. Within the next 24 hours, Turner and, ultimately, about 40 followers killed the families who owned adjacent slaveholding properties, nearly 60 whites, while freeing and inciting other slaves to join them. Militia and federal troops were called, and the uprising was suppressed with 55 African Americans including Turner executed by hanging, and hundreds more killed by white mobs and vigilantes in revenge.
Read more about Nat Turner and his revolt here; read his 'confessions' here.