“Think twice before you speak, because your words and influence will plant the seed of either success or failure in the mind of another.” This quote by Napoleon Hill sums up what made Gabriel Prosser’s slave revolt successful in the aspects of making people believe in the idea of freedom and equality for people of all races. Gabriel’s revolt did have flaws, which led to its demise, from the unfortunate storm to traitors from within. In Black Thunder, a novel written by Arna Bontemps in 1936 which describes the life of a slave and how a brave group of African Americans led a revolt for their freedom in Virginia led by Gabriel Prosser. Gabriel Prosser was a leader who had a way of being persuasive and confident in all situations which made other African Americans want to follow him. Gabriel was assertive and confident in the revolt he helped to plan, “we going to divide in three lines. One’ll go on each side of the town; one’ll take the old penitentiary what they’s using for a arsenal…and the
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For slaves they now “understood now that words like freedom and liberty drip blood – always” (Black Thunder, p.197). For whites, like Alexander Biddenhurst, realized “surely it was becoming increasingly plain that liberty and equality for any poor class could not prevail so long as the system of chattel slavery continued to mock them.” (Black Thunder, p.151). Gabriel’s revolt may not have been successful at capturing Richmond, but it did spark change in the minds of whites and blacks. Gabriel’s revolt may have been a failure due to the storm and the loss of confidence in the slaves and the traitors to the cause, but Gabriel sparked a movement and slaves would just have “to wait for the slow drip of spring to cut a way through the stone. And eventually the stone would fail” (Black Thunder, p.152) Slaves freedom was coming and to sum up Gabriel’s revolt is a quote by C.S. Lewis, “Failures are finger posts on the road to
For slaves they now “understood now that words like freedom and liberty drip blood – always” (Black Thunder, p.197). For whites, like Alexander Biddenhurst, realized “surely it was becoming increasingly plain that liberty and equality for any poor class could not prevail so long as the system of chattel slavery continued to mock them.” (Black Thunder, p.151). Gabriel’s revolt may not have been successful at capturing Richmond, but it did spark change in the minds of whites and blacks. Gabriel’s revolt may have been a failure due to the storm and the loss of confidence in the slaves and the traitors to the cause, but Gabriel sparked a movement and slaves would just have “to wait for the slow drip of spring to cut a way through the stone. And eventually the stone would fail” (Black Thunder, p.152) Slaves freedom was coming and to sum up Gabriel’s revolt is a quote by C.S. Lewis, “Failures are finger posts on the road to