Summary Of Horrid Massacre In Virginia By Samuel Warner

The piece of art that I would like to focus on is displayed in chapter five (pg.193) of our textbook. It is a piece titled “Horrid Massacre in Virginia,” referring to the events that occurred in Nat Turner Rebellion. Although the specific artist of the work is unknown, this illustration was presented in a book by Samuel Warner, titled, “Authentic and Impartial Narrative of the Tragical Scene Which Was Witnessed in Southampton County.” This book was written in 1831, which is the same year of Nat Turner's Rebellion. The rebellion occurred on August 22nd, 1831. The image itself depicts a chaotic fight between the slaves and the white population. There are two separate panels of this image. The top panel depicts the slaves attacking the white people, and the lower panel shows white soldiers chasing the slaves towards the woods. What stood out to me the most in the artwork was the image of one slave holding an axe above a white mother and her three children. In fact, the majority of those killed during the rebellion were women and children (“Horrid Massacre in Virginia”). I believe that this just goes to show how merciless and tired the slaves were of their oppression. This piece …show more content…
In the early 1500's the Spanish began importing slaves from Africa to Hispaniola, since the Taino slaves had quickly died from the horrid conditions. For some reason, they believed African slaves would simply “work better,” and that it was not the severe working conditions that was causing frequent slave deaths. Tough slave conditions remained, and it was not until 1522 that the first major slave revolt occurred in Hispaniola (Cardoza and Hume, p.3). Just as the Virginia militia suppressed the Nat Turner rebellion in short time, the Spanish did the same. In both cases, it is unfortunate to say that the slaves only gained more hardships in response to the strike against their