The Black Man: His Antecedents, His Genius, and His AchievementsBrown, William Wells
History
The Black Man: His Antecedents, His Genius, and His Achievements
Brown, William Wells
African Americans -- Biography
Fifty-five whites and seventy-three blacks lost their lives in the
Southampton rebellion. On the fatal night when Nat and his companions
were dealing death to all they found, Captain Harris, a wealthy
planter, had his life saved by the devotion and timely warning of his
slave Jim, said to have been half-brother to his master. After the
revolt had been put down, and parties of whites were out hunting the
suspected blacks, Captain Harris, with his faithful slave, went into
the woods in search of the negroes. In saving his master's life, Jim
felt that he had done his duty, and could not consent to become a
betrayer of his race, and, on reaching the woods, he handed his pistol
to his master, and said, "I cannot help you hunt down these men; they,
like myself, want to be free. Sir, I am tired of the life of a slave;
please give me my freedom, or shoot me on the spot." Captain Harris
took the weapon and pointed it at the slave. Jim, putting his right
hand upon his heart, said, "This is the spot; aim here." The captain
fired, and the slave fell dead at his feet.
From this insurrection, and other manifestations of insubordination by
the slave population, the southern people, if they are wise, should
learn a grave lesson; for the experience of the past might give them
some clew to the future.
Thirty years' free discussion has materially changed public opinion in
the non-slaveholding states, and a negro insurrection, in the present
excited state of the nation, would not receive the condemnation that it
did in 1831. The right of man to the enjoyment of freedom is a settled
point; and where he is deprived of this, without any criminal act of
his own, it is his duty to regain his liberty at every cost.
If the oppressor is struck down in the contest, his fall will be a just
one, and all the world will applaud the act.
This is a new era, and we are in the midst of the most important crisis
that our country has yet witnessed. And in the crisis the negro is an
important item. Every eye is now turned towards the south, looking for
another Nat Turner.
MADISON WASHINGTON.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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