Today, in honor of Black History Month, we remember Nat Turner, who led one of the only effective, sustained slave revolt in U.S. history (in 1831). They killed over 50 people, mostly whites, but the authorities put down the rebellion after a few days. Turner survived in hiding for several months. The militia and racist mobs, in turn, slaughtered up to 120 free and enslaved black people, and the state executed another 56, and severely punished dozens of non-slaves in the frenzy that followed the uprising. Turner’s revolt set off a new wave of oppressive legislation by whites, prohibiting the education, movement and assembly of enslaved and free blacks, alike. After his conviction, he was beheaded and flayed, to deter future rebels. His skin was used to make souvenir purses and his skeleton was used as a medical specimen. In the 1960s, there was funk-soul band Nat Turner Rebellion. Tupac Shakur had a cross tattoo on his back, "EXODUS 1831", in reference to the year Turner led the rebellion

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