The Moses Story and Nat Turner

            In the four panels of young Nat reading the story of Moses, Baker draws parallels to both Turner as a leader and the religious inspiration for the slave rebellion.  Both the Israelites and the slaves faced great hardships and mistreatment at the hands of powerful oppressors; however, only when charismatic leader comes along with the promise of freedom claiming God’s support do the slaves begin to consider the possibility of a free life.  Both Turner and Moses receive messages from God to free their people, but both men seem unsure how.  They rely on spiritual signs and divine power to determine their course of action; specifically in Turner’s case, he does not plan a violent insurrection until he receives specific messages from God.  By claiming they have the support of God, Moses and Turner inspire trust in their people and assume a position of leadership in their community.

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            Beyond the inspiration which both Moses and Turner apparently receive from the divine, the course of Turner’s rebellion mirrors that of Moses, particularly with the use of death as a means to throw off the power of the slavers.  In the Moses story, God kills the first born Egyptian children to force the Pharaoh to accept the power of the slaves and agree to allow the Israelites to leave Egypt.  Likewise, Turner makes a seemingly heartless declaration to not spear the life of any white person, regardless of age or gender.  Although this brutality horrified many abolitionists and religious leaders, Turner made sure to kill without discrimination to demonstrate the power of subjugated slaves.  Turner’s rebellion proved to Southern slaveholders that their oppression of the slave population would not continue indefinitely, and served as a harbinger of the violence to come with the Civil War.

Just as God inspired Moses to lead the Israelites to freedom with a message of a burning bush, Turner believed that God sent him messages through natural forces, as illustrated on pages 102 and 103 of the graphic novel.