born Oct. 2, 1800, Southampton county, Va., U.S.
died Nov. 11, 1831, Jerusalem, Va.
U.S. insurrectionist.
Born into slavery, he became convinced of his mission to lead American slaves out of bondage and developed a scheme to capture the armoury at Jerusalem, Va. He took an eclipse of the sun as a sign to act (1831) and began his insurrection by killing his master's family. He led 75 slaves as they killed about 60 whites on a two-day march to Jerusalem. About 3,000 state militia and local whites defeated the insurrectionists, who were captured or killed. Turner eluded arrest for six weeks but was found, tried, and hanged. Alarmed by the uprising, Southern states passed legislation forbidding the education, movement, or assembly of slaves.