As in the lives of other legendary men, the fine details of Turner‘s birth were made a mystery to veil individuals in high places. Critical scholarship, nevertheless, still requires us to cut away the dross and extrapolate that which we know and find reasonable within the inhuman context of American slavery. According to oral reports, Turner’s mother was transported to Jamestown from Africa and sold on the auction block in Suffolk, Virginia. The agreed impression is that this African female was in her mid or late teens.

Then in his mid-30s, Benjamin Turner of Cross Keys (Southampton County), according to Gilbert Francis, bought Turner’s mother "some time between January and March of 1800." If this timeline is indeed accurate or near true, this African female became impregnated as soon as she was purchased by Benjamin Turner. Married with two children and possibly a wife with child, Ben Turner gave his new female slave the name "Nancy," which was also the name of his teenage daughter.

Francis’ timeline, however, generates questions concerning the "who" of Turner’s parents. In short, we are uncertain who was Nathaniel Turner’s father (Nat Turner Insurrection—1831, tape 1). But clues exist that run counter to the standard view.

Most often it is claimed, including by Turner himself, that his "father" was a slave. The time of his birth and his complexion suggest that his "slave father" was not his biological one. According to the Governor of Virginia’s 1831 Proclamation, Nat Turner was of a "rather bright complexion." The Governor’s description also concluded that Turner was "not a mulatto." Of course, the Governor did not know the truth of Turner’s parents. His use of the phrase "not a mulatto" meant Turner could not be mistaken for a white man.

For Turner had a "large flat nose" (Tragle, p. 421) and other Negro features. Some have felt a need to account for Turner’s complexion. According to Gilbert Francis, a local folklorist, Turner’s mother was from the Nile Valley and was of an "olive color." Of course, there are no records to sustain Francis’ tale of Nancy’s Nile Valley origins.

Francis’ account for Turner’s "bright complexion" runs counter to the norm of the African trade and that of human behavior. His tale suggests Nathaniel inherited his complexion from his mother rather than his father. That a slave was exported from East Africa to Virginia seems highly unlikely. Moreover, even if Nancy of the Nile Valley was of an "olive complexion," that hue is usually considered darker than a "bright complexion."

This account of the geographical origins of Turner’s mother leaves us in doubt of the full veracity of Francis’ tale and causes us to suspect that this story was manufactured by Nathaniel's white family and sustained by their co-religionists to mask sexual impropriety, namely, a slave master’s rape of his female slave.

Francis’ account of Turner’s early years also included the story that Nancy tried to kill her baby because "she did not want her baby to grow up in slavery" (Nat Turner Insurrection—1831, tape 1). But such radical "abolitionist sentiment," such "savage nobility," seems contrived, especially coming from a newly arrived African, whose culture sanctioned slavery (Lovejoy, p. 14).

Though it makes good melodrama, Nancy’s supposed natural repugnance to slavery, extraordinary in any setting, goes unaccounted and unsubstantiated. It is thread-bare fabrication. This tale of attempted infanticide is of the same material as the one of the Nile Valley origins to account for Turner’s complexion..

Both tales (fabrications) are incredible. The attempted "child murder" probably did occur, but not as a result of the reasons Francis and others have given. Francis is too Christian, too much of a Southern traditionalist, and upright to provide the more saucy aspects of Virginia slavery in the Jefferson tradition. This tale of Nancy’s "natural repugnance" to slavery seems designed to divert culpability away from Ben Turner. 

That a young terrified African girl would make a free sexual alliance with an American slave immediately on stepping off a slave ship seems too incredulous, doubtful and baffling, a play on the racial stereotype of the looseness of African sexual morality. And the lust of black American Christian male slaves.

That she was raped during the middle passage before she was sold to Ben Turner is a possibility. But then there would not have been a need for the tale of Nancy’s Nile Valley origins to account for Nathaiel’s complexion.

That the young Ben Turner fathered Nancy’s son seems most likely. This actuality would then explain not only the emphasis on the young African girl’s color as "olive," but also her threat on her child’s life. At the sight of her newborn, Nancy was shocked by her son’s complexion, which marked her shame and the man who ravished her. Benjamin Turner saved the baby’s life, according to Francis, and placed the child in the hands of Harriet and Tom, the surrogate grandparents on the plantation, to be raised (The Southampton Insurrection—1831, tape 1).

In that he was raised by his "grandparents," Turner, most likely, was speaking of Harriet and Tom when he spoke of his "mother" and "father" or his "parents." Seemingly, he recognized them as both parents and grandparents at different stages or in particular contexts of his life. This fusion of grandparents and parents in conversation still exists in many African-American families.

Judging by their status, Harriet and Tom must have been part of Ben Turner’s inheritance when he came of age. That is, Harriet and Tom had been owned by his father and were probably about Ben Turner’s thirty-four years or older. Tom, the so-called grandfather, may have also been the nameless father who ran away. 

His family having prospered during the Revolutionary War (1775-1783), Ben Turner was, thus, at least, a second-generation slaveowner. We have no evidence, however, that Ben Turner bought slaves other than the young African girl whom he renamed Nancy. If Gilbert Francis is correct about Ben Turner’s religiosity, this instance of slave buying may have occurred on impulse, rather than for economic reasons.

Though they lacked full command over their son, Nathaniel’s grandparents (probably in concert with their master, Ben Turner) named him "Nathaniel," which in Hebrew means "gift of God." His parents (grandparents) raised Nathaniel partially within the Cross Keys household of Ben Turner. This community of thickly situated farms, amidst great swamps, was within twenty miles of towns with Hebraic names; to the northeast, Bethlehem, and to the east, Jerusalem.

Even the name of Turner’s village seemed to possess the air of religious and Christian significance: the image of crossed keys called to mind the legend of Peter as gatekeeper holding the keys to heaven and hell (Matthew 16.18-19). During his life, Nathaniel Turner, it seems, confined himself to the world of Cross Keys and Jerusalem. Though there are stories of his having traveled outside of Southampton, his primary concern and interest was restricted to Cross Keys and Ben Turner’s Methodist society. Next Chapter

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update 28 June 2008