Visiting Nat Turner...

Hi all,

We had a great first day of filming in Southampton County where the Nat Turner insurrection took place. It was hot, sticky, humid, and we got stung by who-knows-what countless of times. Still, we managed to get some beautiful shots.

This first stop was quite the personal experience for us. I grew up hearing about Nat Turner from my parents who saw him as one of the most heroic figures during that dark period in American history. Like Patrick Henry who said, “Give me liberty, or give me death,” Nat Turner refused to accept his role as a slave destined to a endless life on the fields. His rebellion against the racial order of his time shook America to its core and that was his intent. Slavery became particularly brutal after the insurrection and even abolitionists were heavily targeted. Some thirty years later, the Civil War began.

Without going into too deep into details, we are using Turner in our “White Guilt” documentary as an example of a human being who refused to accept the racial role that he was born into. His immense courage led him to his death, but he died a free man and that is why we know his name today.

Here are a few photos from today:

Above is the Cabin Creek pond which is the general area where Turner and the first half a dozen slaves drank apple brandy and ate a pig while planning their insurrection. They would eventually march south of this pond for about several hundred yards to their first attack:

The above photo is the approximate location where the first attack took place.

While filming b-roll, we were told that the tavern in the above picture was where the whites gathered to form a militia to stop Nat Turner and his band of slaves which had grown 50+ strong. The militia would eventually kill over 200 slaves, many of them innocent.

Lastly, we filmed the sight of Nat Turner’s cave. It was not so much a cave but a depression in the ground from a fallen tree. He hid there for almost two months before he was captured. He was then taken to the courthouse where he met his fate.

Tomorrow morning we will gather more shots in the area before heading up to DC. I will send another update in several days.

Thank you for your support as always,

Eli