Vigilante terror and draconian laws followed Nat Turner’s rebellion rather than abolition

Evidence

While Turner was still free, however, roving gangs of white men attacked Black people in Southampton and nearby counties, killing as many as two hundred to ensure that Black rebels would not dare to attempt another revolt. One observer wrote that white vigilantes “formed themselves into patrol bands, and went wherever they chose among the colored people, acting out their brutal will.” Virginia lawmakers also surrendered to fear. Although, in the aftermath of Turner’s rebellion, they briefly considered abolishing slavery, they ultimately elected, once again, to pass draconian laws severely restricting Black people’s lives. Aware that literacy inspired Black people’s strivings for freedom, and that religious gatherings were used as opportunities to plot rebellions, lawmakers augmented punishments for enslaved people who learned to read, held unsupervised religious gatherings, or interacted with free Black people. — Nikole Hannah-Jones et al., The 1619 Project, 377

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the book’s core reframing thesis about slavery being foundational to American law and order — and to the reader’s case study of how origin narratives determine what counts as design vs. deviation.