Chapter 12: Fear of Insurrection

Chapter 12

Fear of Insurrection

Summary: In this chapter Jacobs described Nat Turner's insurrection. During this the slaves' houses were "searched" and anything that looked like it was of value was taken and any writing confiscated and the slaves charged on it. Linda stayed at her grandmother's house during this and, because they had a white friend, they were protected from any wrong treatment. When their house was searched and a piece of writing was found, the most the soldiers did was tear it up and take some of their cloths. At night the soldiers became violent and procured some slaves.
Importance: This chapter was important in that it showed the cruelties done by those who weren't even slave masters. This also showed how they discouraged the learning of writing and reading.
Connection to Theme: One of the many displays of psychological abuse shown in this chapter was the way the slaves feared white people in general. Whether it was a slave master or a poor white man, the fear was still equally as great. The African Americans automatically felt that any person of white descent was above them and to be feared. This showed through their reactions to being unreasonably searched. The had no reason to search their homes, neither did they have reason to seize whatever property they wished. The slaves however were not shown to protest or fight back though. The just allowed them to continue because they were brought up to be submissive to the white people in such a way.