James H. Harris , who has written extensively about the history of the black church , says that the revolt " marked the turning point in the black struggle for liberation . " According to Harris , Turner believed that " only a cataclysmic act could convince the architects of a violent social order that violence begets violence . " In the period soon after the revolt , whites did not try to interpret Turner 's motives and ideas . Antebellum slaveholding whites were shocked by the murders and had their fears of rebellions heightened ; Turner 's name became " a symbol of terrorism and violent retribution . " In an 1843 speech at the National Negro Convention , Henry Highland Garnet , a former slave and active abolitionist , described Nat Turner as " patriotic " , saying that " future generations will remember him among the noble and brave . " In 1861 Thomas Wentworth Higginson , a northern writer , praised Turner in a seminal article published in '' Atlantic Monthly '' . He described Turner as a man " who knew no book but the Bible , and that by heart who devoted himself soul and body to the cause of his race . " In the 21st century , writing after the September 11 attacks in the United States , William L. Andrews drew analogies between Turner and modern " religio-political terrorists " . He suggested that the " spiritual logic " explicated in '' Confessions of Nat Turner '' warrants study as " a harbinger of the spiritualizing violence of today 's jihads and crusades . "
September 11 attacks
September 11 attacks
Nat Turner