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Contents

Guide

KYLE BAKER

ABRAMS, NEW YORK

PREFACE

I

.

HOME

II

.

EDUCATION

III

.

FREEDOM

IV

.

TRIUMPH

BIBLIOGRAPHY

NOTES

The CONFESSIONS

OF NAT TURNER

PREFACE

I first learned the name Nat Turner as a child in school. In my American history textbook was

one paragraph, which basically said that Nat Turner led a slave rebellion in 1831,

and that it was a significant event.

Over the years I would encounter the name Nat Turner in various books. None of

the entries was longer than a few sentences mentioning the name, the date, and that

it was important.

I became curious: Who was this man who was important enough to be mentioned in

all

the history books, yet is never spoken about at length?

Most of historys great people and events are examined in novels, plays, film, even art. I

can go to a bookstore and find dozens of books about Harriet Tubman, Abraham Lincoln, or

George Washington Carver. I may find one about Nat Turner. I can rent dozens of films about

the Civil War, Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks, and Jackie Robinson. But there are

no Hollywood Nat Turner films.

While many battle sites of the Civil War have plaques, statues, and even gift shops,

the sites of Turners rebellion are unmarked.

Many of historys greatest people, including Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, and

Malcolm X all cite Nat Turner as an inspiration. Talk about important! In fact, it was in

Malcom Xs autobiography where I first read a longer narrative of the Turner Rebellion.

Reading Malcolm Xs description of Turners story made me realize it was the perfect subject

for a comic book.

Comic books/graphic novels are a visual medium, so its most important for an artist to

choose a subject with opportunities for compelling graphics. The Nat Turner story has lots of

action and suspense, also a hero with superhuman abilities.

I often choose to write books on subjects I wish to know more about. I wanted to know

how a person nobody wanted to talk about could be arguably one of the most important

men in American history.

One thing thats always mystified me about slavery is this: If slaves were selected

and bred for size and strength, slavemasters must very quickly have found themselves

outnumbered by their bigger, stronger slave population. How does a weaker minority dominate

a physically superior majority?

In my research I learned that this is accomplished by destroying the slaves mind. More

effective than whips and guns was the simple act of outlawing the teaching of slaves to

read or to write.

Think Im exaggerating? Nat Turner broke the law, learned to read and write, and the

rest is history.

Turner was a lousy fighter, an inept swordsman, and most of the people he tried to kill

didnt die by his hand. His sole strength was his superior brain. He became a leader of men

because he had developed his mind by reading, which happened to be illegal. Coincidence?

We are fortunate today to live in a free country where access to books is unlimited.

If a man in Nat Turners circumstances was able to change history, imagine what you can

do with the freedom you have today.

I originally chose to publish Nat Turner myself, rather than through the comic book

publishers I usually work for (the two largest). I liked that one of my first books as an

independent publisher would be about a self-freed slave. I knew nothing about publishing,

having only worked as an artist before. In the tradition of my hero Nat Turner, I went out

and found books about being a publisher. I learned how to start a business, get printing,

and distribution. I found books about sales and marketing.

My self-published book ended up selling through two printings thanks to reviews in

Entertainment Weekly

and

The Washington Post

. It was so successful that one of my

all-time favorite publishers, Harry N. Abrams, picked it up and published the lovely edition

you are now holding.

Thats just one example of what free access to reading has given me. You can do it, too.

Did you know there are books about how to find a diamond mine? Think about it.

Kyle Baker

I

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