“It had never occurred to me that hundreds of Black people had got together to fight for their freedom. The day I found out about Nat Turner I was affected so strongly it was physical. I was so souped up on adrenaline I could barely contain myself. I tore through every book my mother had. Nowhere could I find the name Nat Turner.
I had ground up believing the slaves hadn’t fought back. I remember feeling ashamed when they talked about slavery in school. The teachers made it seem that Black people had nothing to do with the official ’emancipation’ from slavery. White people had freed us.
You couldn’t catch me without a book in my hand after that.” -Assata Shakur
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