Richard Hatcher, Shelly Wood and Shanna Aguirre

Nation catches up to Nat Turner

Contributed By:The 411 News

Granddaughters 4 times removed, Shanna Batten Aguirre and Shelly Lucas Wood were welcomed to Gary to claim the skull of Nat Turner.

In 1831, Turner led the nation’s bloodiest and most famous slave uprising. He and his fellow slaves murdered 57 whites – men, women, and children – in a rampage lasting two days.

Aguirre and Wood were guests of Gary’s former mayor Richard G. Hatcher and founder of the National Civil Rights Hall of Fame at a lunch, Friday, October 7, the same day of the release of the movie that retells the insurrection, “The Birth of a Nation.” Two weeks earlier, Wood, Aguirre and other family members saw the film at a pre-release screening with its director and star Nate Parker.

“This is very humbling, finally to say in 2016 we are descendants of Rev. Nat Turner,” Wood said. Southampton County, Virginia, where the rebellion occurred, is still home to many of Turner’s descendants. “My mother and father still live there and so do family members of those who were killed.”

“When I was growing up, in the 1960’s, we never talked about it as a family. When we did, it was very quietly. Not to ruffle any feathers and not to cause too much attention to us because we didn’t know what the repercussions would be,” Woods said.

In August, as the date for the movie’s release approached, Wood said she was back home in Southampton and began to make plans for a Nat Turner day. Wood’s mother cautioned her about any Turner celebrations. “Maybe if you did it in Washington or New York, but I don’t think the county is ready for it.”

What is ironic for Wood is the county historical society’s sight-seeing tours that revisit the paths of the 2-day rebellion, but do not include visits to Turner’s families.

The nation is still catching up with Nat Turner, 185 years after the rebellion.

How the Civil Rights Hall of Fame in Gary came to claim the remains of Nat Turner is another story in the saga. In 2002, Hatcher announced the skull had become part of the collection for the planned museum – it was a gift from then NAACP State president Rev. Franklin Breckinridge.

Rev. Breckinridge filled in the details. “In 1973 I was working in Elkhart, Indiana at Miles Laboratories as an in-house counselor. In 1974, my wife Cora started work in the Elkhart school district, where she met Dr. Robert Butterworth, assistant superintendent.”

Up to early 2000, the friendship lasted, said Rev. Breckinridge. “Cora was head of the local NAACP membership drive and she asked everyone to join. Butterworth became an NAACP member. I think he became a life member.”

Breckenridge said Butterworth knew they were active in the civil rights movement and had something in mind. “He had heard of plans for the civil rights museum and he wanted us to present the skull to the hall of fame”

Rev. Breckenridge told the story of the skull’s travels. “With the skull, Dr. Butterworth provided a couple of letters. One letter was his father’s that had been passed from his father who was an M.D. The letter said his great-grandfather was a friend and M.D. to the medical doctor who had attended to Rev. Nat Turner’s remains after he was executed. That doctor passed the skull to Butterworth’s great-grandfather.”

Shanna Aguirre said the Turner descendants “own a sizeable farm in Southampton that includes the location where Turner hid out after the rebellion until he was captured. “We’ve owned it for over 100 years. How we came to own the property is a story in itself,” she said, but didn’t elaborate.

The legacy of Turner has always been revered in the family, Aguirre said. “He established a legacy that he claimed for himself, formed of righteous rage. Rev. Turner acted upon what is now called a moral imperative to be manifested into an insurrection. His legacy was to ignite the civil rights movement that evolved into the election of the first black president.

“This small fragment of our grandfather is symbolic because it draws attention to the humanity of black people and to our significance in the history of this country,” Aguirre said.

The family has decided to turn the skull over to the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C. for DNA testing. If it proves to be Turner’s, it will be buried with other family members in Southampton.

Story Posted:10/15/2016