Chapter 12, Fear of Insurrection Summary and Analysis

Here one learns about the aftermath of Nat Turner's insurrection and how it affected the lives of Linda and the other slaves (and free black people) in her area. While the annual muster has already passed for the year, another one is planned. In a muster, the white men of the town and surrounding areas line up in military fashion and search the homes of the slaves and free Negroes for signs of resistance and conspiracy. Evidently, the annual muster is typically a reasonably painless procedure, because most of the slaves are not worried about it—many of them even look forward to it as a holiday. The muster proves to be horrific, however. Slaves' homes are destroyed. Men, women, and children are drug out into the street to be whipped and tortured. Property...