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Denmark Vesey (originally Telemanque, 1767-1822) was an African American slave and entrepreneur who planned what would have been a large slave rebellion had word of the plans not been leaked.
Vesey was taken from the Caribbean island of St. Thomas through Saint Domingue (present day Haiti) to South Carolina as a youth, where he was forced into slavery. In 1800, he won a street lottery; he used the money to start a successful carpentry business and thus escape slavery. He co-founded a Black Methodist church in 1816, which was shut down by White authorities in 1820. He, of course, retained solidarity with American slaves. Perhaps inspired by the revolutionary spirit and actions of slaves in Saint Domingue (known today as the Haitian Revolution), he planned what would have been the largest slave rebellion in U.S. history. His insurrection, which was to take place on July 14, 1822, became known by about 9,000 slaves and free blacks throughout Charleston who were to rebel. The plot was leaked by slaves opposed to Vesey's movement, and 131 people were charged with conspiracy by White Charleston authorities. 67 men were convicted and 35 hanged, including Denmark Vesey. He now is a historical figure to African American History and a role model for people of color still struggling for freedom.
Study of the Slave
Recent scholarship by Michael Johnson, of the Johns Hopkins University, revives an old theory which says that the Vesey Conspiracy was nothing more than angry talk. He points to the fact that besides questionable court records, no other material evidence exists of Vesey's plans to lead the revolt. *
During the American Civil War, Frederick Douglass used Vesey's name as a battlecry to rally African-American regiments, especially the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry.
In fiction
Denmark Vesey is also the name and basis for a character created by Orson Scott Card in the tales of Alvin Maker, a series of books which detail an alternate history of America. The character Denmark emerges in Book Five, Heartfire, in which his slave rebellion comes under threat by mistakes made by Alvin’s brother, Calvin Miller/Maker.
External links
References
- Robert V Haynes Blacks in White America Before 1865 (David McKay Company Inc. 1972) p. 287-309 Library of Congress Card Number 78-185137. Essay by Thomas Wentworth Higginson Black Rebellion (1889).
1767 births | 1822 deaths | African Americans | History of slavery in the United States | Slaves
"Denmark Vesey"