Comprehensive information and links about Denmark Vesey

Denmark Vesey , 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 Santo Domingue (present day Haiti) to South Carolina as a youth, where he was made a slave. In 1800, he won a street lottery; he used the money to start a successful carpentry business and thus escape slavery. He cofounded a Black Methodist church in 1816, which was shut down by white authorities in 1820.

However, he retained immense empathy with American slaves. Perhaps inspired by the way slaves coordinated their slave revolution in Santo 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 participate. The plot was leaked by slaves loyal to their white owners who overheard talks of rebellion, and 131 people were charged with conspiracy by Charleston authorities. 67 men were convicted and 35 hanged, including Denmark Vesey. He now is a historical figure to African American History.α

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. [1]

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. Denmarks character emerges in Book Five, 'Heartfire', in which his slave rebellion comes under threat by mistakes made by Alvins brother, Calvin Miller (David McKay Company Inc. 1972) p. 287-309 Library of Congress Card Number 78-185137. Essay by Thomas Wentworth Higginson