This month represents the anniversary of the Denmark Vesey Revolt, which occurred in 1822 in Charelston, South Carolina. Vesey was a slave who was probably born in St. Thomas, Danish West Indies. He was self taught. In 1800, Vesey purchased his freedom for $600 with money he won in a street lottery. Influenced by the Haitian Revoluton, 1791-1804, Vesey consumed antislavery literature. Staged as a reponse to the oppressive conditions that African Americans endured in Charelston, he sougth to unite free and enslaved Blacks in a revolt against the slave system.
Vesey's plan called for a coordinated attack organized by free Blacks in the city of Charleston and enslaved Africans on plantations in the hinterland. The attack included attacks on guardhouses and arsenals to seize arms, kill all whites, burn and destroy the city and kill the whites and free all enslaved people. It was estimated that their were more than 9,000 people involved in the plot.
Forewarned of the attack, whites made massive military preparations and thwarted the attack. In the aftermath of the unsuccessful revolt, more than 130 people were arrested. Of this number 67 were convicted of participating in a slave revolt. Vesey and 35 others were executed and the remainder exiled. Four white men were fined and imprisoned for their role in the revolt.
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