Vesey, << VEE zee, >> Denmark (1767?-1822), a Black freedman, planned a slave revolt in the state of South Carolina that would have involved more Black people than any other uprising in United States history. The revolt never took place. But the threat of it caused South Carolina to pass restrictive laws against Black literacy and religion.
In 1822, Vesey recruited hundreds of enslaved and free Black people in South Carolina’s coastal counties for a July 14 assault on Charleston. As many as 5,000 enslaved people may have known of the plot, and two of them informed their owners. Charleston officials arrested several leading rebels and whipped them until they gave information leading to the arrest of Vesey and his chief lieutenant. After a trial by a special tribunal (court), Vesey and 34 others were hanged. The tribunal ordered 37 conspirators, including Vesey’s son Sandy, to be sold to Spanish-ruled Cuba.
Vesey was probably born in St. Thomas, in what are now the U.S. Virgin Islands. In 1781, he was purchased by Captain Joseph Vesey to serve as a cabin boy and domestic servant. The captain gave the boy the name Telemaque, but the boy came to be known as Denmark. About 1799, he bought his freedom with lottery winnings. He then worked as a carpenter and a lay preacher. Vesey was hanged on July 2, 1822.
