07.14_Denmark Vesey's Foiled Revolt

#OTD The largest slave uprising, planned by Denmark Vesey, was scheduled to be carried out in Charleston, South Carolina.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
This day in Custory, July fourteenth, eighteen twenty two, the
largest orchestrated slavery volte in the United States was to
be carried out by Denmark. Vessei Vessi spent twenty years
sailing with his master. In eighteen hundred, he purchased his freedom,
took up carpentry in Charleston, South Carolina, and prospered at
his trade. By eighteen eighteen, Vessi was preaching to slaves

(00:25):
at plantations throughout the region. Drawing on the Bible, he
told them that like the Israelites, they would gain their freedom.
He allegedly held meetings at his home to collect arms
for an uprising. He was planning for as many as
nine thousand African Americans in South Carolina. His plan was
betrayed by several fearful slaves, and Vessi was seized.

Speaker 2 (00:48):
He was sentenced and hanged along with thirty five others.

Speaker 1 (00:51):
The discovery of his plan resulted in the passing of
even stricter laws against African Americans

Speaker 2 (01:00):
And