Denmark Vesey

Vesey, Denmark (1767?–1822), free African American who planned a slave revolt at Charleston, S.C. (1822). Vesey was a carpenter who had purchased his freedom with money won in a street lottery. Dissatisfied with his inability to achieve full citizenship, with his children's status as slaves, and with the oppressive treatment of slaves in general, he gathered as many as 9,000 slaves and free blacks, who armed themselves with homemade weapons and prepared to attack Charleston. The plot was betrayed, and Vesey and 35 other leaders were hanged; 32 others were exiled.

See also: Slavery.