The Enslaved Rebel

Black Americans in the United States have a long history of organized resistance against discriminatory laws and legislation. It is countered by an equally long history of political retribution and judicial vengeance. During 1821and 1822, Denmark Vesey recruits thousands of enslaved blacks to help him burn Charleston, South Carolina, in hopes of igniting an even larger uprising. But the rebels are betrayed before they can carry out their plan. Between 35 and 45 people, including Vesey, are hanged. The trial record, deemed too incendiary for blacks to read, is destroyed shortly after publication, and the state passes legislation barring free black sailors from coming ashore when they dock at South Carolina ports.

In 1800, a blacksmith named Gabriel Prosser spends months planning an attack on Richmond, Virginia. At the last minute, though, he is found out. The governor calls out the militia, and Prosser is hanged, along with 34 of his followers. Virginia will also be the site of the notorious Nat Turner rebellion. In 1831, Turner leads a band of about 70 slaves from plantation to plantation in Southampton, killing a total of 55 whites. Over the next two days, 120 blacks are killed in retaliation. Turner is executed after being captured eight weeks later. At the time, although there is no external threat, Virginia's militia is equal to ten percent of the statešs population. This is but one way in which the mechanisms of power are employed to quash organized resistance among the nearly 800,000 blacks, mostly slaves, living in America.

Nat Turner