So, in between book writing, I decided to do some light reading in the form of a biography on Denmark Vesey, the mastermind behind the largest slave rebellion in the history of the U.S. And, my God, have we been robbed by not learning this history.
In truth, I became curious after doing some light research on Vesey for my book, where I am showing a big part of why it was illegal for black people to read was fear that literacy made enslaved people more rebellious, and then tracing rebellions led by literate enslaved people.
The little I read made me so fascinated, I went ahead & ordered David Robertson's biography & I am folding over every single page. Vesey, who read and spoke several languages, who'd purchased his own freedom after winning the lottery, was free but never removed from the enslaved.
This man was free and prosperous, but never separated himself from the enslaved, recruited 9000 ENSLAVED PEOPLE -- 9000! -- to his plot to liberate enslaved in SC, overtake the armory, commandeer a boat and then sale to Haiti, where the enslaved had just overthrown their masters.
He had been in CONTACT with leader of the Haiti, the first free black Republic in the world. (!) His most trusted commanders were the most trusted enslaved of the SC Governor, whom they planned to assassinate. (!)
He was in his 60s when he planned the revolt. (!) Had it been successful, (he was sold out by a few enslaved people) the course of American history may have changed. There were already fears that the large numbers of blk enslaved folks in S was unsustainable.
Think what it took to organize 9,000 enslaved people across plantations over the course of years. To make direct contact with a leader of a nearby black country to help plot your escape. To dare to rebel against a nation that had defeated the British Empire.
But, also, think about WHY we are never taught this history. What it says about how we want to depict slavery and black people's acquiescence to their degradation and brutal treatment, about the lies we need to tell ourselves.
Burying stories of black resistance, like the denial of quality education, is a form of social control.
I should also mention how violently and savagely this rebellion was put down. Vesey was, of course, executed. But that was not enough. White folks cut the heads off of co-conspirators and posted them on stakes along the road to warn about the cost of freedom in this "free"nation.
I also should mention I was an African-American studies major and knew next to nothing about Vesey. We need entire courses on the rebellions of enslaved black people across the Americas.
Last tweet, I promise: Vesey's church, from whence he recruited many of those involved in the rebellion, is Mother Emmanuel, the very church where white supremacist Dylan Roof killed nine black churchgoers.
