On this day, a house slave revealed the details of Denmark Vesey’s planned uprising to white authorities, leading to the unraveling of one of the most extensive slave revolt conspiracies in U.S. history. Vesey, a formerly enslaved man who had purchased his freedom, had organized thousands of Black supporters in Charleston, South Carolina, to rise up against the institution of slavery. The plan aimed to seize the city, liberate the enslaved, and escape to Haiti. As a result of the betrayal, 131 Black people were arrested, and 37 were hanged, including Vesey himself. The event shook the South and led to harsher laws against Black gatherings, literacy, and religious worship.
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