DENMARK VESEY, a Man of Conviction

Denmark Vesey

About 1767, Denmark Vesey was born with the name  Telemanque on the island of St. Thomas in the Danish West Indies, which today is the U.S. Virgin Islands. At a young age, Denmark assumed the surname of his owner, Joseph Vesey, a resident of Charleston, SC, who was the captain of a slave ship. Before they settled in Charleston, South Carolina in 1783, Denmark traveled along with his master on many slave-trading voyages.

While in Charleston, Denmark managed to educate himself as well as learning to read. In 1800, seventeen years after his arrival in Charleston, Denmark won $1,500.00 in a street lottery and used $600.00 of his winnings to buy his freedom. Now free, he stayed in Charleston and worked as a carpenter. But Denmark was not satisfied, because although free, all other blacks were still looked upon as property, subservient to their masters. Denmark hated slavery and often spoke out against the abuse and exploitation of his people.

With each passing day, Denmark witnessed the continued injustice tolerated by the slaves he saw in Charleston, which drove him to seek out and read abolitionist literature. With this knowledge, and the fact that he was aware of a successful slave revolt that occurred in Haiti in the 1790s, he began to organize and plot a similar slave uprising for Charleston.

He started by selecting a cadre of exceptional lieutenants. Vesey began organizing the black community in and around Charleston to stand up and fight for their freedom. Denmark's plan was to attack the arsenals in Charleston and seize the weapons. Upon accomplishing this, he would arm all the slaves who in turn were to burn the city and kill the white oppressors. Although not exact, this type of plan was similar to that which John Brown orchestrated at Harpers Ferry years later.

With his plan finalized, Denmark and nearly 9,000 slaves from the city of Charleston and nearby plantations were at the ready. This was the largest slave revolt in American history! The revolt was scheduled to begin on July 14, 1822. However, the day before his plot was scheduled to begin, a  house servant (house Negro), with knowledge of the plan, alerted the white authorities. They in turn made the necessary military preparations to confront Vesey and his followers. Later Denmark received word of the possible ambush. Now unable to fulfill his plans, he called them  off.

Over a period covering the following two months, 130 blacks were arrested and brought to trail. Of these, sixty-seven were accused and convicted of taking part in this slave revolt. Thirty-five of the sixty-seven, including Denmark, were hanged; the remaining thirty-two were exiled. Additionally, four white men were tried and convicted of having encouraged the revolt, and were fined and imprisoned for their part.

Upon Denmark Vesey's appearance in court, the following disposition was written:
On Thursday, the 27^th, (June) Denmark Vesey, a free black man, was brought before the court for trial; (assisted by his counsel, G.W. Cross, Esq.)

These facts of his guilt the journals of the court will disclose - that no man can be proved to have spoken of or urged the insurrection prior to himself.
All the channels of communication and intelligence are traced back to him. His house was the place appointed for the secret meetings of the conspirators, at which he was invariably a leading and influential member; animating and encouraging the timid, by the hopes and prospects of success; removing the scruples of the religious, by the grossest prostitution and perversion of the sacred oracles, and inflaming and confirming the resolute, by all the savage fascinations of blood and booty.
The peculiar circumstances of guilt, which confer a distinction on his case, will be found narrated in the confession of Rolla, Monday Gell, Frank, and Jesse, in the appendix. He was sentenced for execution on the 2^nd of July.

I offer the biography of Denmark Vesey not as a call for violence but as an example of a man who was willing to sacrifice everything he had, including his life, to help free his people. He was a living as a "free man" enjoying  the fruits of his own personal freedom but he understood that as long as one of us is in (mental) slavery none of us are truly free, as long as one of us in in extreme poverty, none of us truly have material wealth and most of all, as long as one of us remain ignorant, none of us are truly wise. We can learn and evolve from those who have gone before us, if we are willing to open our hearts, and minds.

ASE'

James Baldwin

      Take a moment and read the bio of one of the greatest writers of....OUR STORY

 

 James Baldwin – 1924 to 1987 

Writer, playwright. Born August 2, 1924, in Harlem, New York. One of the 20th century's greatest writers, James Baldwin broke new literary ground with the exploration of racial and social issues in his many works. He was especially well known for his essays on the black experience in America.

Baldwin was born to a young single mother, Emma Jones, at Harlem Hospital. She reportedly never told him the name of his biological father. Jones married a Baptist minister named David Baldwin when James was about three years old. Despite their strained relationship, he followed in his stepfather's footsteps—which he always referred to as his father—during his early teen years. He served as a youth minister in a Harlem Pentecostal church from the ages of 14 to 16.

Baldwin developed a passion for reading at an early age, and demonstrated a gift for writing during his school years. He attended DeWitt Clinton High School in the Bronx, where he worked on the school's magazine with future famous photographer Richard Avedon. He published numerous poems, short stories, and plays in the magazine, and his early work showed an understanding for sophisticated literary devices in a writer of such a young age.

After graduating high school in 1942, he had to put his plans for college on hold to help support his family, which included seven younger children. He took whatever work he could find, including laying railroad track for the U.S. Army in New Jersey. During this time, Baldwin frequently encountered discrimination, being turned away from restaurants, bars, and other establishments because he was African-American. After being fired from the New Jersey job, Baldwin sought other work and struggled to make ends meet.

On July 29, 1943, Baldwin lost his father—and gained his eighth sibling the same day. He soon moved to Greenwich Village, a New York City neighborhood popular with artists and writers. Devoting himself to writing a novel, Baldwin took odd jobs to support himself. He befriended writer Richard Wright, and through Wright he was able to land a fellowship in 1945 to cover his expenses. Baldwin started getting essays and short stories published in such national periodicals as The Nation, Partisan Review, and Commentary.

Three years later, Baldwin made a dramatic change in his life, and moved to Paris on another fellowship. The shift in location freed Baldwin to write more about his personal and racial background. "Once I found myself on the other side of the ocean, I see where I came from very clearly...I am the grandson of a slave, and I am writer. I must deal with both," Baldwin once told The New York Times. The move marked the beginning of his life as a "transatlantic commuter," dividing his time between France and the United States.

Baldwin had his first novel, Go Tell It on the Mountain, published in 1953. The loosely autobiographical tale focused on the life of a young man growing up in Harlem grappling with father issues and his religion. "Mountain is the book I had to write if I was ever going to write anything else. I had to deal with what hurt me most. I had to deal, above all, with my father," Baldwin later said.

     Primary Works of James Baldwin

Go Tell It on the Mountain (novel). New York: Knopf, 1953.

Notes of a Native Son (essays). Boston: Beacon, 1955.

Giovanni's Room (novel). New York: Dial, 1956.

Nobody Knows My Name: More Notes of a Native Son (essays). New York: Dial, 1961.

Another Country (novel). New York: Dial, 1962.

The Fire Next Time (essays). New York: Dial, 1963.

Blues for Mr. Charlie (play). New York: Dial, 1964.

Going to Meet the Man (stories). New York: Dial, 1965. Contains "Sonny's Blues."

The Amen Corner (play). New York: Dial, 1968.

Tell Me How Long the Train's Been Gone (novel). New York: Dial, 1968.

A Rap on Race (dialogue with Margaret Mead). Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1971.

No Name in the Street (essays). New York: Dial, 1972.

One Day, When I Was Lost: A Scenario Based on "The Autobiography of Malcolm X." New York: Dial, 1973.

A Dialogue: James Baldwin and Nikki Giovanni. Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1973.

If Beale Street Could Talk. New York: Dial, 1974.

The Devil Finds Work: An Essay. New York: Dial, 1976.

Little Man, Little Man (juvenile). New York: Dial, 1977.

Just Above My Head (novel). New York: Dial, 1979.

Jimmy's Blues: Selected Poems. London: Joseph, 1983; New York: St. Martin's, 1985.

The Evidence of Things Not Seen (essay). New York: Holt, 1985.

The Price of the Ticket: Collected Non-Fiction 1948-1985. New York: St. Martin's, 1985.

Collected Essays. New York: Library of America, 1998.

Early Novels and Stories. New York: Library of America, 1998.