Description
Book SynopsisIn 1822, thirty-four slaves and their leader, a free black man named Denmark Vesey, were tried and executed for their alleged plot to murder the white citizens of Charleston, South Carolina. Presenting a vast collection of contemporary documents that support or contradict the ""official"" story, the editors of this volume annotate the texts and interpret the evidence.
Trade ReviewBrilliantly conceptualized, exhaustively researched, and eloquently written, it is a gold mine for anyone interested in America’s ongoing dilemma with slavery and race.”—John Stauffer, author of
Giants: The Parallel Lives of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln “This stunning and magisterial documentary history accumulates and analyzes much evidence never before considered adequately, if at all. The work of fifteen years by assiduous senior historians of slave rebellions, it not only considers the pre-history of the Affair but also the long aftermath.”—David Moltke-Hansen, editor of
William Gilmore Simms's Unfinished Civil War: Consequences for a Southern Man of Letters “Will surely become the definitive source on the Vesey Conspiracy. Such an impressive assemblage and explication of records shows not only how Vesey’s actions contributed to America’s Civil War, but also why he continues to influence us, particularly in the South.”—Bernard E. Powers Jr., author of
Black Charlestonians: A Social History 1822-1885 “Places the Denmark Vesey conspiracy in a broad context. This volume should put to rest the argument by some historians that the conspiracy was little more than ‘loose talk’ among those held in bondage.”—Loren Schweninger, author of
Families in Crisis in the Old South: Divorce, Slavery, and the Law
