Abstract
This paper explores the life and motivations of Denmark Vesey, a former slave from Charleston, South Carolina, who in 1822 attempted to lead an insurrection of blacks. Vesey, who spent the early part of his life in bondage, witnessed the atrocities of slavery committed against his people by the white population. The horrors he saw as a slave left an indelible impression that followed him for the remainder of his life. Through the formation of the African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston in 1816, Vesey used his status as a church-leader to bring together the Negro populations of the city and preach a message of God most had never before heard. Though his uprising did not succeed and Vesey was executed for his crimes, his attempts to lead others to freedom served as an inspiration for other rebellions such as those led by Nat Turner in 1831 and Frederick Douglass in 1862.