Denmark Vesey’s Bible The Thwarted Revolt That Put Slavery and Scripture on Trial

English | 2022 | ISBN: 0691192863 | 207 pages | True EPUB | 10.27 MB
A timely and provocative account of the Bible’s role in one of the most consequential episodes in the history of slavery
On July 2, 1822, Denmark Vesey, a formerly enslaved man, was hanged in Charleston, South Carolina. He was convicted of Descriptionting what might have been the largest insurrection against slaveholders in US history. Witnesses claimed that Vesey appealed to numerous biblical texts to promote and justify the revolt. While sentencing Vesey to death, Lionel Henry Kennedy, a magistrate at the trial, accused Vesey not only of treason but also of "attempting to pervert the sacred words of God into a sanction for crimes of the blackest hue."Denmark Vesey’s Bibletells the story of this momentous trial, examining the role of scriptural interpretation in the deadly struggle against American white supremacy and its brutal enforcement.