Theme of Religion and Resistance in the Revolts of Nat Turner and Denmark Vesey Denmark Vesey Revolt - Essay Example

Number: Theme of Religion and Resistance in the Revolts of Nat Turner and Denmark Vesey Denmark Vesey Revolt Denmark Vesey who was inspired by the Haitian Revolution plotted what would have been considered as one of the biggest slave revolt in the United States. Denmark Vesey arranged for a plan to fight the white slave owners. He was the leader of a slave uprising which occurred in Charleston, South Carolina. His main plan was to assault arsenals that were living in the Charleston as well as confiscate their weapons.

The rebellion was planned to occur on July 14, 1822 which was a Bastille Day according to Turner-Sadler (425). Many Black slaves who lived in Charleston, South Carolina became aware of the plot. He had planned to murder the slave owners and get hold of the city and sail to Haiti after they rebelled. The revolt was reported to the slave masters by authority prior to its commencement and it was over before it even began. The upraising led to one hundred and thirty black slaves being arrested, sisxty seven people were convicted and other thirty five were hanged.

Denmark was finally executed in 1822 after he was accused of plotting a slave rebellion. Nat Turner Revolt The Nat Turner rebellion is known as the most major incident of the Black rebellion against slavery in the South. Nat Turner was a black slave himself and he led an upraising in the Virginia, Southampton. A solar eclipse had occurred in February 1831 which Turner saw as the revelation for slave rebellion. Another eclipse occurred in August and Turner considered it as the final revelation.

The revolt began in August, 21 when slaves went to each house freeing fellow slaves and murdering all white slave owners and their families whom they encountered. The revolt took two days and by the end about fifty seven white people were killed. Nat turner was arrested by the authorities on October 30, a week after he brought to trial and by November 11, he was executed. The Role Played By Religion in the Revolts Religion especially Christianity was a major source of inspiration for most of the best known slave revolts in the history of United States according to Rodriguez (50).

These slave revolts include the ones led by Denmark Vesey and Nut Turner. Nat Turner grew up being a religious person and he was often praying and fasting as well as reading the bible. He used to have visions which he would interpret as God’s message and they highly influenced his life, for instance in 1828 he received the vision of the salve revolt. Before American Revolution only few of the slaves adopted Christianity as their religion. Salve owners feared to expose them to Christianity as it was likely to give them the idea of freedom and equality.

However the slave owners began to think that a selective explanation of the Gospel would be better for the Christian slaves. This never occurred as the believed since the notion of Jesus as a humble and also compassionate person whom they can turn to for their tribulations helped them internalize their masters’ ideology. The paternalism found in hegemonic system gave the slaves the courage to agree that their masters were brothers in Christ and as well deserved to be treated equally. Works Cited Rodriguez, Junius.

Encyclopedia of slave resistance and rebellion, Volume 1. Westport : Greenwood Publishing Group. 2007. Turner-Sadler, Joanne. African American History: An Introduction. Brussels: Peter Lang. 2009.