Born in St.Thomas,the Danish West Indies,he was sold in 1781 to a Bermunda slave captain named Joseph Vesey.Denmark who was self-educated assumed his master's surname,accompained him on numerous voyages and in 1783 settled with his owner in Charleston.
In 1799 Denmark was allowed to purchase his freedom with $600 he had won in a street lottery.Denmark was already familiar with the great Haitian slave revolt of the 1790's,and while working as a carpenter he read anti-slavery literature.Dissatisfied with his second-class status as a freedman and determined to help relieve the far more oppressive conditions of others he knew,Denmark planned and organized an uprising of city and plantation African Americans.
The plan reportedly called from the rebels to attack guardhouses and arsenals,seize their arms,kill all Whites burn and destroy the city,and free slaves.As many as 9,000 African Americans may have been involved though some scholars dispute this figure.Warned by a house servant,white authorities on the eve of the scheduled outbreak made massive military preparations,which forestalled the rebellion.During the ensuing two months,some 130 African Americans were arrested.
In the trials that followed 67 were convicted trying to raise an insurrection; of these,35 including Denmark,were hanged,July 2,1822,in Charleston and 32 were condemned to exhile.In addition,four White men were fined and imprisioned for encouraging the plot.
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