North American Slave Revolts by Gabriel Prosser Flashcards

Gabriel (1776 – October 10, 1800), today commonly if incorrectly known as Gabriel Prosser, was a literate enslaved blacksmith who planned and led a large slave rebellion in the Richmond area in the summer of 1800. Governor James Monroe and the state militia suppressed the rebellion. Gabriel and 26 other enslaved people who participated were hanged. In reaction, the Virginia and other legislatures passed restrictions on free blacks, as well as the education, movement and hiring out of the enslaved.

Denmark Vesey originally Telemaque, 1767? – July 2, 1822) was an African American slave brought to the United States from the Caribbean. After purchasing his freedom, he planned what would have been one of the largest slave rebellions in the United States. Word of the plans was leaked, andCharleston, South Carolina, authorities arrested the plot's leaders before the uprising could begin. Vesey and others were tried, convicted and executed.Many antislavery activists came to regard Vesey as a hero. During the American Civil War,abolitionist Frederick Douglass used Vesey's name as a battle cry to rally African-Americanregiments, especially the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry.

Nat Turner (Nathaniel Turner, October 2, 1800 – November 11, 1831) was an American slave who led a slave rebellion in Virginia in 1831 that resulted in 55 deaths, the largest number of fatalities to occur in one uprising in the antebellum southern United States. He gathered supporters in Southampton County, Virginia. Turner's methodical slaughter of white civilians during the uprising makes his legacy controversial. For his actions, Turner was convicted, sentenced to death, and executed.

Frederick Douglass (born Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, (born circa 1818 – February 20, 1895) was an American abolitionist, women's suffragist, editor, orator, author,statesman and reformer. Called "The Sage of Anacostia" and "The Lion of Anacostia", Douglass is one of the most prominent figures in African American and United States history.He was a firm believer in the equality of all people, whether black, female, Native American, or recent immigrant. He was fond of saying, "I would unite with anybody to do right and with nobody to do wrong."

Frederick Douglass used his oratorical skills in the ensuing years to lecture in the northern states against slavery. He also helped slaves escape to the North while working with the Underground Railroad. He established the abolitionist paper The NorthStar on December 3, 1847, in Rochester, NY, and developed it into the most influential black antislavery paper published during the antebellum era. It was used to not only denounce slavery, but to fight for the emancipation of women and other oppressed groups. Its motto was "Right is of no Sex - Truth is of no Color - God is the Father of us all, and we are all brethren." It was circulated to more than 4,000 readers in the United States, Europe, and the West Indies. In June 1851 the paper merged with the Liberty Party Paper of Syracuse, NY and was renamed FrederickDouglass' Paper. It circulated under this new name until 1860. Douglass devoted the next three years to publishing an abolitionist magazine called Douglass' Monthly. In 1870 he assumed control of the New Era, a weekly established in Washington, D.C. to serve former slaves. He renamed it The New National Era, and published it until it shut down in 1874.

The public churches formed often with controversy within and outside the communities. The 'invisible institution' existed often as a forbidden aspect; slaves might be members of both the independent black church groups or congregations that were racially mixed (Raboteau mentions that some such congregations might have far more slaves than masters in attendance), but also participate in worship gatherings at night in secret locations, risking severe punishment to do so.

Hinton Rowan Helper (December 27, 1829-March 8, 1909) was a Southern US critic of slavery during the 1850s. In 1857, he published a book which he dedicated to the "nonslaveholding whites" of the South. The Impending Crisis of the South, written partly in North Carolina but published when the author was in the North, argued that slavery hurt the economic prospects of non-slaveholders, and was an impediment to the growth of the entire region of the South. The book, which was a combination of statistical charts and provocative prose, attracted little attention until 1859 when it was widely reprinted in condensed form by Northern opponents of slavery. Helper concluded that slavery hurt the Southern economy overall (by preventing economic development and industrialization), and was the main reason why the South had progressed so much less than the North (according to the results of the 1850 census). Helper spoke on behalf of the majority of Southern whites who of moderate means-- the Plain Folk of the Old South, who he said were oppressed by a small (but politically-dominant) aristocracy of wealthy slave-owners.

David Walker (September 28, 1785 – June 28, 1830) was an American black abolitionist, most famous for his pamphlet David Walker's Appeal To the Coloured Citizens of the World – . Walker denounced the American institution of slavery as the most oppressive in world history and called on people of African descent to resist slavery and racism by any means. The book terrified southern slave owners, who immediately labeled it seditious. A price was placed on Walker's head: $10,000 if he were brought in alive, $1,000 if dead.