Black History Month

Throughout this month, we’re highlighting Black members of the Lowcountry community – the lives they led, the work they did, and the impact they made. Some of the people in our posts are connected to the story of Second Presbyterian Church, others are leaders or activists who shaped movements of their time.

Denmark Vesey was probably born in St. Thomas and brought as an enslaved person to Bermuda and then Charleston. He was able to purchase his freedom when he was 32 years old and worked as a carpenter. He was an active member of Second Presbyterian Church, where he became a communicant in April of 1817 – a member entitled to take communion, which was a big commitment at the time. He may have eventually helped found the church that became Emanuel AME. But in 1822, Vesey was accused of leading a plot to liberate enslaved people and rise up against their enslavers. Before the alleged plot could be executed, Vesey was arrested in June and he was hanged in July, along with 35 other men who were accused of being involved. In the aftermath, enslavers took many more precautions, and the Negro Seaman Act was passed, requiring Black sailors on ships docked in Charleston to be imprisoned while the ships were in port. The act was ruled unconstitutional, and this became one of the states’ rights issues that ultimately led to the Civil War.