– July 2, 1822) is an African-Caribbean most famous for leading a slave rebellion in the United States.
He is enslaved in the Caribbean before being brought to the United States and is probably of Coromantee (an Akan-speaking people) background.
After purchasing his freedom, he plans what would have been one of the largest slave rebellions in the United States.
Word of the plans is leaked, and at Charleston, South Carolina, authorities arrest the plot's leaders before the uprising can begin.
Vesey and others are tried, convicted and executed.
Although it was almost certainly not his home, the Denmark Vesey House at Charleston is named a National Historic Landmark in 1976.
Many antislavery activists come to regard Vesey as a hero.
During the American Civil War, abolitionist Frederick Douglass uses Vesey's name as a battle cry to rally African-American regiments, especially the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry.