Denmark Vesey’s Bible: The Thwarted Revolt That Put Slavery and Scripture on Trial

University of Toronto religion professor Schipper (coauthor, Black Samson) examines in this illuminating scholarly study how the Bible was used both to condemn slavery and to justify it. He focuses on the 1822 trial of Denmark Vesey, the alleged mastermind of “what could have been the largest insurrection involving enslaved persons in United States history.” Schipper delves into Vesey’s purchase of his own freedom in 1799 and his involvement in Charleston’s African Methodist Episcopal Church, and analyzes eyewitness testimony about his use of Exodus 21:16 to justify the revolt. Meanwhile, magistrate Lionel Henry’s Kennedy’s verdict against Vesey quoted the Bible “to stress the urgency of repentance” and found it “so clear as to be self-evident” that the New Testament endorsed slavery. This view was supported by Congregationalist minister Benjamin Palmer, who made “the first full-throated theological defense of slavery” after Vesey’s plot came to light, and Episcopal priest Frederick Dalcho, who endorsed a censored version of the Bible for congregants of African descent. Though readers without a background in the subject may wish for broader historical context, Schipper makes a convincing case that “the enduring but contested question of what the Bible implies in the context of American white supremacy continues to be a matter of life and death in Charleston and cities across this nation.” (Feb.)