(upbeat music)
- [Announcer] Major funding for the following program
is provided by the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Additional funding is provided by
the Corporation for Public Broadcasting,
the Ohio Historical Society and Public Television Stations.
(muffled choir music)
- Are you denying me the sidewalk?
(muffled choir music)
- George Wilson.
You won't even look a white man in the eye.
(crowd murmuring)
- Neither will you, Pharell Thompson.
Or you, William Consell.
None of you would.
- In Africa, we'd be warring with each other.
But here, we are on the same path.
A path that lead to freedom.
- I just tell George Wilson
I could k*ll Governor Bennett.
Governor Bennett's been good to me.
- If that's how you feel,
I'll get somebody to k*ll Bennett for you.
(dramatic music)
- I bring the powder.
- I thought you said there was a p*stol.
- In the closet.
- Good, could you bring the p*stol?
- I will Denmark.
(dramatic music)
- I'm Brock Peters.
The story of Denmark Vesey's rebellion
as a relatively unknown episode in American history.
Which took place in Charleston, South Carolina
in the early 1820s.
It's a true story.
In fact, much of the dialogue is based on court transcripts.
The Southern United States of 1822
was very different from the way many of us imagined it.
The South was largely undeveloped.
Cotton was not yet king
The city of Atlanta did not exist.
And although sl*very was dominant in Charleston in 1822
free Negroes formed a large and fairly prosperous class.
Some of them had been able to buy their freedom
from their masters.
As Denmark Vesey had done many years before.
Charleston was a cosmopolitan city.
On a typical market day
you could hear accents from all over the world
mixing with the Gullah dialect of the local blacks.
So on the surface,
Charleston seemed to be an open, if not integrated society.
But there were underlying tensions.
The black population of the city, sl*ve and free,
outnumbered the whites.
Charleston depended on the work of these slaves
and black freed men for growth and survival.
But the blacks were growing impatient
because of a recently passed law that denied many slaves
the opportunity to purchase their freedom.
Yet the limited, but important progress,
of Charleston's blacks inspired them with pride.
They were beginning to feel the temptation of freedom.
Frederick Douglas, the black leader
who was born a sl*ve said it this way.
Give a sl*ve a bad master
and he aspires to a good master.
Give him a good master
and he wishes to become his own master.
A vocal white minority warned of potential trouble ahead.
They favored less freedom and stronger control
of all the Negroes of Charleston.
Their concerns had been heightened by events prior to 1822.
A successful sl*ve revolt in Santo Domingo,
now called Haiti,
brought the overthrown French colonists
fleeing into Charleston with tales of black revolution.
Much closer to home in 1800,
an American sl*ve named Gabriel Prosser
had tried to seize Richmond.
And particularly ominous
was the great debate in Congress in 1820
that challenged the very institution of sl*very.
The spirit of the Santo Domingo rebels and Gabriel Prosser
did not escape certain members
of the black community of Charleston.
Particularly, Denmark Vesey.
Vesey was well to do, educated
and a master carpenter with a thriving business.
He had every reason to protect the status quo.
Yet his wife, Beck and his former wife, Patronia
who bore his son, Sandy, were slaves.
So Denmark Vesey understood in a very personal way
the dilemma of existing half sl*ve and half free.
For years Denmark Vesey's dream
of freedom for his people grew.
Finally as the hot Charleston summer of 1822 approached.
He came here to the African church where I, Morris Brown
served as minister.
And where he was a respected member
of the congregation.
And so it began, a force of history.
A tragedy of a people enslaved
and one man ready and willing to act.
And once begun...
There could be no turning back.
(soft music)
(bell tolling)
(choir music)
- My calling to foresee.
(singing)
(muffled sining)
- Are you denying me the sidewalk?
- Denmark, slow down.
Now ain't the time.
- Do you know that man?
- The skinny man?
That Gullah Jack, he a cotter.
He--
- No, no, no, no, the big one.
- The big man, that...
It slipped my mind Mr. Benjamin.
But he free man.
- Damn insolent bully.
(muffled choir music)
- Oh thy servant, Lord prepare...
♪ They servant, Lord prepare
(indistinct)
(singing and clapping)
Help me to watch and pray.
(congregation singing and clapping)
(indistinct)
(congregation singing and clapping)
The story behind my past (indistinct).
(congregation singing and clapping)
I shall (indistinct).
(congregation singing and clapping)
Amen.
(congregation chattering)
Thank you brothers and sisters.
We bow our heads.
Let the blessing of our Lord Jesus Christ be upon you.
Amen.
We have come together this morning
to hear from Brother George Wilson, George?
- Thank you Brother Morris.
Friends, today my heart is heavy as stone.
(mumbling)
I've been saving 20 years to buy my freedom.
And my master always had said I could have it.
- [Congregation] Yes.
- But now he say no.
(mumbling)
He's said not without an act of Congress.
People's so stood up now
they aint gone make it easy
for a sl*ve to get his freedom in, South Carolina.
So I'm telling you people.
If you have been promised you own
don't get your hopes up too high.
Only best thing is to pray till thing get better.
- [Congregation] Yes.
- Cause God knows they can get no worse.
(murmuring)
- Speaking of which, last month,
a runaway sl*ve was captain in Charleston, South Carolina.
But your Turnbull said he was hidden in this church.
Brethren, if that's so,
I don't want to know about it,
but I remind you.
They closed this church before
and they'll do it again
if we are not careful.
- And tolerable.
- You already got your freedom Denmark.
What more you want?
- Respect.
- You one of the people here talking to, Denmark.
And hot heads like you get them stirred up.
- Should I step in the street
every time a white man passes?
And nod?
And remove my hat?
Should I worship the white man?
- I ain't saying worship the white man.
- George Wilson.
You won't even look a white man in the eye.
(congregation murmuring)
- Neither will you Pharell Thompson.
Or you, William Consell.
None of you would.
(congregation murmuring)
- Brothers, let's not fight each other.
Rolla.
- They say your master,
Governor Bennett is a good man.
- He's a good man, but he ain't God.
(crowd chanting)
- Please brothers, please.
Rolla if you tell him our trouble
perhaps he could do something to help.
- They're all thick headed buckwoods
from Governor Bennett down.
(congregation murmuring)
- Where you going Denmark?
- I've got work to do.
- You're too proud Denmark.
You've bee free so long
you forgot what it's like
for the rest of we.
- I haven't forgotten what it's like for my wife and son.
- There ain't nothing we can do
long as we sl*ve.
- Then you deserve to remain slaves.
(dramatic music)
- Denmark?
(crowd chattering)
- [Gullah Jack] Peter.
- Have you heard anything, Peter?
- Yeah, the buckwood are still on top.
- Not forever.
- Monday.
- Denmark, Peter say something to me about the society.
- How do you stand?
- As firm as this here wood.
I'd never say nothing against you.
- Be 200 men one day.
Adam.
You can't.
Charles, you with us?
- I don't know.
- We outnumbered them, Charles.
- Not here.
- Man, we ain't got nothing to fear.
- We've been meeting for over a year now
and we haven't been discovered.
- The hand of God is in this thing.
- (indistinct)
- You do, but others do not.
- All right Denmark, I'll meet you.
How many names on the list?
- Over 80.
- Man, the people, they with us.
- Spread the word.
But beware of those slaves
who take gifts from their masters.
They're not to be trusted.
(band music playing)
(clapping)
- Governor Bennett,
I wish to speak with you.
- I ask Benjamin, about what?
- About your most serious problem
as governor of this state.
- Oh, and what might that be, Benjamin?
- The insolence of the free nigras.
One of them denied me the sidewalk, this morning.
- Perhaps, Benjamin, after the guests have all gone
you could stay behind and we will discuss it later.
Benjamin Hammit.
- The owner of the dry goods store?
- And a large block of votes I'm afraid.
(soft music)
- Hello Denmark.
- Hello Petronia.
How's Sandy?
- You aint seen him?
- Not lately.
- Our son grown.
He keep his own company now.
- What's the deal with Jesse Lockwood.
- Jessica gone now.
I'm by myself.
You need help?
You look like you got trouble or something on your mind.
Well, if you do, don't be no stranger.
- On Sunday, July the 14th.
There's no moon.
The whites are out of town.
The slaves do not have to work.
So then we gather for prayer meeting.
- Once we meet, we can start fires down on the waterfront.
And when the patrol comes and check the alarm
we'll k*ll them.
- We proceed with the plan.
And then when all this clamp,
we start for Santo Domingo, in ships.
We take every man, we take every woman,
we take every child.
- Denmark, that's going to be a hard thing to do.
- I know, but we can't do this
without the help of the plantation slaves.
- Without the help, the plan can't work.
- I say we need to be strong minded as we be.
Once you live on a plantation,
you think of the whole world.
- Well I gon' take the word
to Goose Creek, Bunkies Farm, and Santi.
They all know Gullah Jack.
- [Peter] But 'posing they don't believe you?
- They must.
- Well, I best be getting back to Governor Bennett.
- Thank you for coming, appreciate it.
(knocking on door)
- Its your boy, Sandy.
- Hey boy.
- Peter.
- Father, Peter told me what's going on.
- Get your coat off.
(band music playing)
- Where is he?
- He on the porch.
He wondering where you is.
- Not only are the free nigras insolent,
but many of them own property.
- Now does this make sense?
For a people who by the laws of this state
are in inferior class?
- They are good businessmen.
What can I do?
- You can expel them from the city of Charleston.
- Would there be anything, sir?
Having a meeting Governor Bennett?
- Oh, no.
No, thank you, Rolla.
That will be all.
- Good night, sir.
- There are 1500 free nigras in the city of Charleston.
My own barber's one.
Expelling them is impossible.
- They keep the poor whites from working.
Now, the poor whites see this and they leave the city.
But the free nigras are never going to leave.
And I consider this a danger.
- I simply cannot consider it.
- Then I propose you pass a series of codes.
One, that you prohibit them from owning property,
two, you close the African church
and three, you prohibit them from wearing colorful clothes.
- Why?
- Because it gives them ideas
which are not consistent with their condition in life.
Every effort must be made
to stress of superiority of Whites over Negros.
- Ow now, no.
That will simply bring on
the thing you're trying to prevent.
- I'm not the only one that feels this way.
There's Mr. Grady, Mr. Powell, Mr. Poll.
- Now, if we can hold to Charleston net for 24 hours.
And load the cargo ships.
I can navigate us just out of the main road.
- Father, you must let me join.
Now I can lick a buck with soon as breeze.
- Sit out your own son, Denmark.
And it's as good saying
this whole thing is a failure.
- I'll think on it.
- But we don't need g*ns, Denmark.
- We'll get them.
- I think I know a man can get us a g*n.
(band music playing)
- At least close the African church then.
- We can't deny the nigras their right to worship.
- I treat Bacchus there
more like a son than a sl*ve.
But I know one thing,
the more liberty and niggra gets
the more he wants.
That's the danger.
They've got to be protected from the free niggras
and from the kind of talk that goes on in that church.
- I will consider it.
Good night, Benjamin.
- Thank you.
Eagle Tavern, Bacchus.
- Yes, sir.
(ominous music)
- Let me have your coat, sir.
Let me get your coat for you.
(grunting and coughing)
Sit down here.
Hold your head over, Mr. Benjamin.
(puking)
You all true, sir?
- What's this?
- [Bacchus] Sir?
- We tracked mud all over the rug.
My God, are you nothing more than a child?
- I'll clean it up, sir.
- Bacchus.
Sleep outside of my door tonight.
I may need you.
- Yes, sir.
Good night, Mr. Benjamin.
(chanting and singing)
- You're my woman now.
- For one day and one night.
(laughing)
- Is that time enough?
(laughing)
No it's not.
(chanting and singing)
They're threatening to close the church.
- You mean it?
- Time is very close.
- Why, Denmark?
Why you so head strong on this thing?
- I'm determined to make it happen.
- I get scared thinking about it.
You got too much for lose.
(sighing)
- I've got a shop, but another man owns my wife.
I'm free, my son's a sl*ve.
Is that so much?
- When it going to happen?
- Sometime this summer.
- As soon as that?
- Very soon.
We've already waited too long tomorrow.
- What if you rest?
- Tomorrow.
I got work to do.
Like you.
(clattering)
(wind blowing)
(eerie music)
- Vesey, sir.
This the boy you asked for.
- He looks healthy enough.
Do you speak English?
- Some, sir.
- I'm Captain Vesey.
You're to be my cabin boy
for the duration of this voyage
to Santo Domingo.
You touch anything without my permission,
I'll put you back in irons.
- Yes, sir.
- But if you perform well, perhaps I'll keep you.
You understand?
- Yes, sir.
- Get him some clothes.
Are you interested in the Bible?
Do you know how to read?
- No, sir.
- Go on, you may open it.
The Bible is Holy writ.
God's word revealed to man.
In the Bible, everything can be found.
Servants, obey your masters, the Bible says.
And masters are also enjoined
to be just and forbearing.
Remembering that they too
have a master in heaven.
(wind blowing)
(seagulls calling)
(indistinct)
(chattering)
- [Man] Yeah, get them rolling.
Get them moving.
Make them exercise.
(chattering)
(dramatic music)
(clattering)
(dramatic music)
(chains rattling)
(soft folk music)
- I can pick that barrel up
with two bare hands and move it right inside.
- Barrels got 300 pounds of salt in it.
$5 says you can't
- Bacchus.
- Yes, sir.
- Would you take that barrel in for me?
- That Bacchus.
He the man can get us g*n.
(grunting)
(breathing heavily)
(clapping)
- [Man] I told you guys--
- Two bare hands.
Good boy, Bacchus.
- Thank you, sir.
I know what you say, and I say it again.
I don't want no part.
- But I done talked to everybody.
Now you the only one
who don't want to go along with it.
- What's wrong with you, man?
- Nothing wrong with me.
What's wrong with you?
- Then damn it, man,
join with us and make a bid for freedom.
- What you say Bacchus?
- What if there had be some k*lling?
I don't like no k*lling.
- Man, I think you scared.
- Me scared, Cooperman?
You talk like that to me, I walk out the door.
- Good night gentlemen.
- You hear me?
- Goodnight.
- To tell me I am scared.
He's crazy.
- (indistinct)
- I don't fear nothing.
- I know.
Gullah was wrong.
I know you're not afraid of anything.
I'm tired.
I want to go in there
lay down next to that woman in that soft bed.
I bet you sleep in a soft bed too
just like your master.
- Of course, I does.
- Aha.
And do you...
Do you eat as well as your master?
- Sometimes, sometimes not.
What you getting at?
- Does you master whip you
when you do something wrong?
- Mr. Benjamin good master.
That why I don't want no part in this mess.
- I understand.
- He speak to me like we the same.
He take me to grog shop.
He got a hot temper.
He get his self in trouble.
He's expects me to be there
to help him get himself out of trouble,
when he gets his self in trouble.
- Yes, of course.
- At the time the gentleman from Savannah.
He and Mr. Benjamin, sit around the table,
talking about the politic.
All of a sudden, this gentleman from Savannah
pulled out a p*stol, like you're going to put
a p*stol ball at Mr. Benjamin rib.
I threw myself between them.
And I take Mr. Benjamin home.
So he not get his self in trouble no more.
- Good.
But is it right that he should ask you
to give you a life...
For his?
- Well, he give me thing.
He always give me thing.
Like after that, he gave me bacon,
but the good bacon from the store.
Or tobacco I want smoke, he give me.
He give me grog.
- Good master.
- Sometime he beat me.
But he heavy man drink.
And he has such misery.
He got the grief since his wife died.
- I understand.
Bacchus.
- Yes man.
- Who made your master?
- God I 'spec?
- And who made you? - God I 'spec.
- Then, aren't you...
Just as good,
and just as free,
since God made you both?
- You're not going to say anything to me.
- I was thinking.
Sandy was a happy boy.
Now, he's hard.
They did it to him, at the rice plantation.
Where they sent him for talking back.
- They did it?
Many the time I hear you tell him,
"Don't walk with your tail between your legs.
Look them in the eye,
that's the only way you can be a man."
But you both forget one thing,
Sandy a sl*ve.
And you not.
(eerie folk music) (men speaking in French)
- How many spells have you had?
- Not so many, sir.
Since they done put me to work in that church.
Captain Vesey, sir, I learn how read.
- How?
- God helped.
- Show me.
- And the Lord say unto Moses,
"Na-sha-da see
what I do to Pharaoh.
And by a strong hand,
shh--
Shall he let them go."
- "And by a strong hand,
shall he drive them out of his land"
Why did you choose Exodus?
- Because the Hebrews were slaves too.
- Like you?
- Yes, sir.
- There's nothing wrong with your mind.
- You pretended to be sick knowing
that I would have to take you back,
Isn't that so?
And they thought you were an idiot
Not only have you physical beauty,
but you're alert and curious.
I think I shall call you Telemach, after Ulysses son.
Can you say that?
Telemach?
- TE-NE-MAC
- TE-LE-MACH, try it again.
- DE-NE-MARK.
- That's close enough.
(dramatic music)
- Captain Vesey, sir.
There's something very important
I want to talk to you about.
- Well?
- I've just won the Bay street lottery for $1,500.
- You--
Let me see.
Well so you did.
(laughing)
Well what are you going to do with all that money?
- Well, I was thinking about buying my freedom.
- Well, Denmark.
You are the smartest n*gro I've ever known.
I believe you could make something of yourself.
You know the woodworking trade.
You could open your own shop.
As long as you stay out of debt.
I believe you might keep your freedom.
I'll give you all the help I can.
- No, sir.
- What's that?
- I was thinking I would go to another country.
- You think you can start over in a new country?
Alone without my help?
- I wouldn't be alone,
I have my wife, Petronia,
and I was thinking about buying her freedom.
- Very well, Denmark.
I'll give you your freedom for a price.
How much do you think you're worth?
(laughing)
- I don't know.
- Come on now, speak up?
- Well like you were an ordinary
I'd say you are worth about $800.
I think you're worth more than that, don't you?
- Well, that's for you to decide.
- Denmark, I'll give you your freedom for $600.
- Thank you.
- [Captain Vesey] Thank you.
(dog barking)
- You can't come to the front door, boy.
Go around to the kitchen door,
Petronia is working in there.
- Wait, I've got some business with you.
- You got business with me?
- I just bought my freedom from a Captain Vesey.
And I've come to buy Petronia's freedom too.
- She's not for sale.
- We really can.
Now I mean because I got the money, right?
- She's not for sale at any price.
I'm not going to sell one nigra to another.
- I'm tired.
(dramatic music)
- I love you, Denmark.
(dramatic upbeat music)
- I bring the powder.
- I thought you said there was a p*stol.
- In the closet.
- Good, could you bring the p*stol?
- I will Denmark.
- [Denmark] You all know that the Bible
is the word of God revealed to man.
- [Congregation] Yes.
- And that every word of it is true.
- [Congregation] Yes.
- The truth has been concealed from you.
- [Man in congregation] Amen.
- They do not want you to learn to read the Bible
because if you did you would learn
that God says that sl*very is a sin.
- [Congregation] Amen.
- Would God tolerate hatred and sl*very?
- [Congregation] No.
- Do we not have one father?
As it says in Malachi?
- [Congregation] Yes.
- Have we all not been created by God?
- [Congregation] Yes. - [Man] Ow yeah.
- The time has come for us to rid ourselves of bondage.
(drums beating)
- You all knows me, Gullah Jack.
I help you when you're sick.
I there when your baby born,
see things get done proper.
I ain't forget the old ways.
- Buckwood doctor, he laugh at me.
I can do more for you with my spell
than he can do with his powder and pill.
On the day before the fighting, I gon' purify my body
by eating only the porch corn.
On that night, I gon' to carry a crab claw.
With that it give me great courage and great power.
Long I got that, I can't be k*lled.
How can you 'fuse the power of this man?
Africa, he'd be a great chief.
A king.
I from Angola.
You, Igbo, you, Yoruba.
Africa we be warring with each other.
But here, we're all on the same path,
a path lead to freedom.
Follow this man.
- [Congregation] We'll follow him.
- Do you need to know any more than that.
- No, you make stuff clear.
- Peter Poious,
he's got a list of names, he knows all.
Now all I want know, go to him,
Find Peter, and he take your name down too.
(dramatic music)
- On Sunday you gon' come to the market.
But hide axes and hatchets under your goods.
How many men can you bring?
- 100.
(dramatic music)
(cluttering)
- Halt.
Sandy Vesey.
(dramatic music continues)
- Sandy Vesey and Peter Poious.
We have had some rather serious charges
leveled against you.
That you are part of a conspiracy to overthrow the city.
Now, what have you to say for yourselves?
In the words of your accuser,
"Peter knows all,
and all who wants to know come to him."
- Now, what fool told you that, sir?
- I am not at liberty to say.
(laughing)
(whip cracks)
(chuckling)
- Well why, sir?
Why would we want to start a--
- A conspiracy?
- Yes sir, that's right.
With all due respect, sir.
I think y'all just got the wrong people.
- Here is a sworn statement.
- Ow, just some n*gg*r who been drinking
too much grog, sir.
Well now, you know how they is.
(laughing)
Now why would we want to do something like that?
To start trouble?
No, sir, not us.
We'd have to be soft in the head or something.
And old Sandy, here,
why now he wouldn't--
- Sandy here has been in trouble before.
- Yes, sir, that's right.
Now I's been to the rice plantation once sir.
But I learned my lesson there.
Now I goes to the church every Sunday
and I done stop drinking.
It's been drinking that makes my mouth so big, sir.
- They both should be thrown in jail, sir.
- Why thank you, sir,
I don't mind if you do throw us in jail.
Then maybe I can get away from that evil woman
of mine for a spell.
(laughing)
- No niggra who was guilty could have faced us like that.
But we do not want to start a panic,
and for that reason,
I want you to give out word that...
Sandy Vesey and Peter Poious were arrested for stealing.
- I still think Davine Preielo was telling the truth.
- Now we must act.
We must change the day.
Sunday, 16th of June.
- But that only two weeks away.
- We don't act now,
the more we put this thing off,
the more chances we take for betrayal.
- Then you just best count me out.
Well someone else just betray us, that's all.
- Monday, it too late, we in motion.
- We can stick together.
- [Monday] You can't make soup in a basket.
(sighing)
- How do the rest of you feel?
- I'm with you.
- Nobody is going to help us.
Not now that they know that bakra suspect.
- I say we go ahead.
No matter what the odds.
(drums beating)
- A lots of us gon' die.
I knew that when I joined.
So I say, if there is a chance, then we go on with it.
- I don't know you feel that strong about it.
- I wasn't at first, me think on it.
I say we fight them with whatever we have.
With sticks, with picks with our fist.
It's a pleasure to die when you're fighting
for your freedom.
(dramatic music)
- Now I think we should take our solemn oath.
(drums beating)
- I promise not to tell anyone.
- [All] I promise I will not tell the White man.
Not even if I am captured, and put to death.
I promise this on the Holy Bible,
which is the word of almighty God.
(dramatic music)
- Rolla.
- Sir.
- You know that I have always trusted you absolutely,
don't you?
- Yes, sir.
- Now, Rolla...
I want you to keep this r*fle cleaned
and loaded at all times.
If I'm not here
and something should happen,
where my wife and daughter are in your charge.
Then I am counting on you to protect them.
You understand?
- Yes sir, Governor.
- Good night, Rolla.
- Good night, sir.
- Must I not stand the flood?
♪ Must I not stand the flood
- Is this thy world a friend to face?
♪ Is this thy world to a friend to face ♪
- To help me on to God.
♪ To help me on to God
- When that illustrious day shall arrive
♪ When that illustrious day shall arrive ♪
- And all thy armies bow.
♪ And all thy armies bow
- The road of victories through the skies.
♪ The road of victories through the skies ♪
- Thy glory shall be vast
♪ Thy glory shall be vast
(chattering)
- Amen.
Mighty fine singing.
Mighty fine.
I know good singing pleases the Lord.
- [Congregation] Amen.
- I see we have a visitor this morning.
Captain Dove is here with us.
We're glad you're here, sir.
May the spirit of the Lord be with you.
(chattering)
- You see that?
They just won't leave us alone.
- Rolla, what this I hear...
About a society?
- How'd you like to get your freedom after all, George?
- How?
- We're going to slay the masters
and escape this country by ship, that's how.
Denmark Vesey's our leader.
If you don't want to join us
you best be out of town by Sunday midnight.
- Can you bind your master and k*ll him?
- Yeah, I could.
- Leave this thing alone, Rolla.
Leave it alone.
- It's gone too far to stop now, George.
(dramatic music)
- What's on your mind.
- I find myself saying things I don't really believe.
I just tell George Wilson I could k*ll Governor Bennett.
Governor Bennett's been good to me.
- If That's how feel
I'll get somebody to k*ll Bennett for you.
- I don't want no k*lling at all.
- Now I ain't never known you to be no coward.
- It's got nothing to do with it, no.
What makes you think Denmark's
doing everybody's such a big favor, anyway?
If this thing don't work,
it's just going to make things that much worse.
- You can't see what a great man he is?
- Maybe he's a crazy man.
You ever thought of that?
- Now listen, Rolla.
All I know is that I can no longer bear what I have borne.
Now, Denmark is my only hope.
Now he's got my hand and my heart.
And he better have yours.
- Who you think you're talking to?
You know, I'm in this as firm as you are.
But I'm doing this for my wife and children,
not for Denmark Vesey.
- Captain Dove came to my church this morning.
I think you know why?
- Yes, I know.
- Enter on this business, Denmark
and you'll bring doom on us all.
- Wasn't the isn't the Israelites freed
from the pharaoh by the power of God?
- Yes.
But I can see nothing of that kind in these days.
- Morris, please don't stand in our way.
- I won't, but I'll take no part in this.
- We don't want you to take part in it, Morris.
If this things fails then the people need you,
as always.
- Then I shall need to be at home in prayer.
- Then pray that God smiles on us, Morris.
- Tomorrow night on this stroke of 12 we commence.
- Bacchus and his army
will set fire to the waterfront warehouses.
illustrious army will assemble at Bennet's mill,
and march Cannon's bridge,
to prevent the Whites
from going back and getting reinforcements.
Gullah Jack's army of plantation slaves
will assemble at Buckley's farm, marching to the city,
taking the powder and magazines along the way.
- What does the powder without g*ns?
- Peter and I will take the arsenal.
There's over 300 g*ns weapons there.
- But the back up patrol will be ready.
- What about the patrol?
- They gon' wipe us out before we even get started.
- Monday Gell commands to calvary,
he will intercept the patrols in the streets.
- By God, every man who can ride
got to be here by midnight.
We got horses for all.
- But they aint enough for we.
(crowd murmuring)
- No my brothers, yes they are.
If we sit together like our brothers in Santo Domingo...
God-willing, this city will be ours probably Monday morning.
- Yes, George?
- I got something for your ears only.
- (indistinct)
Ma'am.
(sighing)
Ms. Bennett.
- Good morning Captain Dove.
- Governor, I got to speak to you at once.
- Now?
- In private.
We have more information about the sl*ve revolt.
And we know when it's supposed to be, tonight.
- Are you certain?
- The informant's reliable.
He gave us a list of names.
One of your own slaves is implicated, sir.
- Which one?
- Rolla.
- Why, that's impossible.
- I suggest you call out the militia.
- That might cause panic.
- It might prevent our bloodshed.
We are outnumbered, Governor,
two to one.
- Very well.
Notify the militia to intercept
all slaves coming in or going out of town.
- Yes, Governor.
- Place patrols in the streets.
Detain anyone of a suspicious nature.
Black or white.
There may be some whites encouraging them.
Place a guard around the armory,
the wharf and the powder magazine.
And then, have these slaves arrested.
- At once, Governor.
(dramatic upbeat music)
- Bacchus.
(dramatic upbeat music)
(horse galloping)
(horse neighs)
- Hey man, how many of you are there?
- Seven.
- And the rest?
- They aint come.
(dramatic upbeat music)
- Hah.
- Rolla.
Malicious tongues have been spreading stories.
My solicitor, Jacob Axon,
will be at the workhouse to represent you.
- Yes, sir.
- I know that you are innocent, Rolla.
Do not lose heart.
- Yes, sir.
(dramatic music)
(horse galloping)
(dog barking)
(dramatic music)
- What happened Gullah?
- The road out of town blocked.
We can't get through.
- Denmark, the plantation sl*ve, they didn't come.
- We've been betrayed.
- They take Rolla in chains from Governor Bennett's house.
- They going to come here next for sure.
- Yes.
- We've got to get Sandy down to the wharf.
There's a stowaway on of the cargo ships.
- If we can Denmark.
- No father, I'll stay here and die with you.
- Who's talking?
You aren't dying.
As long as we're free, this thing is still alive.
- [Gullah Jack] Denmark.
- The important thing now is silence.
If we're captured,
do not reveal anything, do not give any names.
Silence now is our only w*apon.
Bacchus.
- Denmark.
(suspenseful music)
(door slamming)
(knock on window)
(drums beating)
- They're looking all over for you.
I was half expecting you.
- I'm tired.
- Come.
No, come in the back.
- I'm so tired.
- Come, come back.
(dramatic upbeat music)
(chains rattling)
- You all just shut your mouth,
and die quietly like your going to see me do.
(dogs barking)
(dramatic upbeat music)
- (whispering) Denmark.
- [Officer] Search for him.
And remember I want him alive.
You hear me, alive.
(officers chattering)
(dramatic music continues)
- I've got him.
- Throw him in iron.
- Denmark Vesey,
the court has pronounced you guilty
and is now satisfied that you are
the author and original instigator of this diabolical plot.
The only way you can save yourself
is to disclose the names of all your conspirators.
Have you anything to say?
Your lamp of life is nearly extinguished.
And you must shortly pass from time to eternity.
To that almighty being alone, whose holy ordinances
you have trampled in the dust
can you now look for mercy.
The court sentences the prisoner
to be hanged by the neck until he is dead.
(melancholic music)
- Denmark.
- Huh?
- What you thinking about?
- I was thinking about Beck and Sandy.
- They don't catch Sandy yet.
They will never get him.
He probably on his way North, by now.
Maybe he got a ship.
- Bacchus.
Bacchus.
- I don't want to talk to you, Mr. Benjamin.
You get away.
- Bacchus, you don't have to die tomorrow.
Monday Gell has confessed.
- What you say?
- He's given the court a lot of names.
It's not too late, Bacchus.
If you help the court,
perhaps they'll change your sentence to banishment.
Monday's being sent out the country.
- No.
- Bacchus....
Bacchus.
- No!
- How have I gone wrong with you?
You've always spent such a very, very good boy.
I can't believe that you wanted to k*ll me.
- I ain't never plot to k*ll.
I planned to be free.
But you wouldn't understand that, Mr. Benjamin.
You couldn't.
Oh, you be better than most men,
but I still your property.
You treat me good,
but a man treat a horse good too.
And then I met Denmark,
and he asked me them question.
And I waiting all my life
for someone to ask me them question.
I like you Mr. Benjamin.
You've been a good man.
But your my master.
And it getting so I can't see the man
or the master.
And I don't think
you ever really see me, Mr. Benjamin.
You don't see Bacchus.
I've been nothing more to you than a good horse.
Or an extra smart dog.
Get away, get away.
- Bacchus, Bacchus.
Bacchus!
(soft music)
- You know Denmark, before I meet you,
I walk around like a dead man all them years.
So if dying like sleeping then...
It don't matter.
I've been asleep before.
You be strong, Denmark.
You've got to be strong, I'll help you.
You help me.
We'll be strong.
- Yeah.
- We don't...
We don't need any help anymore.
It's the other who will come after us
who need the help.
- How many in Negros are now arrested?
- Upwards of 130 I expect by now.
I keep asking myself
how this could all have been avoided.
- Don't hold yourself to blame, Tom.
Slaves will always be susceptible to fanatics like Vesey.
- Perhaps Hammett was right,
The more liberty you give a nigra, the more he wants.
Well from now on, I shall see to it
that the nigras of South Carolina
are subject to a great deal more control
for their own good.
- White men too would try to escape
if they were enslaved, Tom.
- Perhaps.
But William, I love Rolla.
And he was led away from me
like a child who knows no better.
I should have been a stronger master.
Let's go.
(dramatic music)
- [Officer] Move.
(screaming)
- Jack.
You showed them how to live like men.
Let's show them how to die, like men.
(chains rattling)
(dramatic music)
♪ Amazing grace
♪ How sweet the sound
♪ That saved a wretch like me
♪ I once was lost
♪ But now I'm found
- Beck, Beck.
♪ Once lost but now I'm here
- Who that?
- Your friend.
I found some people back in the swamp.
They looking out for me.
- Your father's dead.
- I know.
- But they never going to forget him.
- Forget him?
Why they don't let nobody mourn him in Charleston.
That how much they scared of him.
Even though he dead,
your father aint never going to be forget.
He let the truth out.
We can't pretend we're happy in sl*very, now.
- I'm going to go up North.
Try and reach Philadelphia.
Some people up there maybe can help me.
- Tell them who he was.
- I'm going to do that.
- Bye Beck.
- Goodbye Sandy.
(singing)
♪ Through many dangers, toils and snares ♪
♪ I have already come
♪ 'Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far ♪
♪ And grace will lead me home
(humming)
(singing)
- Well, it's true that most Americans
would not know of Denmark Vesey
without seeing this film.
They wouldn't know of him because...
Most Americans don't know
much about Afro-American history.
And don't know about it
in relationship to the broader American history in general.
So it's not surprising that most of the audience
looking at this film
would find it a new story, all together.
- Certainly.
One knows less about people like, Denmark Vesey, I mean,
the point that they'd made if he had won,
one was likely to read much more about him.
But I think that...
The tendency not to exalt or to talk
about people lik Denmark Vesey,
probably, more deeply reflects the desire
to have a somewhat cleaned up American past.
And if you talk about people like Denmark Vesey,
talk about the deep unhappiness of a person who
had been able to purchase his own freedom
and discovered that the will of another person meant
that he couldn't have the freedom of his wife and his child.
That's a kind of anger and inequality
that Americans simply find uncomfortable.
American historians have preferred not to talk about.
And it's one of the things that is perhaps
most important about that Afro-American history.
That it's helped to fuel
among many of the younger historians,
a realization that the tremendous importance
of shedding some light, if you will,
upon the lives, the experiences of people
who were often not looked at
because what happened to them is uncomfortable, unpleasant.
- He tends not to be a part of a--
A mythology celebrating the glorious past.
Rather he and others like Denmark Vesey in the past,
Nat Turner, one can think of...
Are in the national history, something of an embarrassment
because what they bring to our attention
is the evidence within our own past
which we like to glorify as a past of freedom.
The realities and the centrality
of sl*very and unfreedom.
And the related oppression that goes with it.
- One of my old professors in American history
once remarked that,
if the American revolution had failed
and the British had been allowed
to write the history of this interaction.
One would have heard people talking
about Patrick Henry as a robber.
And ultimately the veneration that Americans feel
towards the Founding Fathers reflects again.
Which is saying that,
when loser lose, they get criticized.
When winners, when they don't.
In fact, they get praised.
The v*olence of the American revolution
is swept under the table
as part of the kind of glorious birth of a new republic.
The notion that people believed
that there were things wrong with the existing order.
That George the Third had announced that
there were things they had to do
that were still the law of the land,
as they understood it.
Some groups of people decided to disobey,
to risk death, to k*ll other people.
That gets exalted.
I think that it's important to see that...
At the beginning there was no way
that the Founding Fathers could have known
that they'd have any more
or less chance of success
than Denmark Vesey did.
They were individual people
who worked as a group perceived
that there was inequality, that there was a wrong.
And they sought to avail themselves of the remedies.
In this case, as Jefferson pointed out,
doing whatever thing--
Whatever seemed to be necessary
in order to gain for themselves the rights of freedom.
And...
I think that it's something that historians
need to continue to explain that,
at the beginning no one knows
whether they're going to succeed or fail.
Losers have their own stories to tell.
And it seems to me that
one of the most poignant stories
that something like the Vesey revolt tries to tell us
is that American history is not after all the sort of
placid vision of a smooth evolution towards democracy.
That...
I would argue that the majority experience
in America has not been one of freedom and equality.
But rather one of inequality and poverty.
And one has to, I think, come to grips with the realities
and not unfortunately, as our president does at
the moment while allowing these visions
that all one has to do is return American society
to the days of the past
when everything was fine.
It simply isn't true.
American history has been much more complex than that.
And only by having these sorts of...
Demonstrations are the complexity, the human emotions
and drama of individuals like Denmark Vesey,
that we begin to get some sense that
America will not solve its current problems
until it comes to grips with its past.
- Those kinds of complexities
are the complexities of human experience
and human motivation.
Looking at a film like this is,
I think very useful,
because it allows us to see
that the past is not made up of good guys
and bad guy...
Absolute freedom, absolute sl*very
- One of the complexities that one clearly sees
is the ambivalence of people, like Bacchus for example.
Or Rolla.
There you are a relatively privileged person
but still a sl*ve.
Having strong emotive ties to a White person
who was also your master, who owns.
And yet struggling through recognizing
that there were aspects of one's life
that were not going to be realized
until you are able to strike and gain freedom.
Seems to me that that has a lot to say
about how and why political things occur.
That it's never all or nothing.
That it's precisely that people have
a variety of things to weigh
as they make these decisions about what to do
that may help us to understand the...
Sort of evolution of an American past.
- The question of good guys or good masters
or...
Nice people, Christian people,
is irrelevant to the circumstances
and conditions of those people's lives.
Because however good Bacchus' master might've been,
Bacchus was still property.
And even that master has, within the system, real limits
as to what he can do for Bacchus.
He, if he were to die,
for instance, in one of his drunken brawls.
Bacchus as the property of that man
would have been a part of his estate.
And would have been dealt with by the courts
just as his cattle or as land was.
That's a matter of system,
and it isn't a matter of personality.
What the story gives us some insight into
is that, yes, there were good masters
and there were bad masters.
But the question of sl*very
and the question of oppression
was not a matter of these...
How individuals treated individuals,
but had to do with the system
both master and sl*ve or a part of.
And the rules and the nature of a property relationship
of...
Man to man.
I think for example,
the the reaction of someone like Thomas Jefferson
to the basic plot.
This notion that Jefferson put it that,
sl*very was ungovernable.
That it was something that was ultimately going to
rip the society apart.
Jefferson died some four years after the Vesey plot.
40 years later, there's a civil w*r.
There's fault over these kinds of issues.
And one of the sort of major sets of activism
that are people like Vesey.
Blacks who were dissatisfied with sl*very
and were desperately determined to be free,
and to gain freedom at any cost.
And I think that only by trying to see
that people like Vesey existed,
that they were dissatisfied,
and that they were willing to undergo great risks,
Are we likely, I think finally,
to get a better appreciation
for why there was a civil w*r.
- The importance of the story
in Denmark Vesey's case,
and certainly in all the other stories.
What's important to us as Americans
is to understand that within our own...
Within the fabric of our own past
is woven this very important thread
of oppression and resistance to oppression
of unfreedom in a society,
which is nominally free.
That there is a real and important tension
that exists there.
You know, when one thinks about sl*very too,
I was just reflecting on this and looking at the film.
- [Announcer] Major funding for the preceding program
was provided by the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Additional funding was provided
by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting,
the Ohio Historical Society and Public television stations.
(logo beeping)
A House Divided: Denmark Vessey's Rebellion (1982)
Moderator: Maskath3
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