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In 1822, Denmark Vesey was on the verge of executing a radical plan: for Black Charlestonians to revolt and rise up against the city’s white residents.
He’d amassed the support of hundreds of free and enslaved people, but his plan was leaked at the last minute, thwarting an uprising that could have changed history and setting the city of Charleston on edge.
More than 200 years later, Charleston is still grappling with his legacy. While some have mischaracterized Vesey as a terrorist of the antebellum era, academics and activists are fighting to give a more complete picture of the man who fought for African American liberty.
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