ipl-logo

Brief Biography Of Gabriel Prosser

790 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: History of slavery

Gabriel was born in 1776 on Thomas Prosser's tobacco plantation in Henrico County, Virginia. Gabriel and his brother began training as blacksmiths. His father was a blacksmith as well because skills were usaully passed from generation to generation in Virginia slave families. (PBS.org) When Gabriel was a child he was taught how to read and write as well.
Gabriel Prosser was a leader of an unsuccessful slave revolt in Richmond, Virginia in 1800 (Aptheker 1974). Gabriel was also born into slavery around 1775, him and his family were all owned by the same slave master and all participated in the slave insurrection. At the Age of twenty-four he was illiterate but, Prosser had a plan with the help of other slaves to be in control of Richmond by …show more content…

Prosser planned to initiate the insurrection on the night of August 30, 1800. Earlier in the day two slaves who wanted to protect their masters betrayed the plot to Virginia authorities. Governor James Monroe alerted the militia. (Aptheker 1974). Also, due to a rainstorm the insurrection was delayed a whole day. This gave the militia more time to prepare themselves for the attack of Gabriel Pressor and his supporters. Prosser found out his plan got been exposed and eventually they captured 35 of his leaders but Prosser escaped. Once again, the slaves betrayed Prosser and told where he was because they were going to be rewarded on September 25th. After capturing Gabriel Prosser for his plan of taking over Virginia and killing many white people he was set to trial for his actions. A few days lately he was found guilty on October 6, 1800 and executed the following day (Aptheker …show more content…

He was already familiar with the great Haitian slave revolt of the 1790s, while working as a carpenter he read anti-slavery literature (Britannica 2017). Vesey was not happy with second-class status as a freedman and wanted to help relieve the far more oppressive conditions of bondsmen. Vesey planned and organized an uprising of city and plantation blacks. The plan called for the rebels to attack guardhouses and arsenals, seize their arms, kill all whites, burn, and destroy the city, and free the slaves. There were about 9,000 blacks that were involved.

The Northern Abolitionist movement in the United States was to end slavery. Gabriel and his brother brought together enslaved and freed African American, poor whites, and Native Americans to rebel against wealthy whites (Lewis 2017). Due to the weather and slaves backing out the rebellion did not take place.
In 1822, Vesey and other leaders from the African American church began plotting a rebellion (pbs.org). Vesey set the date for revolt on July 14th, planning to attack Charleston’s arsenals and guard houses. Also, to kill every white man they saw. Many slaves were scared about the plan because they thought they were going to get caught. Due to the slaves fear they leaked their plans to their masters. Vesey was captured on June 22nd and was tortured and threatened of execution because they refused to give up who was involved with their plan. On

Show More
Related
928 Words | 4 Pages

Beginning in the eighteenth century, a collection of thirteen fledgling British colonies were undergoing immense changes while struggling with the divisive institution of slavery. Their brutally enforced labor became invaluable in agricultural areas and their population grew, often becoming the majority of many counties in the south. Looking back at this barbaric practice, it would seem inevitable slaves would frequently push back against their bondage through violent protests and uprisings. Author Peter Charles Hoffer’s book, Cry Liberty: The Great Stono River Slave Rebellion of 1739 takes a closer look at such an event. He argues that despite the mainstream view of the rebellion, its origin was not one of premeditated revolt.

Read More
506 Words | 3 Pages

He challenged this assumption by arguing that historians and South Carolina officials had written the result of the Stono Rebellion in reverse. Many of the historians and officials had assumed that there was a competent conspiracy theory to rebel before the violence even erupted. Hoffer again disagreed with this assumption. After analyzing the many causes that could’ve started the rebellion, the author came across many shortcomings and deficiencies of the traditional conspiracy theories that many individuals believe caused the rebellion.

Read More
854 Words | 4 Pages

It was caused by secessionist “bushwhackers” and local union militia known as “jayhawkers” fighting in small squabbles across the state. Both sides had plenty of reason to hate the other, due to the many atrocities committed by the others. Confederate fighters killed civilian unionists, executed prisoners, and scalped the dead. Union soldiers, however, enforced martial law on civilians with raids of their homes, arrests of innocent people, mass executions, and banishment of confederate sympathizers from the state. Jesse’s family sided with the confederates from the start of the

Read More
253 Words | 2 Pages

Denmark Vesey, Potential Uprising Leader Executed Denmark Vesey - a free slave, has been tried in court, found guilty, and executed on behalf of Charlestown, South Carolina at age 55. Vesey was said to have been planning an uprising and conspiracizing a ploy to kill white slave masters and people in Charlestown for sometime in July 1822. Vesey’s execution displays the power and fear of white southerners of an uprising that would put southern planters at risk, similar to the Haitian Rebellion. Denmark Vesey’s uprising would have included thousands of city slaves and those who work on plantations miles away.

Read More
1542 Words | 7 Pages

History courses in high school and elementary grade levels often depict African slaves as having no freedoms until the Emancipation Proclamation during the Civil War with the exception of the rare few. The majority of people would assume the same regardless of race or education in modern times. Many would dismiss the assumption that during the early sixteen century, Africans would have gained their freedom; and lived as equals amongst the English colonists. However T. H. Breen’s book, Myne Owne Ground, portrays a different view point of how slaves were treated in the sixteenth century North Hampton, Virginia. Breen depicts how former slaves were able to legally change their status to a freeman and the life that followed, and ultimately their

Read More
1330 Words | 6 Pages

In 1741 a series of thirteen fires broke out in the streets of New York as part of a conspiracy plot for slaves to gain their freedom back. An investigation by the supreme court looked into the matter, what resulted in over one hundred slaves being captured and interrogated and in fear for their lives they used scapegoats to try and save themselves what only fuelled the fire of the witch hunt for those who were actually responsible. The Negro plot of 1741 was an example of a witch hunt because it caused mass hysteria within the white community and also because the slaves convicted of being a part of the conspiracy used scapegoats to try and save their own lives. One of the reasons The Negro Plot of 1741 is considered a witch hunt is because during the investigation of the fires, white people in the community were afraid that the slaves were trying to fight back in order to gain their freedom back, which caused a lot of negative emotions to stir within the community causing vigilantes to take the law into their own hands. Soon A discontented Spanish Negro came under strong suspicion on April 6, when four new fires broke out and the cry of “ Take up the Spanish Negros “( Linder ) echoed the streets of New York.

Read More
804 Words | 4 Pages

At Saturday, April 20, 1793, many of the slaves revolted in order to gain freedom. The passage states ”hundreds of enslaved blacks revolted in the area surrounding the village of Trois- Rivières, Guadeloupe… they were quiet, orderly and unaggressive… the soldiers schedule scrot the enslaved into basse-terre where they would be placed into custody.” ( Insurrection and the Language of rights) This is an example of why the slaves wanted a social change as Toussaint Louverture believed that the blacks were not treated the way they should be.

Read More
965 Words | 4 Pages

Many complications arise when proving the slave conspiracy in Winthrop D. Jordan 's Tumult and Silence at Second Creek. In Mississippi during the spring and summer of 1861, slaves from Adams County plotted to gain freedom from their owners. Following the unveiling of the conspiracy to the slave-owners, the so-called court proceedings show reason to believe that something went awry. The way the slave-owners arrived at the information of the conspiracy and the way they proceeded in court lead to questions about the legitimacy of the conspiracy. Also, each reply from the slaves resemble each other with uncanny similarity.

Read More
154 Words | 1 Pages

I think the only thing I support about this revolts is that it kind of open others mind to fight for themselves. I support more of Vesey’s way of rebellion because it wasn’t too violent were as Turner killed innocent women and children. On Turner rebellions, it is bloody but I think since it became one of the famous rebellion it really push lots of slaves to speak up for what they believe is right. I understand that whites needed the slave to work on their plantations but not to the point where the slaves did not have rest or they get paid so little and some of them not even.

Read More
720 Words | 3 Pages

Nat’s revolt eventually grew to over 80 slaves. The slaves would go into the houses of the slave owners and slit their throats or cut their heads with knives. After the owners were dead the slaves would drink their alcohol and steal their possessions. They would also try to recruit the owners, slaves to join the revolt. When the revolt was stopped there was a total of 80 slaves involved.

Read More
937 Words | 4 Pages

Inez Prosser Emozhane Richardson American River College Inez Prosser Inez Beverly Prosser was born in San Marcos, Texas on December 30, 1895 to Samuel Andrew and Veola Hamilton Beverly. She was the eldest daughter and the second of eleven children. During her younger days, there were few educational opportunities for African-Americans so her parents moved many times to seek the best education they could find for their children. To contribute to the household, she started a college fund to support her younger siblings’ education.

Read More
527 Words | 3 Pages

The second reason, John Brown led a revolt. “These men are all talk, what we need is action, action!” John Brown said before He and his men (in October 16, 1859) raided the Federal Arsenal armory, and as a result, shook the south. Upon hearing he was going to be hung he stated: “…if it is deemed necessary that I should forfeit my life for the furtherance of the ends of justice, and mingle my blood further with the blood of my children and with the blood of millions in this slave country whose rights are disregarded by wicked, cruel, and unjust enactments--I submit; so let it be done!”

Read More
484 Words | 2 Pages

George Fitzhugh claimed that "The Negro slaves of the South are the happiest the freest people in the world." (Document H). John Brown a major person in the fight to end slavery "led a band of 18 men into Virginia to seize the federal arsenal there, distribute the captured arms to slaves in the area, and create a general slave uprising." (Document I).John Brown was executed and the aftermath of his death made tensions rise betwwen the North and South. "

Read More
1693 Words | 7 Pages

Out of all the short-term causes of the American Civil War, be they pieces of legislation such as the Kansas-Nebraska Act, events such as the Dred Scott Decision, or conflicts such as Nat Turner’s rebellion, the most disputed-upon was, and still is, John Brown’s Raid of 1859. It took place on October 16th, when abolitionist John Brown led an unsuccessful raid on a federal armory in Harper’s Ferry, Virginia in order to start a liberation movement among the slaves there. The raiders, approximately 15 white men and 5 black, were captured, and John Brown was executed on December 2nd of that same year, effectively becoming a martyr for the abolitionist cause. His actions both inspired pro-slavery fighters and outraged anti-slavery factions, sparking

Read More
788 Words | 4 Pages

Howard Zinn’s unique perspective on American history and the beloved American heroes makes for an interesting story. His book, A People's History of the United States, paints history in a whole new light. The ninth chapter of his book, “Slavery Without Submission, Emancipation without Freedom” discusses the abolition of slavery in America and its effect and ulterior motives; it benefitted the elite, while not strictly freeing the slaves. He uses other like-minded historians, key people, and key events to prove his claims. His claims that the government’s support of slavery was due to practicality, and by ending it there was a safe and profitable reconstruction, rather than a radical one.

Read More

More about Brief Biography Of Gabriel Prosser

Related Topics

Open Document