Gabriel’s Rebellion (Magill’s Literary Annual 1991-2005)
At a glance:
- Author: Douglas R. Egerton
- First Published: 1993
- Type of Work: History
- Time of Work: 1798-1802
- Setting: Richmond, Virginia, tidewater Virginia, and North Carolina
- Principal Characters: Gabriel (prosser), Ben (Prosser), Solomon (Prosser), Jack Ditcher, Sam Byrd, Ben Woolfolk, James Monroe, Sancho
- Genres: Nonfiction, History
- Subjects: Freedom, Racism, South or Southerners, Slavery or slaves, Farms, farmers, or farming, Conspiracies or conspirators, Labor, Merchants
- Locales: Richmond, VA, North Carolina
On August 30, 1800, Gabriel Prosser, an enslaved African American blacksmith who lived near Richmond, Virginia, planned to mass with well over one hundred of his supporters at a bridge outside Richmond, march on the city, fire and seize it, and proclaim an end to slavery in Virginia. Counting on recruits from as far away as Norfolk, Petersburg, and surrounding rural counties to strike toward Richmond at the same moment, Gabriel hoped to so disrupt and terrify the state that its leading politicians and merchants would choose to sit with him and negotiate an end to slavery rather than...
[The entire page is 2769 words long]
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