Gabriel Prosser
Encyclopedia
Gabriel today commonly – if incorrectly – known as Gabriel Prosser, was a literate enslaved blacksmith who planned to lead a large slave rebellion
in the Richmond
area in the summer of 1800. However, information regarding the revolt was leaked prior to its execution, thus Gabriel's plans were foiled. Gabriel and twenty-five other members of the revolt were hanged
. In reaction, the Virginia and other legislatures passed restrictions on free blacks
, as well as the education, movement and hiring out of the enslaved.
In 2002 the City of Richmond passed a resolution in honor of Gabriel on the 202nd anniversary of the rebellion. In 2007 Governor Tim Kaine
gave Gabriel and his followers an informal pardon, in recognition that his cause, "the end of slavery and the furtherance of equality for all people – has prevailed in the light of history."
, Gabriel had two brothers, Solomon and Martin. They all lived on the tobacco plantation, called Brookfield, of Thomas Prosser. It was likely that Gabriel's father was a blacksmith, as that was the trade Gabriel and Solomon were trained in. He was also taught to read and write. By the mid-1790s, as Gabriel neared the age of twenty, he stood "six feet two or three inches high". His long and "bony face, well made", was marred by the loss of his two front teeth and "two or three scars on his head". White people as well as black people regarded the literate young man as "a fellow of great courage and intellect above his rank in life."
, who called out the state militia
. Gabriel escaped downriver to Norfolk
, but there he was spotted and betrayed by another slave for the reward. That slave did not receive the full reward.
Gabriel was returned to Richmond for questioning, but he did not submit. Gabriel, his two brothers, and 23 other slaves were hanged.
from surviving contemporary documents. Among his findings, Egerton observed that Gabriel was never known by the surname "Prosser". He noted that was an after-the-fact assumption from a period when slaves and ex-slaves sometimes adopted their owner's family names, or whites assumed they would do so. According to Egerton, in 1800 white authorities referred to Gabriel as "Prosser's Gabriel," but his common-use name was simply Gabriel.
Egerton found that Gabriel was a skilled blacksmith
who was mostly "hired out" by his owner in Richmond foundries, an increasingly common practice as the market for tobacco was depressed and soil depleted. Slaveholders leased skilled slaves for jobs available in Virginia industries. Egerton concluded that Gabriel would have been stimulated and challenged by interacting with co-workers of European, African and mixed descent. They hoped Thomas Jefferson
's Republicans would liberate them from domination by the wealthy Federalist merchants of the city. Gabriel also would have learned about the uprising and struggles of slaves in Saint Domingue.
Egerton believed that Gabriel had two white co-conspirators, at least one of whom was identified as a French national. Documentary evidence of their identity or involvement was sent to Governor Monroe but never produced in court. The internal dynamics of Jefferson's and Monroe's party in the 1800 elections were more complex than they appeared to either white or black partisans in Richmond. A significant part of the Republicans' base was owners of large plantations. Any sign that white radicals, and particularly Frenchmen, had supported Gabriel's plan could have cost Jefferson the election. Slaveholders had been made fearful by the violent excesses unleashed by the French Revolution
and the rebellion of slaves in Saint-Domingue
. Egerton believed that Gabriel planned to take Governor Monroe hostage to negotiate an end to slavery. Then he planned to "drink and dine with the merchants of the city".
Egerton noted that Gabriel did not order his followers to kill all whites except Methodists
, Quakers
and Frenchmen
; rather, he only instructed them not to kill any people in those three categories. Methodists and Quakers were active missionaries for manumission, and the French had abolished slavery in their Caribbean colonies in 1794.
Gabriel initially escaped on a ship owned by a former overseer, a recently converted Methodist who repeatedly overlooked information as to his passenger's identity. Hoping to obtain a sufficient reward to purchase his own freedom, a slave "hired out" to work on the ship turned in Gabriel. He was paid only $50 as a reward, not the $300 expected.
From 1780 to 1810, the number of slaves freed in the Upper South had grown markedly, as some slaveholders were inspired to free slaves by the American Revolution
and its ideals. Methodists and Quakers especially worked to convince slaveholders to manumit slaves. The percentage of free blacks rose from 1 percent to more than 10 percent by 1810, with Virginia nearly doubling its percentage, from 4.2 to 7.2. By 1810 nearly three-quarters of Delaware
's blacks were free. Some Virginia slaveholders watched these activities nervously, made uneasy as well by the violent aftermath of the French Revolution
and the uprising of slaves in the 1790s in Saint Domingue. In 1792 France granted social equality to free people of color
, and in 1793 French Revolutionary commissioners in Saint-Domingue
granted freedom to all the slaves. White refugees migrated to the US during the years of upheaval, now known as the Haitian Revolution
. In 1804 black and mulatto revolutionaries gained freedom, declaring the colony the independent black nation of Haiti
.
Gabriel had been able to plan the rebellion because of relatively lax rules of movement between plantations and the city. After the rebellion, many slaveholders greatly restricted the slaves' rights of travel when not working. Fears of a slave revolt regularly swept major slaveholding communities.
Prior to this rebellion, Virginia law had allowed education of slaves, and training slaves in skilled trades. After the rebellion, and after a second conspiracy was organized in 1802 among enslaved boatmen along the Appomattox and Roanoke Rivers, the Virginia Assembly in 1808 banned hiring out of slaves and required freed blacks to leave the state or face re-enslavement (1806). Free blacks had to petition the legislature to stay in the state, and were often aided in that goal by white friends or allies. In addition to the catalyst of Gabriel's Rebellion, the law against residency was prompted by the marked increase in population of free people of color in Virginia, as noted above in manumission of slaves after the American Revolution. The very existence of free blacks challenged the conditions of slave states.
He is also mentioned in Public Enemy's song Prophets of Rage.
Slave rebellion
A slave rebellion is an armed uprising by slaves. Slave rebellions have occurred in nearly all societies that practice slavery, and are amongst the most feared events for slaveholders...
in the Richmond
Richmond, Virginia
Richmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...
area in the summer of 1800. However, information regarding the revolt was leaked prior to its execution, thus Gabriel's plans were foiled. Gabriel and twenty-five other members of the revolt were hanged
Hanging
Hanging is the lethal suspension of a person by a ligature. The Oxford English Dictionary states that hanging in this sense is "specifically to put to death by suspension by the neck", though it formerly also referred to crucifixion and death by impalement in which the body would remain...
. In reaction, the Virginia and other legislatures passed restrictions on free blacks
Black people
The term black people is used in systems of racial classification for humans of a dark skinned phenotype, relative to other racial groups.Different societies apply different criteria regarding who is classified as "black", and often social variables such as class, socio-economic status also plays a...
, as well as the education, movement and hiring out of the enslaved.
In 2002 the City of Richmond passed a resolution in honor of Gabriel on the 202nd anniversary of the rebellion. In 2007 Governor Tim Kaine
Tim Kaine
Timothy Michael "Tim" Kaine is a Virginia politician. Kaine served as the 70th Governor of Virginia from 2006 to 2010, and was the chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 2009 to 2011...
gave Gabriel and his followers an informal pardon, in recognition that his cause, "the end of slavery and the furtherance of equality for all people – has prevailed in the light of history."
Life and background
Born into slavery in Henrico County, VirginiaHenrico County, Virginia
Henrico is a county located in the Commonwealth of Virginia, a state of the United States. As of 2010, Henrico was home to 306,935 people. It is located in the Richmond-Petersburg region and is a portion of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area...
, Gabriel had two brothers, Solomon and Martin. They all lived on the tobacco plantation, called Brookfield, of Thomas Prosser. It was likely that Gabriel's father was a blacksmith, as that was the trade Gabriel and Solomon were trained in. He was also taught to read and write. By the mid-1790s, as Gabriel neared the age of twenty, he stood "six feet two or three inches high". His long and "bony face, well made", was marred by the loss of his two front teeth and "two or three scars on his head". White people as well as black people regarded the literate young man as "a fellow of great courage and intellect above his rank in life."
Gabriel's Rebellion
Gabriel planned the revolt during the spring and summer of 1800. On August 30, 1800, Gabriel hoped to lead the slaves into Richmond, but revolution was postponed because of rain. The slaves' owners had suspicion of the uprising. Before it could be carried out, two slaves told their owner, Mosby Sheppard, about the plans. He in turn warned Virginia's Governor, James MonroeJames Monroe
James Monroe was the fifth President of the United States . Monroe was the last president who was a Founding Father of the United States, and the last president from the Virginia dynasty and the Republican Generation...
, who called out the state militia
Militia
The term militia is commonly used today to refer to a military force composed of ordinary citizens to provide defense, emergency law enforcement, or paramilitary service, in times of emergency without being paid a regular salary or committed to a fixed term of service. It is a polyseme with...
. Gabriel escaped downriver to Norfolk
Norfolk
Norfolk is a low-lying county in the East of England. It has borders with Lincolnshire to the west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea coast and to the north-west the county is bordered by The Wash. The county...
, but there he was spotted and betrayed by another slave for the reward. That slave did not receive the full reward.
Gabriel was returned to Richmond for questioning, but he did not submit. Gabriel, his two brothers, and 23 other slaves were hanged.
Historiography
Historian Douglas Egerton offered a new perspective on Gabriel in his book Gabriel's Rebellion: The Virginia Slave Conspiracies of 1800 & 1802. The book incorporated extensive primary researchPrimary research
Primary research consists in research to collect original primary data. It is often undertaken after the researcher has gained some insight into the issue by collecting secondary data...
from surviving contemporary documents. Among his findings, Egerton observed that Gabriel was never known by the surname "Prosser". He noted that was an after-the-fact assumption from a period when slaves and ex-slaves sometimes adopted their owner's family names, or whites assumed they would do so. According to Egerton, in 1800 white authorities referred to Gabriel as "Prosser's Gabriel," but his common-use name was simply Gabriel.
Egerton found that Gabriel was a skilled blacksmith
Blacksmith
A blacksmith is a person who creates objects from wrought iron or steel by forging the metal; that is, by using tools to hammer, bend, and cut...
who was mostly "hired out" by his owner in Richmond foundries, an increasingly common practice as the market for tobacco was depressed and soil depleted. Slaveholders leased skilled slaves for jobs available in Virginia industries. Egerton concluded that Gabriel would have been stimulated and challenged by interacting with co-workers of European, African and mixed descent. They hoped Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson was the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence and the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom , the third President of the United States and founder of the University of Virginia...
's Republicans would liberate them from domination by the wealthy Federalist merchants of the city. Gabriel also would have learned about the uprising and struggles of slaves in Saint Domingue.
Egerton believed that Gabriel had two white co-conspirators, at least one of whom was identified as a French national. Documentary evidence of their identity or involvement was sent to Governor Monroe but never produced in court. The internal dynamics of Jefferson's and Monroe's party in the 1800 elections were more complex than they appeared to either white or black partisans in Richmond. A significant part of the Republicans' base was owners of large plantations. Any sign that white radicals, and particularly Frenchmen, had supported Gabriel's plan could have cost Jefferson the election. Slaveholders had been made fearful by the violent excesses unleashed by the French Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
and the rebellion of slaves in Saint-Domingue
Haitian Revolution
The Haitian Revolution was a period of conflict in the French colony of Saint-Domingue, which culminated in the elimination of slavery there and the founding of the Haitian republic...
. Egerton believed that Gabriel planned to take Governor Monroe hostage to negotiate an end to slavery. Then he planned to "drink and dine with the merchants of the city".
Egerton noted that Gabriel did not order his followers to kill all whites except Methodists
Methodism
Methodism is a movement of Protestant Christianity represented by a number of denominations and organizations, claiming a total of approximately seventy million adherents worldwide. The movement traces its roots to John Wesley's evangelistic revival movement within Anglicanism. His younger brother...
, Quakers
Religious Society of Friends
The Religious Society of Friends, or Friends Church, is a Christian movement which stresses the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers. Members are known as Friends, or popularly as Quakers. It is made of independent organisations, which have split from one another due to doctrinal differences...
and Frenchmen
French people
The French are a nation that share a common French culture and speak the French language as a mother tongue. Historically, the French population are descended from peoples of Celtic, Latin and Germanic origin, and are today a mixture of several ethnic groups...
; rather, he only instructed them not to kill any people in those three categories. Methodists and Quakers were active missionaries for manumission, and the French had abolished slavery in their Caribbean colonies in 1794.
Gabriel initially escaped on a ship owned by a former overseer, a recently converted Methodist who repeatedly overlooked information as to his passenger's identity. Hoping to obtain a sufficient reward to purchase his own freedom, a slave "hired out" to work on the ship turned in Gabriel. He was paid only $50 as a reward, not the $300 expected.
Impact
Gabriel's uprising was notable not because of its actual impact — the rebellion was quelled before it could begin — but because of the potential for mass chaos and widespread violence. In Virginia in 1800, 39.2 percent of the population was enslaved, with a concentration of slaves on plantations in the Tidewater area and west of Richmond. No reliable numbers existed regarding slave and free black conspirators; most likely, the number of men actively involved numbered only several hundred.From 1780 to 1810, the number of slaves freed in the Upper South had grown markedly, as some slaveholders were inspired to free slaves by the American Revolution
American Revolution
The American Revolution was the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America...
and its ideals. Methodists and Quakers especially worked to convince slaveholders to manumit slaves. The percentage of free blacks rose from 1 percent to more than 10 percent by 1810, with Virginia nearly doubling its percentage, from 4.2 to 7.2. By 1810 nearly three-quarters of Delaware
Delaware
Delaware is a U.S. state located on the Atlantic Coast in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It is bordered to the south and west by Maryland, and to the north by Pennsylvania...
's blacks were free. Some Virginia slaveholders watched these activities nervously, made uneasy as well by the violent aftermath of the French Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
and the uprising of slaves in the 1790s in Saint Domingue. In 1792 France granted social equality to free people of color
Free people of color
A free person of color in the context of the history of slavery in the Americas, is a person of full or partial African descent who was not enslaved...
, and in 1793 French Revolutionary commissioners in Saint-Domingue
Saint-Domingue
The labour for these plantations was provided by an estimated 790,000 African slaves . Between 1764 and 1771, the average annual importation of slaves varied between 10,000-15,000; by 1786 it was about 28,000, and from 1787 onward, the colony received more than 40,000 slaves a year...
granted freedom to all the slaves. White refugees migrated to the US during the years of upheaval, now known as the Haitian Revolution
Haitian Revolution
The Haitian Revolution was a period of conflict in the French colony of Saint-Domingue, which culminated in the elimination of slavery there and the founding of the Haitian republic...
. In 1804 black and mulatto revolutionaries gained freedom, declaring the colony the independent black nation of Haiti
Haiti
Haiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island...
.
Gabriel had been able to plan the rebellion because of relatively lax rules of movement between plantations and the city. After the rebellion, many slaveholders greatly restricted the slaves' rights of travel when not working. Fears of a slave revolt regularly swept major slaveholding communities.
Prior to this rebellion, Virginia law had allowed education of slaves, and training slaves in skilled trades. After the rebellion, and after a second conspiracy was organized in 1802 among enslaved boatmen along the Appomattox and Roanoke Rivers, the Virginia Assembly in 1808 banned hiring out of slaves and required freed blacks to leave the state or face re-enslavement (1806). Free blacks had to petition the legislature to stay in the state, and were often aided in that goal by white friends or allies. In addition to the catalyst of Gabriel's Rebellion, the law against residency was prompted by the marked increase in population of free people of color in Virginia, as noted above in manumission of slaves after the American Revolution. The very existence of free blacks challenged the conditions of slave states.
Legacy and honors
Gabriel's rebellion served as an important example of slaves' taking action to seek freedom.- In 2002 the City of Richmond adopted a resolution to commemorate the 202nd anniversary "of the execution of the patriot and freedom fighter, Gabriel, whose death stands as a symbol for the determination and struggle of slaves to obtain freedom, justice and equality as promised by the fundamental principles of democratic governments of the Commonwealth of Virginia and the United States of America."
- In the fall of 2006 the Virginia State Conference of the NAACP requested Gov. Tim KaineTim KaineTimothy Michael "Tim" Kaine is a Virginia politician. Kaine served as the 70th Governor of Virginia from 2006 to 2010, and was the chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 2009 to 2011...
to pardon Gabriel in recognition of his contributions to the civil rights struggle of African Americans and all peoples.
- On August 30, 2007, Virginia GovernorGovernor of VirginiaThe governor of Virginia serves as the chief executive of the Commonwealth of Virginia for a four-year term. The position is currently held by Republican Bob McDonnell, who was inaugurated on January 16, 2010, as the 71st governor of Virginia....
Tim Kaine informally pardonPardonClemency means the forgiveness of a crime or the cancellation of the penalty associated with it. It is a general concept that encompasses several related procedures: pardoning, commutation, remission and reprieves...
ed Gabriel and his co-conspirators. Kaine said that Gabriel's motivation had been "his devotion to the ideals of the American revolution — it was worth risking death to secure liberty." Kaine noted that "Gabriel's cause — the end of slavery and the furtherance of equality of all people — has prevailed in the light of history", and added that "it is important to acknowledge that history favorably regards Gabriel's cause while consigning legions who sought to keep him and others in chains to be forgotten." The pardon was informal because it was posthumous.
Novel
- Arna BontempsArna BontempsArnaud "Arna" Wendell Bontemps was an American poet and a noted member of the Harlem Renaissance.- Life and career :...
, Black Thunder. New York: Macmillan, 1936, a historical novel based on Gabriel's Rebellion
Songs
- Tim BarryTim BarryTim Barry is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He is the former lead singer of the Richmond, Virginia-based punk rock band Avail. In addition to performing with Avail, he was the bass guitarist in the Richmond-based folk punk band Pioneers from 1994-1995...
, a singer/songwriter from Richmond, wrote and performed “Prosser’s Gabriel” for the album 28th & Stonewall which chronicles the events of Gabriel's life, focusing on the attempted revolution.
He is also mentioned in Public Enemy's song Prophets of Rage.
Sources
- Aptheker, HerbertHerbert ApthekerHerbert Aptheker was an American Marxist historian and political activist. He authored over 50 volumes, mostly in the fields of African American history and general U.S. history, most notably, American Negro Slave Revolts , a classic in the field, and the 7-volume Documentary History of the Negro...
. American Negro Slave Revolts. New York: International Publishers, 1983 (1943). - Egerton, Douglas R. Gabriel's Rebellion: The Virginia Slave Conspiracies of 1800 and 1802. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1993.
- Rodriguez, Junius P., ed. Encyclopedia of Slave Resistance and Rebellion. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 2006.
- Sidbury, James. Ploughshares into Swords: Race, Rebellion, and Identity in Gabriel's Virginia, 1730-1810. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1997.