Kaine issues pardon in slave revolt

Kaine issues pardon in slave revolt

Gabriel Prosser fought to end slavery, governor notes in proclamation Friday, Aug 31, 2007 - 12:08 AM Updated: 09:19 AM By JEFF E. SCHAPIROTIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER• PROFILE: GABRIEL PROSSER

Gov. Timothy M. Kaine is informally pardoning Gabriel Prosser, hanged for leading a failed slave revolt in Virginia more than 200 years ago this week.

In restoring Prosser's "good name," Kaine said the slave, put to death in 1800 with 34 other African-Americans, was motivated by "his devotion to the ideals of the American revolution -- it was worth risking death to secure liberty."

Prosser, the property of a Henrico planter, envisioned an uprising by thousands of slaves that would include the "wholesale massacre" of whites in Richmond and other slave-holding areas, according to journalist-historian Virginius Dabney in "Richmond: The Story of a City."

Unfolding 31 years before the better-known Nat Turner insurrection in Southampton County, the Prosser-led revolt began in Richmond on Aug. 30, 1800. The plot was thwarted after two slaves confessed to a white plantation owner, who immediately alerted Gov. James Monroe, a future president.

A powerful rainstorm forced a delay in the rebellion, giving the militia time to round up Prosser and others. Tried and condemned to death, many of the slaves were hanged near what is now Broad and 15th streets, according to Dabney.

"Gabriel's cause -- the end of slavery and the furtherance of equality of all people -- has prevailed in the light of history," Kaine said in a recent letter to Linda Thomas, president of the Virginia chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Thomas sought the pardon.

"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," Kaine wrote.

In a statement released yesterday by King Salim Khalfani, Virginia State Conference executive director, the NAACP welcomed Kaine's decree, saying, "Gabriel and his colleagues were freedom fighters and deserve their rightful place in history as women and men of integrity who fought for freedom."

The civil-rights organization continued, "In the capital of the Confederacy, where monuments to the traitors of the Union are maintained with tax dollars, this is a momentous occasion."

Kaine's decision comes nearly seven months after the General Assembly went on record expressing "profound regret" for slavery, a foundation of Virginia's economy for more than 200 years. Virginia was the first state to apologize for slavery.

Kaine press secretary Kevin Hall said the governor did not issue a formal pardon for Prosser because that is "usually for a living person, not a person who has died." Further, Hall said, official records of Prosser's alleged crimes are not complete.

Hall said that Kaine, as he did last year in clearing the name of accused 18th century witch, Grace Sherwood of Virginia Beach, acted under broad clemency powers extended to a governor by the Virginia Constitution. Contact Jeff E. Schapiro at (804) 649-6814 or jschapiro@timesdispatch.com.

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