On 30 August 1800, 200 years ago today, an enslaved man named Gabriel, from Henrico County, Virginia, prepared to lead the largest antislavery uprising in Virginia's history. A thunderstorm made it impossible for the conspirators to rendezvous, and two conspirators betrayed the plans to an owner who notified the governor. During the ensuing investigations and trials, twenty-six African Americans were hanged and others were sold out of the state.

The Library of Virginia is pleased to announce that "Death or Liberty -- Gabriel, Nat Turner, and John Brown," an exhibition on display at the Library of Virginia from 10 January 2000 through 1 September 2000, is now available in full on the Library's web site (listed below).

The on-line exhibition contains transcripts and digitized images of more than sixty documents treating opposition to slavery in colonial Virginia and the antebellum period. Consisting of items from the Library's archival holdings, the documents provide primary source evidence of the antislavery actions of enslaved Virginians and others and illuminate the ways in which people reacted to those actions and interpreted them.