Gullah Jack (died July 12, 1822), also known asCouter Jack and sometimes referred to as"Gullah" Jack Pritchard, was anAfrican Methodist andHoodoo conjurer who Paul Pritchard enslaved inCharleston, South Carolina.

Little is known about his background, except that he was of Angolan origin and was shipped fromZanzibar to America underZephaniah Kingsley's direction.^[1] He was sent first to Florida, to theKingsley Plantation.^[2] However, in 1812 after aSeminole raid on the Kingsley Plantation, he escaped toCharleston, South Carolina, where he was eventually purchased by Paul Pritchard in 1821.^[3]

Gullah Jack is known for his role as a co-conspirator, along withDenmark Vesey, in planning the rebellion that would become known as Denmark Vesey's slave conspiracy in 1822.^[4] Both Vesey and Gullah Jack were involved in some capacity with theAME Church in Charleston.^[3] It was at the AME Church that Vesey recruited Gullah Jack for his planned uprising in Charleston.^[3]

Using hisAfrica-based influences, Gullah Jack was crucial in recruiting African-born enslaved people as soldiers and provided them with charms as protection against the "buckra" (whites). He is also said to have used his spiritual powers to terrify others into keeping silent about the conspiracy. Historians believe Jack's strong African culture, contrasted against Vesey's preaching, helped attract many of the enslaved people that joined the revolt.^[5]

The Vesey plot involved taking over the state armory to arm enslaved people from rural areas and the local sea islands, who would rise and assist the others in revolt. The enslaved people would then kill the whites of Charleston, take the city, and finally use the city's ships to escape, supposedly, toHaiti, where enslaved people had overthrown the white government and now ruled.^[6]

Eventually, the Vesey plot was leaked by other enslaved people who were coerced into confession. Gullah Jack was arrested for his part in the plot on July 5, 1822, and was tried for his role in the planning, along with 130 others.^[3] Ultimately, South Carolina authoritieshanged Vesey, Gullah Jack, and 34 other leading conspirators.

• Rodriguez, Junius P.,The Historical encyclopedia of world slavery, Volume 1; Volume 7, ABC-CLIO, 1997,ISBN 0-87436-885-5

• Executions in the U.S. 1608-1987: The Espy File (by state) (PDF)
• Murrin, John M. & Johnson, Paul E. & McPherson, James M. & Gerstle, Gary & Rosenberg, Emily S. & Rosenberg, Norman L. (2002).Liberty Equality Power: A History of the American People Volume I: To 1877 (3rd ed.). Wadsworth: Thomson Learning.ISBN 0-15-505080-X.
• Starobin, Robert S. "Terror in South Carolina 1822: An Introduction to Denmark Vesey & the Slave Conspiracy in Charleston".ChickenBones: A Journal, 5 October 2007.Archived 8 November 2007 at theWayback Machine
• WGBH, "Sentence of Gullah Jack", Africans in America: part 3, PBS Online, 1998.

• 1822 deaths
• Methodists from South Carolina
• American people of Angolan descent
• American rebel slaves
• 19th-century American slaves
• 19th-century executions by the United States
• 19th-century African-American people
• People executed by South Carolina by hanging
• Executed African-American people
• Executed Angolan people
• 19th-century executions of American people
• 1822 crimes in the United States
• Hoodoo conjurors
• People enslaved in South Carolina
• Rebel slaves

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Articles with hCards
• Webarchive template wayback links
• Year of birth missing