Morris Brown founded the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston as a place for black Christians to worship on their own, away from the white supremacy of Charleston’s existing churches. The church quickly grew in power and prestige. Within a year, in 1817, Charleston’s white power structure felt threatened enough to send in the police. As directed, the Charleston police raided the church and arrested everyone. 475 parishioners were convicted of disturbing the peace. The punishment: 5-10 lashes with a bullwhip. The message: as a black person, whether enslaved or free, you will be made to suffer if you dare to disturb the peace. Morris Brown was given the choice to close the church and leave town, or be whipped in the town square. He chose to stay.

A year later, the police again raided the church. At this point, some historians believe, one of the church leaders lost faith in the possibility of gradual change and started planning an uprising. His name was Denmark Vesey.

On this 19th day of our 30 day Energy Challenge, we’re remembering that rage is a form of energy.

For more on Denmark, you can read here, here, and here. This is just an exercise blog, after all. Here’s our exercises for Friday:

Every 2 minutes, for 12 minutes (6 rounds):

3 person-makers (sub 7 burpees if you don’t have dumbbells)
6 walking lunges each leg
15 sit-ups (V-ups if you wish)
bear crawl back, growling if that’s how you feel