David Walker
David Walker was a prominent African American abolitionist and writer, born on September 28, 1785, in Wilmington, North Carolina. The son of a slave and a free mother, Walker's early life was shaped by the institution of slavery, which he witnessed firsthand. After relocating to Charleston, South Carolina, and later to Boston in the mid-1820s, he became deeply involved in the abolitionist movement, marrying into a well-known African American family and establishing a secondhand clothing business.
His most significant contribution came in 1829 with the publication of "Walker's Appeal to the Colored Citizens of the World," a passionate and militant pamphlet that addressed both free and enslaved African Americans, as well as white audiences. The work critiqued the nature of slavery, educational disparities, and the inadequacy of African colonization as a solution to the slavery problem. Walker's bold writing incited fear among white Southerners, leading to calls for its suppression and a bounty on his life. He died suddenly in 1830, shortly after the publication, and while rumors of foul play circulated, no evidence was found. Walker's legacy endures, as his ideas influenced both contemporary abolitionists and later civil rights movements, making him a key figure in the struggle for racial equality.
Subject Terms
David Walker
- Born: September 28, 1785
- Birthplace: Wilmington, North Carolina
- Died: June 28, 1830
- Place of death: Boston, Massachusetts
Abolitionist and writer
Walker’s work, commonly known as the Appeal to the Colored Citizens of the World(1829), broke new ground in the abolition movement in the United States and had a major impact on the long-term struggle for civil rights in the years that lay ahead.
Early Life
David Walker was born in Wilmington, North Carolina, on September 28, 1785. His father was a slave, but his mother was free, and under North Carolina law at the time, Walker was granted his mother’s free status. Little is known of his early life, but it is clear that he had ample opportunity to witness the institution of slavery during his formative years. He learned to read and write in his youth and eventually acquired considerable knowledge in the fields of politics, history, and religion.
In his early twenties, Walker moved to Charleston, South Carolina, drawn by the rich cultural life and economic opportunities of that city. However, after a few years there—and especially in the period of suppression after the Denmark Vesey slave-revolt conspiracy in 1822—his bitter hatred of slavery caused him to leave the South. After spending some time traveling to other parts of the country, he eventually settled in Boston in the mid-1820’s.
In Boston, Walker established himself in a secondhand clothing business. In February of 1826, he married Eliza Butler, a member of a well-known local African American family. His marriage brought him into the highest levels of Boston’s free black society and he became increasingly involved in the abolition movement. He was a strong supporter of the New York abolitionist newspaper Freedom’s Journal and an early member of the Massachusetts General Colored Association, an abolitionist group that later merged with the New England Anti-Slavery Society. It was in September of 1829, however, with the publication of Walker’s Appeal, in Four Articles; Together with a Preamble, to the Colored Citizens of the World, but in Particular, and Very Expressly, to Those of the United States of America, that he made his greatest impact as a writer and abolitionist.
Life’s Work
Walker’s famous work, better known as the Appeal to the Colored Citizens of the World, broke new ground in the growing struggle against slavery. Addressed to African Americans (both free and enslaved) as well as whites, it took a more militant tone than previous writings on the subject. Its four sections discussed the nature of slavery in the United States, how black potential was undermined by the withholding of education, religious views regarding slavery, and why Walker believed African colonization was not a practical solution to the slavery problem. In the minds of many whites, especially in the South, Walker’s fiery writing was capable of inciting those who read it to violence. The work’s structure—a preamble followed by a series of articles—paralleled the U.S. Constitution. In its conclusion, the author wrote eloquently of the basic incongruity of slavery with the ideals set forth in the Declaration of Independence.
Following the publication of the pamphlet, Walker worked personally to disseminate it. He used the mail, distributed copies to friends and acquaintances traveling to other parts of the country, and engaged black sailors to smuggle copies into southern ports. By the end of the year, the Appeal to the Colored Citizens of the World had reached most of the major cities of the South, setting off a firestorm of reaction. In December of 1829, the mayor of Savannah, Georgia, informed the governor of the state of the work’s presence in his city. He also wrote to the mayor of Boston, asking him to take steps to suppress the work; the Boston mayor, stating that no law had been broken, took no action. Eventually, word circulated in the South that a bounty had been placed on Walker: three thousand dollars for his death or ten thousand dollars for his capture.
In the midst of the outcry, on June 28, 1830, Walker died suddenly. Rumors circulated that he had been murdered, but no evidence to support that claim was discovered. Despite Walker’s untimely death, the controversy surrounding his work continued. The slave revolt led by Nat Turner in Virginia two years after the pamphlet’s publication has sometimes been attributed to its influence, but no direct evidence supports this claim, either.
Significance
Walker’s Appeal to the Colored Citizens of the World was one of the most controversial abolitionist writings of its time. Even white abolitionists of the period—William Lloyd Garrison and Benjamin Lundy among them—thought its views extreme, but its influence cannot be underestimated. In the short term, it served to increase the fears and paranoia of the South in regard to slave resistance, while in the long term it was an important source of inspiration for the militancy of later generations of civil rights leaders from W. E. B. Du Bois to Malcolm X.
Bibliography
Aptheker, Herbert.“One Continual Cry”: David Walker’s Appeal to the Colored Citizens of the World (1829-1830): Its Setting, Its Meaning. New York: Humanities Press, 1965. Places Walker and his work in the larger context of the antislavery movement in U.S. history; also contains the full text of the 1830 edition of the Appeal.
Crockett, Hasan. “The Incendiary Pamphlet: David Walker’s Appeal in Georgia.” The Journal of Negro History 86, no. 3 (Summer, 2001): 305-318. Examines the response to Walker’s work in one southern state.
Hinks, Peter P. To Awaken My Afflicted Brethren: David Walker and the Problem of Antebellum Slave Resistance. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1997. The definitive Walker biography, offering a detailed analysis of the Appeal to the Colored Citizens of the World and a full history of its impact.
Walker, David. David Walker’s Appeal to the Colored Citizens of the World. Rev. ed. Edited by Peter P. Hinks. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2000. The 1830 edition of the Appeal, edited and with useful introductory material by Hinks.