David Walker (abolitionist)

David Walker
BornSeptember 28, 1796[a]
Wilmington, North Carolina, U.S.
DiedAugust 6, 1830(1830-08-06) (aged 33)[2][3]
Boston, Massachusetts
NationalityAmerican
Occupation(s)Abolitionist, journalist
Known forAn Appeal to the Colored Citizens of the World (1830)

David Walker (September 28, 1796 – August 6, 1830)[a] was an American abolitionist, writer, and anti-slavery activist. Though his father was enslaved, his mother was free; therefore, he was free as well (partus sequitur ventrem). In 1829, while living in Boston, Massachusetts, with the assistance of the African Grand Lodge (later named Prince Hall Grand Lodge, Jurisdiction of Massachusetts), he published An Appeal to the Colored Citizens of the World,[4] a call for black unity and a fight against slavery.

The Appeal brought attention to the abuses and inequities of slavery and the responsibility of individuals to act according to religious and political principles. At the time, some people were aghast and fearful of the reaction that the pamphlet would provoke. Southern citizens were particularly upset with Walker's viewpoints and as a result there were laws banning circulation of "seditious publications" and North Carolina's "legislature enacted the most repressive measures ever passed in North Carolina to control slaves and free blacks".[5]

His son, Edward G. Walker, was an attorney and in 1866, was one of the first two black men elected to the Massachusetts State Legislature.

  1. ^ David Walker: Black Wilmington Abolitionist Archived September 15, 2019, at the Wayback Machine. Cape Fear Historical Institute. Retrieved January 20, 2014.
  2. ^ "Deaths" (PDF). Boston Courier. August 11, 1830. Archived (PDF) from the original on May 16, 2017. Retrieved June 7, 2012.
  3. ^ "Deaths [upclose image of the death announcement]" (PDF). Boston Courier. August 10, 1830. Archived (PDF) from the original on April 13, 2017. Retrieved June 7, 2012.
  4. ^ Walker, David (1830). "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, Written in Boston, State of Massachusetts, September 28, 1829". Boston: David Walker. Archived from the original on July 2, 2018. Retrieved November 20, 2018.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference UNC's Bio on Walker was invoked but never defined (see the help page).


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