David Walker was a abolitionist whose pamphlet "Appeal…to the Colored Citizens of the World…", urging enslaved people to fight for their freedom, was one of the most radical documents of the antislavery movement. Born of an enslaved father and a free mother, with some citing his birth date as September 28, 1785 or 1796, Walker grew up free in Wilmington, North Carolina. He was considered legally free, since slavery followed the condition of the mother, not the father. Even though he was technically free, he still observed the horrors of enslavement. As a young child, he watched as a son was forced to whip his mother.
At one point, Walker declared that he could not "remain where I must hear slaves' chains continually and where I must encounter the insults of their hypocritical enslavers." He left Wilmington between 1815 and 1820. Walker obtained an education, and traveled throughout the country, spending time in Charleston, South Carolina, which had a large population of free African Americans, and settled in Boston. But even in that free northern city, with its prevalent discrimination, life was less than ideal for its black residents. Sometime in the 1820s he opened a secondhand clothing store on the Boston waterfront and married Eliza Butler in 1826. Through this business he could purchase clothes taken from sailors in barter for drink and then re-sell them to seamen about to embark.
In Boston he became involved in the abolition movement and was a frequent contributor to Freedom’s Journal, which was the country's first newspaper that was owned and managed by African Americans. In Boston, Walker began to associate with prominent Black activists, such as James W. Stewart, husband of Maria W. Stewart, abolitionist and women's rights activist. It was Walker’s form of Black nationalism, grounded in religious appeals and arguments for justice, that would have inspire Maria W. Stewart to become the anti-slavery lecturer she would be known for. He joined institutions that denounced slavery in the South and discrimination in the North such as the Massachusetts General Colored Association. By the end of 1828, he had become Boston's leading spokesman against slavery. He was involved with Prince Hall Freemasonry, an organization formed in the 1780s that stood up against discriminatory treatment of Blacks.
Walker’s most notable contribution to abolitionism was his 76-page pamphlet of the Appeal to the Coloured Citizens of the World on September 28, 1829. This was a radical call to slaves to rise up in revolt against slave owners. His Appeal was intended to spark a flame in abolitionists and show all Americans the hypocrisy that slavery presented in a country where “all men are created equal.” The goal of the Appeal was to instill pride in its Black readers and give hope that change would someday come. It spoke out against colonization, a popular movement that sought to move free Blacks to a colony in Africa, such as the American Colonization Society. Walker believed that America belonged to all who help build it, stating, "America is more our country than it is the whites -- we have enriched it with our blood and tears." He then asked, "will they drive us from our property and homes, which we have earned with our blood?"
Over the course of more than 70 pages, he used references within the Bible and the Declaration of Independence to passionately argue against slavery and discrimination. To reach his primary audience -- the enslaved men and women of the South -- Walker relied on sailors and ship's officers sympathetic to the cause who could transfer the pamphlet to southern ports. Walker even employed his used clothing business which, being located close to the waterfront, served sailors who bought clothing for upcoming voyages. He sewed copies of his pamphlet into the lining of sailors' clothing. Once the pamphlets reached the South, they could be distributed throughout the region. Walker also sought the aid of various contacts in the South who were also sympathetic to the cause. He aided runaway slaves and helped the "poor and needy". Walker took part in civic and religious organizations in Boston.
In "The Appeal", Walker called for the immediate abolition of slavery, which at the time was an unusual argument. "The Appeal", arguably the most radical of all anti-slavery documents, caused a great stir and made a great impression in the South, with both slaves and slaveholders. Walker wrote, ". . .they want us for their slaves, and think nothing of murdering us. . . therefore, if there is an attempt made by us, kill or be killed. . . and believe this, that it is no more harm for you to kill a man who is trying to kill you, than it is for you to take a drink of water when thirsty." Even the outspoken William Lloyd Garrison objected to Walker's approach in an editorial, criticizing "The Appeal" to violence on the grounds of his religious pacifism, while arguing that Walker's call for violent revolution against slave-holders was the logical extension of the principles behind the American revolution.
Walker’s Appeal argued against the sheer hypocrisy of Southern slave owners who called themselves Christians, and implored free Black people such as in Boston to speak out against slavery. He commented on his travels throughout the South and West and confirmed from first-hand observation that African-Americans throughout the United States faced deep levels of racism and segregation, including in Boston. In his Appeal Walker implored the Black community to take action against slavery and discrimination. "What gives unity to Walker's polemic," historian Paul Goodman has argued, "is the argument for racial equality and the active part to be taken by Black people in achieving it." The Appeal made a great impression in the South, with both slaves and slaveholders.
To the slaves the words were inspiring and instilled a sense of pride and hope. Horrified Whites, on the other hand, initiated laws that forbade blacks to learn to read and banned the distribution of antislavery literature. They offered a $3,000 reward for Walker's head, and the state of Georgia issued a $10,000 to anyone who could bring him in alive. Friends concerned about his safety implored him to flee to Canada. Walker responded that he would stand his ground. "Somebody must die in this cause," he added. "I may be doomed to the stake and the fire, or to the scaffold tree, but it is not in me to falter if I can promote the work of emancipation." A devout Christian, he believed that abolition was a "glorious and heavenly cause."
Walker also attacked Thomas Jefferson's argument that Blacks, while deserving of liberty, were inferior to Whites. He criticized members of the founding generation, for their hypocrisy and racist ideology. In response to Jefferson, Walker wrote: "It is indeed surprising, that a man of such great learning...should speak so of a set of men in chains. I do not know what to compare it to, unless, like putting one wild deer in an iron cage, where it will be secured...then let it go, and expect the one in the cage to run as fast as the one at liberty". Walker considered slavery to be a sin, concluding that God would punish the nation because of it. He also used the Declaration of Independence to provide support for the right of a revolution and natural rights.
Walker's Appeal and the slave rebellion led by Nat Turner in Virginia in 1831 struck fear into the hearts of slaveowners. Though there is no evidence to suggest that the Appeal specifically informed or inspired Turner, it could have, since the two events were just a few years apart. Whites were panicked about the possibility of future insurrections. Southern states passed laws restricting free Blacks and slaves. Many White people in Virginia and neighboring North Carolina believed that Turner was inspired by Walker's Appeal or other abolitionist literature. Walker’s Appeal for a slave rebellion, widely reprinted after his death, was accepted by a small minority of abolitionists, but most antislavery leaders and free Blacks rejected his call for violence at the time.
When the smuggled pamphlets began to appear in the South, the states reacted with legislation prohibiting circulation of abolitionist literature and forbidding enslaved persons to learn to read and write. Warned that his life was in danger, Walker refused to flee to Canada. On August 6, 1830, shortly after a third edition of his pamphlet was published and one week after his daughter died of tuberculosis, David Walker passed away. Walker’s sudden and mysterious death caused speculation that he was poisoned, although there was no evidence supporting the allegation. Official records noted his cause of death as consumption, the same as his daughter. His friends and admirers, however, remembered him more robustly. Activist and orator Maria Stewart referred to him as a "most noble, fearless, and undaunted" leader who "distinguished himself [the most] in these modern days by acting wholly in defense of African rights and liberty."
His Appeal however, continued to inspire people to fight against enslavement. From Nat Turner to John Brown, the idea of ending enslavement through violence became a common theme. David Walker influenced Frederick Douglass, Nat Turner, William Lloyd Garrison, Martin Luther King Jr., and Malcolm X. Douglass later said that Walker's Appeal "'startled the land like a trump of coming judgement.' Echoes of his "Appeal" can be heard, for example, in Douglass's 1852 speech, "The Meaning of the Fourth of July for the Negro":
"For it is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake. The feeling of the nation must be quickened; the conscience of the nation must be roused; the propriety of the nation must be startled; the hypocrisy of the nation must be exposed; and its crimes against God and man must be proclaimed and denounced."