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David Walker's Appeal
Book by Walker, David
96 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1829
88 people are currently reading
1240 people want to read
About the author
David Walker
13 books6 followersLibrarian note:
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name
David Walker 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 Coloured Citizens of the World, a call for black unity and self-help in the fight against the oppressive and unjust slavery. Walker exerted a radicalizing influence on the abolitionist movements of his day and inspired future black leaders and activists.
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name
David Walker 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 Coloured Citizens of the World, a call for black unity and self-help in the fight against the oppressive and unjust slavery. Walker exerted a radicalizing influence on the abolitionist movements of his day and inspired future black leaders and activists.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 82 reviews
December 20, 2021
It really is a tragedy (though no mistake in an actively racist colonizing country) that we aren’t exposed to these pivotal first hand accounts of slavery when we are in school. Walker’s eye witness accounts as a free black man are the kinds of things that chill you. Furthermore, this is a brave freedom fighter, someone able to identify the brainwash, forced ignorance, and hypocrisy of colonizers at a time when his argument was so dangerous he thought he’d be killed or put into slavery: *he just didn’t care.* I am always so interested in those rare types of people that are able to forcefully reject cultural norms with such a deep sense of dignity and integrity, and then go a step further and find a platform to speak. Walker’s appeal urges his readers to educate each other. The conviction in his voice reminded me a lot of Assata Shakur’s writing, another rebel I admire that we should all be reading and learning about.
This book is such a valuable slice of abolitionist history that brings it to life and shows you that “the devil is in the details” when it comes to slavery. We just don’t have a single clue how utterly violent and horrifying this was and its ties to Christianity because we are so poorly educated on it. Ironically, keeping people ignorant is a point that Walker addresses: sadly, it’s a point we have not yet addressed as a culture.
If you teach history or American literature at any level, you should read this book and books like it to give a fuller picture to your students (and yourself).
This book is such a valuable slice of abolitionist history that brings it to life and shows you that “the devil is in the details” when it comes to slavery. We just don’t have a single clue how utterly violent and horrifying this was and its ties to Christianity because we are so poorly educated on it. Ironically, keeping people ignorant is a point that Walker addresses: sadly, it’s a point we have not yet addressed as a culture.
If you teach history or American literature at any level, you should read this book and books like it to give a fuller picture to your students (and yourself).
April 18, 2023
David Walker's Appeal has been described as the most radical writing by an African in America during the 19th century. So radical that legislation was passed to further restrict the teaching of enslaved Africans to read or write and to curb the circulation of his pamphlet in Southern states after its publication in 1829. Along with that a $10,000 bounty was placed on his head.
Walker begins by discussing the brutality of chattel slavery in the United States and comparing it to other forms of slavery that took place under different empires throughout history. He uses his argument that Africans in the US are "the most degraded, wretched, and abject set of beings that ever lived" to not only condemn American Christianity but also expose the hypocrisy of white Christians by participating in and justifying such an inhumane and demonic institution.
Walker was an abolitionist and for the duration of the book he calls on Africans in the US and throughout the diaspora to respond to their conditions through education and revolutionary counter-violence. What stood out to me was his pre-Marxian analysis of the avariciousness of European culture and its connection to white supremacy. Another thing that I found interesting was his eschatological vision for the US.
Almost 200 years later and sadly everything in this book is still completely relevant.
Walker begins by discussing the brutality of chattel slavery in the United States and comparing it to other forms of slavery that took place under different empires throughout history. He uses his argument that Africans in the US are "the most degraded, wretched, and abject set of beings that ever lived" to not only condemn American Christianity but also expose the hypocrisy of white Christians by participating in and justifying such an inhumane and demonic institution.
Walker was an abolitionist and for the duration of the book he calls on Africans in the US and throughout the diaspora to respond to their conditions through education and revolutionary counter-violence. What stood out to me was his pre-Marxian analysis of the avariciousness of European culture and its connection to white supremacy. Another thing that I found interesting was his eschatological vision for the US.
Almost 200 years later and sadly everything in this book is still completely relevant.
December 19, 2009
I believe this book expresses & reflects the essence of a Black Nationalistic Revolutionary! If you believe that we have progressed since captivity you may want to read this book! If you believe that we should forgive and forget you may want to pick up this book! If you have faith in the system and consider reform our only true hope, you have to get this book! If you feel that protesting, boycotting, sit-in’s, lock-in's, and demonstrations are the way to being heard, this book is for you! To all my true Black Revolutionary's pick up this book if you begin to feel hopeless and ineffective the war has just begun and we can’t afford for you to back out now!
January 16, 2009
A remarkable book. David Walker's text is every bit as inflammatory and seditious as white Americans charged. It advocates what we can easily recognize as an early form of black nationalism, and it urges American blacks to be ready to come to the aid of a "new Hannibal" when one arises to visit divine judgment on America. It's no wonder that Southern states suppressed it ruthlessly -- and that even northern abolitionists condemned it. The pamphlet is also beautifully written in the style of a sermon as much as the style of a manifesto.
July 18, 2019
Walker's raw anger and frustration were refreshing to read and eye-opening. Narratives of slavery and oppressions tend to be sugar-coated for the convenience & comfort of the reader, but Walker's political appeal is far from heavily airbrushed works like Green Book and it's certainly not comfortable to read. I recommend everyone to read it this, its paramount and important to see the injustice and anger that produces such honest works. This is not emotionally easy to read, so I strongly recommend it.
October 31, 2018
I saw this cited in another book I read this year, though I can't recall what it was.
Necessary reading for history geeks. This was hardcore for its day. Folks could be, and were, killed just for having it in their possession. It was considered seditious material.
Necessary reading for history geeks. This was hardcore for its day. Folks could be, and were, killed just for having it in their possession. It was considered seditious material.
Read
November 24, 2025I will not give this a star rating because I feel this "Appeal" cannot and should not be rated with however many out of five stars. I was of course aware of this, it being mentioned in multiple classes I have taken over the years but this was the first time I actually read it. It took some getting used to because the style is of its time and there are so many run-on sentences that you really have to concentrate while reading. But that does not take away from the fact that this piece of writing was very impactful even nearly two centuries after its publication.
Walker's way of arguing and speaking about the state of Black and Colored people in the first half of the 19th century took me in and was gripping in a way that I had not anticipated. The way he connects his arguments to scripture and other peoples' speeches and writing was great and I especially liked the very end when he underlines the obvious hypocrisy of the Declaration of Independence as a foundational document for the US which emphasizes so clearly values that are certainly not upheld by the institution of slavery.
Walker's way of arguing and speaking about the state of Black and Colored people in the first half of the 19th century took me in and was gripping in a way that I had not anticipated. The way he connects his arguments to scripture and other peoples' speeches and writing was great and I especially liked the very end when he underlines the obvious hypocrisy of the Declaration of Independence as a foundational document for the US which emphasizes so clearly values that are certainly not upheld by the institution of slavery.
February 10, 2021
"I advance it therefore to you, not as a problematical, but as an unshaken and forever immoveable fact, that your full glory and happiness, as well as all other coloured people under heaven, shall never be fully consummated, but with the entire emancipation of your enslaved brethren all over the world."
David Walker
#solidarity
One of the greatest pieces of Liberation Theory known to man, that we don't study. Thank you for your contributions, what an incredible story of endurance and sacrifice
David Walker
#solidarity
One of the greatest pieces of Liberation Theory known to man, that we don't study. Thank you for your contributions, what an incredible story of endurance and sacrifice
July 21, 2020
Excellent read.
This book should be read by all right meaning people. But, particularly by every person of color. I was recently made aware of David Walker’s work. He and his work should be among the giants in black history.
This book should be read by all right meaning people. But, particularly by every person of color. I was recently made aware of David Walker’s work. He and his work should be among the giants in black history.
April 22, 2012
David Walker's Appeal opens with an impassioned examination of the Black condition in America driving slow and painstakingly towards a radical crescendo at the close of the fourth article. Upon first glance, the Appeal seems to exhibit one the earliest written examples of the classical Negro sermon invoking the tools of emotional petition, scriptural analogy and historical scrutiny in outlining the core narrative. Through further revisions to the text, Walker was able to expand upon the original thesis to form the ideological framework of Black liberation theology, social theory and nationalist discourse with consideration towards both freedmen and enslaved Blacks.
The Preamble of Walker's Appeal provides an intriguing context for the rise and influence of Black liberation theology where the theological construct exists as the last bastion of "free" intellectual inquiry available to those held in slavery. Walker mines the potentiality of biblical scripture in order to establish his case for the abolition of slavery through moral suasion, Pan-African struggle and armed resistance when necessary. For sewing these seeds of discord, Walker would find himself revered amongst enslaved Blacks and radical abolitionists, reviled amongst whites and slaveowners, held afar by moderate whites and Blacks alike who considered his approach too extreme and later murdered near his shop only a year from the publication of the manuscript.
Walker divided his appeal into four distinct areas of discourse following the Preamble which considered the effects of Slavery, Ignorance, Religion and Colonization upon the minds of Black people. He used each of these areas to display how the historical treatment of Blacks in America was mired in moral, social and political hypocrisy which should prevent us from thinking naively that we could hope for a fairer treatment in the future than we had been afforded in the past. While he fiercely refuted the efforts to colonize members of the free Black community in the African nation of Liberia, he displayed a particularly warm kinship for the recently liberated island nation of Haiti whose inspiration he drew upon in outlining his impression of what steps could be taken in America to secure freedom for all Black people.
While some concepts in the Appeal leave themselves open to misinterpretation in a modern context such as Walker's own fondness for the English whom he considered friends of the Negro, there are areas here which remain ripe for exploration in understanding the course of events which culminated in ending slavery. The Appeal was quite masterful at fomenting radical discourse when it was published in 1829 and taken together with the rebellion of Nat Turner in 1831 most certainly struck an alarming chord in states which had continued the practice of slavery. The Appeal was outlawed and at least one legislature, Georgia, placed a bounty upon Walker's head. It still managed to circulate widely through underground networks of abolitionists, freedmen societies, churches and maroon communities.
As we stand in the aftermath of cases in Arizona, Texas and Tennessee on the cusp of seeing the necessity for the return of outlaw education, let us take a lesson from David Walker in thinking dangerously and writing fearlessly about the oppressive systems which continue to impact our quality of life in this day and the overlapping alliances we must forge in order to break them apart permanently.
The Preamble of Walker's Appeal provides an intriguing context for the rise and influence of Black liberation theology where the theological construct exists as the last bastion of "free" intellectual inquiry available to those held in slavery. Walker mines the potentiality of biblical scripture in order to establish his case for the abolition of slavery through moral suasion, Pan-African struggle and armed resistance when necessary. For sewing these seeds of discord, Walker would find himself revered amongst enslaved Blacks and radical abolitionists, reviled amongst whites and slaveowners, held afar by moderate whites and Blacks alike who considered his approach too extreme and later murdered near his shop only a year from the publication of the manuscript.
Walker divided his appeal into four distinct areas of discourse following the Preamble which considered the effects of Slavery, Ignorance, Religion and Colonization upon the minds of Black people. He used each of these areas to display how the historical treatment of Blacks in America was mired in moral, social and political hypocrisy which should prevent us from thinking naively that we could hope for a fairer treatment in the future than we had been afforded in the past. While he fiercely refuted the efforts to colonize members of the free Black community in the African nation of Liberia, he displayed a particularly warm kinship for the recently liberated island nation of Haiti whose inspiration he drew upon in outlining his impression of what steps could be taken in America to secure freedom for all Black people.
While some concepts in the Appeal leave themselves open to misinterpretation in a modern context such as Walker's own fondness for the English whom he considered friends of the Negro, there are areas here which remain ripe for exploration in understanding the course of events which culminated in ending slavery. The Appeal was quite masterful at fomenting radical discourse when it was published in 1829 and taken together with the rebellion of Nat Turner in 1831 most certainly struck an alarming chord in states which had continued the practice of slavery. The Appeal was outlawed and at least one legislature, Georgia, placed a bounty upon Walker's head. It still managed to circulate widely through underground networks of abolitionists, freedmen societies, churches and maroon communities.
As we stand in the aftermath of cases in Arizona, Texas and Tennessee on the cusp of seeing the necessity for the return of outlaw education, let us take a lesson from David Walker in thinking dangerously and writing fearlessly about the oppressive systems which continue to impact our quality of life in this day and the overlapping alliances we must forge in order to break them apart permanently.
August 3, 2008
Clever, rebellious early 19th Century text written by a Bostonian journalist/tailor who would sew copies of protest articles within clothing shipped to slave states. Walker didn't live very long, but this relatively little-known pamphlet awoke many sympathetic parties to the abolitionist movement's potential for extreme violence. Similar to Martin Luther King, Jr.’s incredible “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” which utilized religious fervor and rhetoric as the crux to dispelling and combating his “religious” brethren who criticized his involvement in the Non-violent protests. Walker uses Christian zealots’ own words to attack the Constitution’s “all men are created equal”. Equally like Malcolm X, he also advocated violence to overthrow “this bloody land” where he was born free—Wilmington, N.C.—but where millions remained in bondage.
May 28, 2013
"We must and shall be free I say, in spite of you." (pg. 89)
Compelling; probably even more so to the readers of early 19th century. Imagine David Walker, born a free black man, wrote the first edition of his Appeal in 1829 blistering slavery protagonists as he states his case in four Articles:
Article I: Our Wretchedness In Consequence Of Slavery - Walker takes on Thomas Jefferson and his book Notes on the State of Virginia; refuting Jefferson's notion that blacks are inferior to whites. Walker also offers that the treatment of the Israelites under the Egyptian Pharaohs as being far better than the treatment of blacks under whites.
Article II: Our Wretchedness In Consequence Of Ignorance - Walker is concerned about how blacks remain oppressed due to ignorance and mis-education and how this strategy, championed by the slave master, has allowed slavery to endure. The thought of an educated black man strikes fear in the heart of the white slave master but it's only through education and enlightenment can one envision freedom and break the bonds of slavery.
Article III: Our Wretchedness In Consequence Of The Preachers Of The Religion Of Jesus Christ - Walker warns that enslavers will one day be called to judgment: "What right, then, has one of us to despise another, and to treat him cruel, on account of his colour, which none, but God who made can alter."
Article IV: Our Wretchedness In Consequence Of The Colonizing Plan - Walker derides Henry Clay's Colonizing Plan, a scheme to return free blacks to Africa to a supposedly greater freedom while keeping the enslaved blacks in America. Notes on the State of Virginia & Confession of Nat Turner
Compelling; probably even more so to the readers of early 19th century. Imagine David Walker, born a free black man, wrote the first edition of his Appeal in 1829 blistering slavery protagonists as he states his case in four Articles:
Article I: Our Wretchedness In Consequence Of Slavery - Walker takes on Thomas Jefferson and his book Notes on the State of Virginia; refuting Jefferson's notion that blacks are inferior to whites. Walker also offers that the treatment of the Israelites under the Egyptian Pharaohs as being far better than the treatment of blacks under whites.
Article II: Our Wretchedness In Consequence Of Ignorance - Walker is concerned about how blacks remain oppressed due to ignorance and mis-education and how this strategy, championed by the slave master, has allowed slavery to endure. The thought of an educated black man strikes fear in the heart of the white slave master but it's only through education and enlightenment can one envision freedom and break the bonds of slavery.
Article III: Our Wretchedness In Consequence Of The Preachers Of The Religion Of Jesus Christ - Walker warns that enslavers will one day be called to judgment: "What right, then, has one of us to despise another, and to treat him cruel, on account of his colour, which none, but God who made can alter."
Article IV: Our Wretchedness In Consequence Of The Colonizing Plan - Walker derides Henry Clay's Colonizing Plan, a scheme to return free blacks to Africa to a supposedly greater freedom while keeping the enslaved blacks in America. Notes on the State of Virginia & Confession of Nat Turner
December 18, 2020
A classic call for violent resistance to slavery that I have used to teach student about enslaved opposition to the slave owners. The book lends itself to class discussion with its forceful rhetoric, raising issues such as the religious basis to opposition to slavery.
December 12, 2022
He isn't wrong.
Well, maybe about God smiting his natural enemies.
Any book you write, knowing it might get you killed AND is getting smuggled into places AND if you get caught with it might get you killed, deserves 5 stars.
Well, maybe about God smiting his natural enemies.
Any book you write, knowing it might get you killed AND is getting smuggled into places AND if you get caught with it might get you killed, deserves 5 stars.
January 8, 2022
Can't believe I accidentally read DuBois's Darkwaterinstead of this so I had to desperately pretend I had things to say when I had no idea what this book even looked like, much less what it was about. That was a fun class to sit through lol. But, eventually corrected my mistake and actually read the right book. Tbh I liked DuBois's writing style and content better, but there were actually a lot of similarities between the two. Basically, this book argues how slavery is direct evidence of the hypocrisy of liberal theory because such a direct violation of human rights is financially and societally incentivized. Really good in contrast with Locke since it reveals his assholery. (DuBois also touches upon the capital gains of slavery and colonialism - how slavery and colonialism enriches the oppressors).
Read
September 10, 2023Interesting ideas and obviously Walker is incredibly courageous. I just wish that his publication was more structured; he kept coming back to the same points in a rambly way which made it hard to engage with the text :/
December 6, 2024
I had heard about David Walker's Appeal years ago but had never before taken the time to read it. Its prose style is 19th Century, which is to say, wordy and circuitous, but as a written argument, it's fascinating.
Walker's argument is explicitly Christian, even theological, even as he defends an enslaved person's right to defend his/her life and person by killing enslavers. This might be as radical a piece of written argument as ever appeared in 19th Century America, and yet I find its argument persuasive. In the course of his argument, Walker critiques Thomas Jefferson and Henry Clay, and argues strongly for the value of education as self-empowerment for Black persons. I am glad I have finally read this.
Walker's argument is explicitly Christian, even theological, even as he defends an enslaved person's right to defend his/her life and person by killing enslavers. This might be as radical a piece of written argument as ever appeared in 19th Century America, and yet I find its argument persuasive. In the course of his argument, Walker critiques Thomas Jefferson and Henry Clay, and argues strongly for the value of education as self-empowerment for Black persons. I am glad I have finally read this.
January 31, 2013
Should also be known as "Thomas Jefferson, A Smack Down." Love it. Walker's anger and rage towards the racist U.S. system and calling out Jefferson's hypocrisy is wonderful. I think comparing Fanon's Black Skin, White Masks with this document would be really interesting and thought provoking. However, the author emphasizes a religious and anti-Catholic element I cannot totally dig.
April 30, 2018
I love Walker's Appeal. As one of my students said last week, Walker is both "passionate and pissed off!" Walker is an extremely insightful sociologist and social critic as well as an astute biblical theologian. I happened to watch the movie Get Out the weekend after I read Walker's Appeal, and comparing the two makes for an absolutely fascinating discussion!
October 17, 2018
Amazing
May 15, 2020
So many exclamation points!
June 23, 2020
“What a happy country this will be, if the whites will listen.”
January 25, 2021
Incredibly powerful.
February 10, 2021
Powerful
Looking back on history it's hard to believe that the founders of America could be so dedicated to freedom while at the same time enslaving others.
Looking back on history it's hard to believe that the founders of America could be so dedicated to freedom while at the same time enslaving others.
January 15, 2023
“- If any wish to plunge me into the wretched incapacity of a slave, or murder me for the truth, know ye, that I am in the hand of God, and at your disposal. I count my life not dear unto me, but I am ready to be offered at any moment. For what is the use of living, when in fact I am dead.” (72)
A text like this does not really require rating, though, if read in its context, would undoubtedly merit 5 or a thousand stars. This was originally published in 1829, written by the free son of a free mother and an enslaved father. As a grown man, David Walker traveled through the south prior to settling in Boston, where he contributed to the abolitionist Freedom’s Journal newspaper. The Appeal was printed, I believe, at his own expense and required unconventional circulation methods to reach its intended audience of free and, in particular, enslaved Blacks. Scholars believe that this insurrectionist text's printing can be directly tied to contemporary laws passed to restrict Black seamen's access to southern ports as well as Black people's general access to reading. A third edition, what I read, was prepared in 1830, and Walker was discovered dead shortly afterwards, with rumors swirling about a price placed on his head for his writing.
Walker's Appeal covers four subjects: enslavement, education/ignorance, religion and hypocritical white American Christians, and the suggested plan to colonize Liberia with free Blacks. The final section, on Liberia, was of most interest to me because Walker makes insightful criticisms about the appeal of this plan as a way to remove the dangerous appeal of free Blacks from potential interaction with those already enslaved. Across the article, Walker makes several settler-esque claims, calling America “more our country, than it is the whites,” (65) through the labor-focused logic of how much enslaved Africans worked the land to produce value for white Americans. Unfortunately, Walker's rhetoric, while strategically valuable to the people he represented, also performed the common move to erase Indigenous presence. It is somewhat surprising, and ironic, given the article's clearly stated focus on colonialism, but exemplifies the historical difficulty to treat issues of race in explicit conversation with those of Indigeneity.
At the very least, this is worth a skim for anyone with interest in the history of abolition efforts. I'd only recommend reading the full thing if you absolutely love historical documents and/or are an aspiring student for 19th century American race relations.
A text like this does not really require rating, though, if read in its context, would undoubtedly merit 5 or a thousand stars. This was originally published in 1829, written by the free son of a free mother and an enslaved father. As a grown man, David Walker traveled through the south prior to settling in Boston, where he contributed to the abolitionist Freedom’s Journal newspaper. The Appeal was printed, I believe, at his own expense and required unconventional circulation methods to reach its intended audience of free and, in particular, enslaved Blacks. Scholars believe that this insurrectionist text's printing can be directly tied to contemporary laws passed to restrict Black seamen's access to southern ports as well as Black people's general access to reading. A third edition, what I read, was prepared in 1830, and Walker was discovered dead shortly afterwards, with rumors swirling about a price placed on his head for his writing.
Walker's Appeal covers four subjects: enslavement, education/ignorance, religion and hypocritical white American Christians, and the suggested plan to colonize Liberia with free Blacks. The final section, on Liberia, was of most interest to me because Walker makes insightful criticisms about the appeal of this plan as a way to remove the dangerous appeal of free Blacks from potential interaction with those already enslaved. Across the article, Walker makes several settler-esque claims, calling America “more our country, than it is the whites,” (65) through the labor-focused logic of how much enslaved Africans worked the land to produce value for white Americans. Unfortunately, Walker's rhetoric, while strategically valuable to the people he represented, also performed the common move to erase Indigenous presence. It is somewhat surprising, and ironic, given the article's clearly stated focus on colonialism, but exemplifies the historical difficulty to treat issues of race in explicit conversation with those of Indigeneity.
At the very least, this is worth a skim for anyone with interest in the history of abolition efforts. I'd only recommend reading the full thing if you absolutely love historical documents and/or are an aspiring student for 19th century American race relations.
November 13, 2025
This is one of those foundational texts that hits harder than its length suggests. Walker lays out a raw, unapologetic critique of America’s contradictions — the political ideals it claims to stand on versus the reality it enforced on Black people. His writing pushes you to think critically about what freedom actually meant at that time, and what it still means now.
He challenges both the systems that oppressed us and the ways Black people were conditioned to accept the bare minimum as progress. What stood out most to me was how direct he is in calling for self-education, self-respect, and liberation of the mind before anything else. Even with its 19th-century tone, the message is sharp and surprisingly relevant.
It’s short, but not light. It forces you to confront history, mindset, and the difference between equality and true liberation. Definitely an important read and a powerful place to start for anyone wanting to understand the early roots of Black resistance and political clarity.
He challenges both the systems that oppressed us and the ways Black people were conditioned to accept the bare minimum as progress. What stood out most to me was how direct he is in calling for self-education, self-respect, and liberation of the mind before anything else. Even with its 19th-century tone, the message is sharp and surprisingly relevant.
It’s short, but not light. It forces you to confront history, mindset, and the difference between equality and true liberation. Definitely an important read and a powerful place to start for anyone wanting to understand the early roots of Black resistance and political clarity.
August 9, 2019
It’s a powerful historical document. Something that represents the period in total. As a living document I would say it’s held by its fervent belief in Christian ethics but that worldview being uses here does show us the mentality of the period for Black people, it was at a Biblical level. Breaking the chains of enslavement must have felt as Old Testament as it gets. Walker also is interesting being that he was born free and he characterizes many of those enslaved as “ignorant”. A present read - or maybe even back then as well - shows his class position in seeing his brothers and sisters in bondage. If anything this is a great document of a social mentality as much as a great early of document Black nationalist theory and conviction.
March 19, 2020
I found this book to be a very real and candid expression of a black man in America during times of slavery. The author takes the reader through his feelings of anger, sadness, pity, frustration, outrage, unbelief, shock, inspiration and hope. He also uses logic to argue against the popular positions of [white] Americans at that time, marveling at how ridiculous and greed driven they were. For him to express his concerns and call for action KNOWING that he would likely be killed for it is a powerful thing. Definitely a good read for Black History Month, and in general for people who are not afraid of exposing themselves to the ugly truth of American history.
July 19, 2021
David Walker was a rhetorical berserker who attacked nearly everyone within range of his pen, but those who hate evil (Christians) will see his vitriolic screed as a righteous, though often indiscriminate and hypocritical, chastisement. . . Garnet's brief biographical sketch was helpful, but his address was just an Appeal synopsis with a codicil praising the woman and child* murdering terrorist Nat Turner as a "patriot."
* The "rebellion's" death toll was: 10 men; 14 women; 31 children and infants.
* The "rebellion's" death toll was: 10 men; 14 women; 31 children and infants.
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