David Walker
1796- 1830
He was the son of a slave father and a free black mother, David Walker was born in Wilmington, North Carolina, perhaps in 1796 or 1797. In accordance with existing laws, since his mother was a free black, David Walker was also free. This freedom, however, did not shield him from witnessing firsthand the degradations and injustices of slavery. He witnessed much misery in his youth, including one disturbing episode of a son who was forced to whip his mother until she died. Walker traveled throughout the country, eventually settling in Boston. But even in that free northern city, with its prevalent discrimination, life was less than ideal for its black residents. Still, Walker apparently fared well, setting up a used clothing store during the 1820s.
In September of 1829 he published his book pamphlet he wrote “An Appeal to the Colored People of the World” (1829) three years after the death of Thomas Jefferson, arguing against his racist ideas: “I say, that unless we refute Mr. Jefferson’s arguments respecting us, we will only establish them.” Walker said whites were keeping blacks down by denying them education and pushing a twisted, racist form of Christianity. Walker called for civil rights organizations, black self-help, and the violent overthrow of slavery.
The racist whites offered a $3,000 reward for Walker’s head, and $10,000 to anyone who could bring him to the South 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.”
David Walker published a third edition of his Appeal in June of 1830. Two months later he was found dead in his home. Although there was no evidence supporting the allegation, many believed that he had been poisoned. Later scholarship suggests he died of tuberculosis, the same disease that killed his daughter.
His son which was born after his death Mr. Edward G. Walker was an attorney and one of the first two black men elected into the Massachusetts State Legislature in 1886.
The “Appeal” was a guiding star for many blacks. It even radicalized whites.
A soul that pioneered and changed the mind of others and encouraged others not to be bound by circumstance but to stand strong for we are all free.
Ref:
American Black History.Org
PBS, Africans in America Resource Bank