David Walker's Appeal [Paperback]

David Walker (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0933121385 | ISBN-13: 978-0933121386 | Publication Date: January 15, 1997

Walker's Appeal represents one of the earliest African-centered discourses on an oppressed people's right to freedom. African American political philosophy has evolved from many of the themes that it articulates. Order David Walker's Appeal here.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"More than a century and a half later, David Walker's Appeal is still a startling document . . . a powerful reminder that slaves and so-called 'free persons of color' were important participants in the great struggle over slavery that led to the Civil War." --From the Introduction

About the Author

David Walker was born Sept. 28, 1785 in Wilmington, North Carolina. Though his father was enslaved, his mother was a free woman. The law in North Carolina, determined that children inherited the status of the mother. Walker's mother was able to pass on to him her free status, and she raised her child with a profound outrage towards slavery. Walker readily established himself in the abolitionist community as a politically conscious person who regularly attended local meetings and lectured against slavery. This version of Walker's Appeal to the Colored Citizens to the World is the complete text as published in 1830.

Product Details

• Paperback: 108 pages
• Publisher: Black Classic Press (January 15, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0933121385
• ISBN-13: 978-0933121386
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.2 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #35,924 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #57 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Current Events > Civil Rights & Liberties

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A core document of African American history, February 3, 2001

By 

Michael J. Mazza - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: David Walker's Appeal (Paperback)

"David Walker's Appeal" was one of the most extraordinary documents of the 19th century United States. The author, David Walker, was a free black man who used this tract to expose and denounce racism. Walker published 3 editions of the pamphlet from 1829 to 1830, the year he was found dead--possibly the victim of a political assassination. The Black Classics Press edition contains an informative introduction by James Turner.

The "Appeal" contains a preamble and four "Articles." Each of the Articles targets a phenomenon that contributes to the oppression of African Americans: slavery, ignorance, the "Preachers of the Religion of Jesus Christ," and the "Colonizing Plan."

Walker's tone is bold, but at times he sounds frenzied, even maniacal. In his more outraged moments, he sounds like a 19th century religious fanatic. Consider this statement from Article III: "O Americans! Americans!! I call God--I call angels--I call men, to witness, that your DESTRUCTION is at hand, and will be speedily consummated unless you REPENT." But if you can read such outbursts in context, you will find the book as a whole to be an incisive, intelligent analysis of a racist societal superstructure.

Particularly important is Walker's harsh condemnation of white Christian preachers and institutions who promoted the oppression of black people. Walker reminds us that the "status quo" forces in American Christianity were key pillars of white supremacy. Overall, "David Walker's Appeal" is a crucial document which deserves a wide contemporary audience.

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Important words, prophetic words, January 16, 2005

By 

FrKurt Messick "FrKurt Messick" (Bloomington, IN USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: David Walker's Appeal (Paperback)

David Walker was born in the late 1700s, in the newly-formed nation of the United States, shortly after ratification of the Constitution, into a society which on the one hand was celebrating a victory for freedom from oppression, but which also was still oppressive of a significant number of its own people.

Walker grew impatient with the pace and tone of the Abolitionist movement, of which he was a part, beginning in New England. Slave rebellions such as that of Denmark Vesey seemed to be an answer to the slowness. Injustice was being committed at this very moment -- action was therefore required immediately. This was the tone with which Walker's 'Appeal' was infused. His message was rather shocking to white Americans, and Walker found ways to reach his own people in the South with this message. Vesey and others had used religious meetings as a means of gathering and organising; likewise, they found the Bible rich in material to support their cause. Walker did likewise, seizing upon biblical ideas of deliverance and justice.

Walker found himself becoming unpopular for his outspoken views. Many in the Abolitionist movement purposefully discouraged talk of rebellion, lawbreaking and violence. However, Walker was not convinced that this kind of change was the best in the situation -- he felt strongly that the Black people had to unite and fight, with the full support of God.

Walker further was mistrustful of white people's effort on the behalf of blacks, and doubtful that Southern white men would ever be willing to give up their position of power. Walker noted that even men like Jefferson believed in the racial idea of white superiority. Even in those placed where African-Americans would live as 'free' persons, they seemed forever destined to be in the eyes of the white majority second-class citizens. This to Walker clearly was not right. 'Are we men!! - I ask you, O my brethren! are we men? Did our Creator make us to be slaves to dust and ashes like ourselves?'

Walker began to view whites as the only Americans. He felt the sins of racism and slavery were so intrinsically American that it would be a contradiction for any black person to be an American. This racist sin permeated even through to the churches, which Walker held in contempt for their seeming complacency in the face of on-going injustice.

And yet, one of the key elements throughout Walker's 'Appeal', for all its radical viewpoints, which no other Abolitionists seemed to have picked up after Walker's death in 1830, is hope. 'I verily believe that God has something in reserve for us, which, when he shall have poured it out upon us, will repay us for all our suffering and miseries.' Walker had no qualms about allowing that he wanted to destroy the status quo in society; however, he was not an advocate of wanton violence and bloodshed. He said that is was incorrect to assume that he was asking for civil war of any kind, but that he was simply asking for basic human rights to be enforced for all people.

This calls for rights and justice, the very basic call to recognise the humanity in all people, is a primary element of Walker's 'Appeal'. The time to rise up and take back humanity which had been stripped away by the white slave traders was, to Walker, clearly at hand.

Like the biblical prophets, Walker understood that what he was doing was dangerous. However, Walker saw his writing as a call from God, a call that could not be put away. The call to justice, the call to right the wrongs in society, the call to action against an evil oppressor, are reminiscent of the Hebrew prophets.

Although Walker's call and prophecy never took the shape he himself might have imagined it, his words inspired many and discomfited more. Some forms of injustice take many voices, many martyrs, before they are addressed. Walker was one of these.

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Every African American man woman and child MUST read this.., January 11, 2002

By 

D. Norman (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: David Walker's Appeal (Paperback)

Intelligent, honest, straightforward, this book actually came close to bringing tears to my eyes on several occasions. Mr. Walker, while a religious man, confirmed a lot of the things I prepondered were true about america. There is nothing "MILITANT" about this book- He candidly points out the EVIL he was exposed to in this country and some of the horrors he witnessed himself. Here are a few quotes

"America is more our country, than it is the whites-we have enriched it with our blood and tears. The greatest riches in all America have arisen from our blood and tears: -- and will they drive us from our property and homes, which we have earned with our blood? They must look sharp or this very thing will bring swift destruction upon them. The Americans have got so fat on our blood and groans, that they have almost forgotten the God of armies. But let the go on."

"Do they think to drive us from our country and homes, after having enriched it with our blood and tears, and keep back millions of our dear brethren, sunk in the most barbarous wretchedness, to dig up gold and silver for them and their children? Surely, the Americans must think that we are brutes, as some of them have represented us to be."

He goes on with ACTUAL MURDERS in Boston- one in the Boston Street Church where an African-american male was murdered. YEs, inside of a Church. To all African-americans, you MUST read this book. He cared. He witnesses the horrible murder and crimes of those people, right around the time of their "great forefathers" LOL. Published 1829.