Published
in
A
New
Literary
History
of
America,
ed.
Greil
Marcus
and
Werner
Sollors
(Cambridge:
Harvard
University
Press,
2009).
1828:
David
Walker
delivers
a
speech
before
the
Massachusetts
General
Colored
Association
in
Boston,
proclaiming
that
“the
dejected,
degraded,
and
now
enslaved
children
of
Africa
will
have,
in
spite
of
all
their
enemies,
to
take
their
stand
among
the
nations
of
the
earth”
before
writing
his
famous
Appeal.
WHITE
SUPREMACY
AND
BLACK
SOLIDARITY
David
Walker,
a
black
American,
was
born
free
in
Wilmington,
North
Carolina
circa
1796.
As
a
young
man,
he
traveled
extensively
through
the
South,
observing
the
myriad
injustices
of
the
slave
system,
and
settled
for
a
time
in
Charleston,
South
Carolina,
home
of
a
politically
active
African
Methodist
Episcopal
(A.M.E.)
church
that
espoused
racial
egalitarianism.
In
Charleston,
Denmark
Vesey’s
insurrectionist
plot
was
uncovered
(1822),
resulting
in
severe
repression
of
independent
black
churches
and
thus
making
autonomous
black
collective
action
extremely
difficult.
By
1825,
Walker
had
moved
to
Boston,
where
he
joined
a
politically
engaged
and
organized
black
community.
Late
in
1828,
he
delivered
an
oration
to
one
of
the
most
prominent
local
black
antislavery
groups,
the
Massachusetts
General
Colored
Association,
proclaiming
the
efficacy
of
“any
thing
which
may
have
the
least
tendency
to
meliorate
our
miserable
condition.”
Although
firm
and
proud,
the
speech
gave
little
hint
that
Walker
was
already
thinking
over
his
incendiary
and,
soon
enough,
notorious
Appeal,
in
Four
Articles,
together
with
a
Preamble,
To
the
2
Coloured
Citizens
of
the
World,
but
in
particular,
and
very
expressly,
to
those
of
the
United
States
of
America
(1829).
When
it
first
appeared,
the
Appeal
was
the
most
militant
anti‐slavery
document
that
had
ever
been
published.
Article
1
describes
the
core
features
of
oppression
under
slavery
and
argues
that
blacks
have
a
duty
to
resist
their
oppressors,
using
violence
if
necessary.
Article
2
argues
that
black
ignorance
is
a
key
obstacle
to
a
unified
fight
against
racial
injustice.
Article
3
exposes
the
ways
in
which
the
white
Christian
ministry
upholds
the
slave
system.
And
Article
4
attacks
the
American
Colonization
Society’s
scheme
to
repatriate
free
blacks
to
Africa,
arguing
that
the
ulterior
motive
behind
this
plan
is
to
remove
free
blacks
from
North
America
so
that
the
blacks
who
remain
will
be
more
securely
held
in
slavery.
Slave
rebellions
and
conspiracies
had
occurred
before
the
Appeal
was
published,
most
famously
the
Haitian
revolution
and
the
Vesey
plot.
But
while
previous
pamphlets
had
obliquely
condoned
or
excused
insurrection,
Walker’s
book
was
an
open
defense
of
such
revolts.
The
book
was
distributed
covertly
throughout
the
South
via
a
loosely
associated
interracial,
though
mostly
black,
communication
network
and
ultimately
found
its
way
into
the
hands
of
slaves
and
their
allies.
When
southern
officials
learned
of
the
book,
the
response
was
swift:
A
bounty
was
immediately
placed
on
Walker’s
head;
Georgia
and
South
Carolina
passed
laws
against
incendiary
publications—Georgia
made
the
circulation
of
such
documents
a
capital
offense;
North
Carolina
and
Georgia
prohibited
the
teaching
of
slaves
to
read;
and
a
number
of
southern
states
prevented
free
blacks
and
slaves
from
interacting
and
blacks
from
assembling
at
all
without
white
supervision.
Walker
was
well
aware
3
of
the
dangers
involved
in
publishing
such
a
document,
noting
in
the
text
that
he
expected
that
some
would
act
to
imprison
or
even
kill
him
and
that
he
was
willing
to
die
in
the
effort
to
free
his
people
from
bondage.
The
Appeal
was
in
its
third
printing
in
1830
when
Walker
died,
probably
due
to
tuberculosis,
though
foul
play
cannot
be
completely
ruled
out.
The
Appeal
is
not
a
formal
treatise.
It
is
a
rallying
cry
or
manifesto,
closer
to
a
sermon
than
to
a
learned
disputation.
Filled
with
indignation
and
laments,
vitriol
and
sarcasm,
its
rhetoric
suggests
that
is
was
meant
to
be
delivered
orally
to
an
audience
rather
than
read
privately.
Its
primary
objective
was
to
raise
consciousness
and
provoke
action.
A
secondary
aim
was
to
refute
Thomas
Jefferson’s
speculations
about
the
natural
inferiority
of
blacks
and
his
claim
that
American
slavery
was
milder
and
more
benevolent
than
the
ancient
slavery
of
Egypt,
Greece,
or
Rome.
Jefferson’s
Notes
on
the
State
of
Virginia
(1787),
in
particular
its
query
XIV,
was
a
key
source
of
racist
ideology,
making
the
former
President,
in
Walker’s
eyes,
an
enemy
of
blacks.
Contrary
to
Jefferson’s
assertions,
Walker
insisted
that
blacks
in
the
United
States
had
been
treated
worse
than
any
other
people
in
the
history
of
the
world.
The
American
slave
system
was
nakedly
exploitative.
Blacks
were
excluded
from
all
positions
of
honor,
authority,
and
public
trust.
They
were
denied
the
right
to
own
land
or
to
be
secure
in
their
possessions.
They
were
prevented
from
acquiring
even
the
most
rudimentary
education.
The
slave
trade
broke
up
families,
separating
husbands
from
wives,
parents
from
children.
Whites
were
cruel
and
violent
toward
blacks,
even
murdering
them
in
cold
blood.
And,
to
add
insult
to
injury,
whites
4
claimed
that
blacks
were
subhuman
and
that
God
had
created
the
dark
race
to
be
the
servants
of
whites.
In
view
of
their
record,
Walker
proclaimed
that
white
Christians,
from
antiquity
to
the
present,
were
the
most
unjust,
greedy,
cruel,
hypocritical,
and
tyrannical
people
on
earth.
Walker
was
sharply
critical
of
the
role
that
white
Christian
preachers
played
in
reinforcing
the
institution
of
slavery,
by,
for
instance,
teaching
slaves
that
it
was
their
duty
to
obey
their
masters
or
invoking
the
curse
of
the
descendants
of
Ham.
Even
when
blacks
had
become
Christians,
he
noted,
they
still
were
not
granted
the
same
rights
as
whites.
Moreover,
the
profession
of
the
Christian
faith—with
its
command
to
treat
others
as
one
would
wish
to
be
treated—by
a
people
who
kept
blacks
enslaved
was
pure
hypocrisy.
Whites
had
effectively
turned
the
Christian
gospel
into
an
instrument
for
subjugating
others.
Nevertheless,
Walker
remained
a
devout
Christian,
rooted
in
the
evangelical
egalitarianism
of
the
A.M.E.
church.
He
insisted
that
Christ’s
message
is
universal
and
should
be
taught
to
all
peoples
across
the
globe
regardless
of
race.
In
fact,
Walker
put
Christian
theology
to
liberatory
ends,
explaining
that
slavery
and
racial
inequality
were
inconsistent
with
scripture.
Drawing
on
black
American
homiletic
oratory,
he
spoke
in
the
familiar
voice
of
a
prophet,
even
suggesting
that
God
was
literally
speaking
through
him.
He
repeatedly
warned
whites
of
God’s
impending
wrath
on
them
for
their
crimes,
and
he
often
referred
to
blacks
as
God’s
people.
However,
African
Americans
were
God’s
people
not
because
they
were
black
but
because
they
were
oppressed
and
God
is
a
God
of
justice
who
punishes
the
unjust
5
and
protects
the
faithful.
Walker
also
foretold
the
coming
of
a
black
messiah
who
would
unify
and
redeem
the
African
race.
The
Appeal
was
addressed
explicitly
to
blacks.
But
it
is
clear
that
the
book
was
also
written
for
whites.
It
was,
in
part,
a
jeremiad
that
urged
whites
to
become
just
before
God
took
his
vengeance—probably
in
the
form
of
a
violent
black
insurrection
or
a
civil
war.
Although
Walker
encouraged
whites
to
mend
their
ways,
he
doubted
that
many
would
do
so.
He
thought
whites
had
been
corrupted
by
avarice,
arrogance,
and
racist
ideology;
and
he
spoke
of
them
as
having
a
“hardened
heart”
like
the
Biblical
Pharaoh
who
refused
to
free
the
people
of
Israel.
In
more
measured
passages,
Walker
referred
to
the
oppressors
of
black
people
as
white
slaveholders
and
their
abettors.
But
at
times
he
wrote
as
if
all
whites
were
oppressors,
frequently
referring
to
them
as
“devils”
and
“natural
enemies”
of
blacks.
However,
these
unqualified
verbal
assaults
were
invoked
merely
for
rhetorical
purposes,
for
Walker
explained
white
depravity,
not
as
an
inherent
trait,
but
as
the
result
of
correctable
pride
and
greed.
In
fact,
he
welcomed
the
assistance
of
white
abolitionists
(provided
they
were
not
associated
with
the
American
Colonization
Society),
and
it
is
clear
that
he
received
such
assistance
with
the
publication
and
circulation
of
his
book.
Walker
did
not
find
whites
alone
blameworthy
for
black
oppression;
he
also
harshly
criticized
blacks
whom
he
felt
were
servile,
treacherous,
and
cowardly
and
therefore
complicit
in
their
own
oppression.
He
regarded
ignorance
as
the
principal
cause
of
these
vices.
What
blacks
were
ignorant
of
was
not
so
much
their
group
history
or
national
culture,
but
God’s
will.
In
particular,
they
did
not
properly
6
understand
the
divine
moral
law.
Many
failed
to
recognize
that
whites
had
no
right
to
hold
them
in
bondage
or
to
treat
them
as
less
than
equals.
Among
the
negative
consequences
of
such
ignorance
were
that
blacks
were
made
more
vulnerable
to
pro‐slavery
propaganda;
that
they
were
prone
to
self‐hatred
and
servility;
that
disunity
was
easily
fostered;
and
that
some
were
misled
into
collaborating
with
the
enemy.
Educated
blacks
should
remedy
this
widespread
lack
of
moral
knowledge
among
their
people;
they
had
a
duty
to
educate
the
young
and
the
benighted.
And
one
of
the
ways
that
Walker
would
have
them
carry
out
this
obligation
was
to
circulate
the
Appeal
among
(or
read
it
to)
those
ignorant
of
its
urgent
message.
He
does
not
appear
to
have
been
concerned
that
this
stance
was
elitist
or
condescending
or
that
the
differences
in
the
status
between
free
blacks
and
slaves
would
undermine
the
collective
effort.
Indeed,
the
Appeal
encouraged
all
blacks,
slave
and
free,
to
work
together
to
end
their
oppression
at
the
hands
of
whites.
He
argued
that
the
abolition
of
slavery
was
a
necessary
condition
for
blacks
anywhere
to
have
freedom,
prosperity,
and
dignity.
Walker
held
that
there
was
an
absolute
duty
to
fight
against
injustice
and
that
being
oppressed
was
no
excuse
for
shirking
it:
“The
man
who
would
not
fight
under
our
Lord
and
Master
Jesus
Christ,
in
the
glorious
and
heavenly
cause
of
freedom
and
of
God…ought
to
be
kept
with
all
of
his
children
or
family,
in
slavery,
or
in
chains,
to
be
butchered
by
his
cruel
enemies.”
Moreover,
he
advocated
the
use
of
political
violence
if
whites
refused
to
change
their
ways.
Indeed,
he
pointed
out
that
the
right
to
revolt
against
an
unjust
regime
is
asserted
in
Jefferson’s
own
Declaration
of
Independence
(1776):
“But
when
a
long
train
of
abuses
and
usurpation,
pursuing
7
invariably
the
same
object,
evinces
a
design
to
reduce
them
under
absolute
despotism,
it
is
their
right,
it
is
their
duty,
to
throw
off
such
government.”
Rebutting
the
charge
that
blacks
were
inherently
docile
and
thus
unlikely
to
fight
for
their
freedom,
he
claimed
that
blacks
in
fact
had
a
repressed
urge
to
kill
whites,
which,
once
released,
would
be
difficult
to
contain.
Whites
were
all
too
willing
to
murder
blacks
to
keep
them
in
bondage—or
for
mere
amusement—and
therefore
blacks
must
be
prepared
to
take
white
lives
if
necessary.
Blacks
needed
to
find
the
courage
to
risk
being
killed
rather
than
remain
enslaved.
With
injunctions
such
as
these,
Walker
was
articulating
an
ethics
of
the
oppressed:
if
blacks
were
to
regain
their
self‐respect
and
freedom,
then
they
had
to
become
a
more
self‐reliant,
educated,
unified,
militant,
courageous,
and
proud
people.
Without
these
virtues,
they
could
not
gain
God’s
full
approbation
and
their
oppressors
could
not
be
defeated.
In
considering
the
legacy
of
the
Appeal,
some
commentators
have
described
it
as
the
founding
black
nationalist
document.
There
is
some
truth
in
this,
but
it
is
also
misleading.
First
of
all,
the
Appeal
was
antedated,
by
a
few
months,
by
Robert
Alexander
Young’s
lesser‐known,
nationalist‐oriented
The
Ethiopian
Manifesto:
Issued
in
Defence
of
the
Black
Man’s
Rights
in
the
Scale
of
Universal
Freedom
(1829).
More
importantly,
to
see
the
Appeal
as
only
a
black
nationalist
document
would
miss
that
it
is
also
a
key
text
in
a
different
tradition
of
African
American
political
thought.
Black
nationalists,
such
as
Martin
Delany,
Marcus
Garvey,
and
Malcolm
X,
have
regarded
America
as
an
incorrigible
white
supremacist
nation
and
thus
have
urged
those
of
African
descent
to
work
together
to
build
a
separate
black
polity.
But
8
there
is
a
tradition,
sometimes
called
“integrationist,”
that,
while
also
favoring
black
solidarity,
has
insisted
that
such
solidarity
be
used
to
transform
the
United
States
into
a
true
democracy,
where
blacks
and
whites
can
live
together
on
terms
of
equality
and
mutual
respect.
The
canonical
figures
in
this
latter
tradition
include
Frederick
Douglass,
W.E.B.
Du
Bois,
and
Martin
Luther
King,
Jr.
Walker
did
not
advocate
black
emigration
to
Africa
or
to
anywhere
else.
Rather,
he
insisted
that
the
United
States
was
blacks’
“home”
and
“native
land”
and
that
they
had
as
much
right
to
remain
in
the
country
as
did
whites.
He
made
no
unambiguous
call
for
black
collective
self‐determination
in
North
America,
at
least
not
beyond
urging
political
solidarity
based
on
a
common
oppression
and
a
commitment
to
overcome
it.
He
did
claim
that
Egypt
was
the
cradle
of
civilization
and
that
the
ancient
Egyptians
were
black
or
“colored.”
However,
this
was
meant
to
rebut
the
charge
(by
Jefferson,
among
others)
that
blacks
had
made
no
great
achievements
and
to
build
a
sense
of
pride
in
a
group
that
was
constantly
denigrated.
The
publication
of
the
Appeal
in
itself
makes
clear
that
Walker
favored
open
political
protest.
Although
he
defended
violent
rebellion
and
explicitly
rejected
tactics
of
accommodation,
he
nevertheless
engaged
in
moral
persuasion
and
called
on
whites
to
repent.
In
terms
of
fundamental
political
values,
Walker
was
not
a
racial
separatist.
He
believed
racial
reconciliation
in
America
was
still
possible
and
desirable:
“Treat
us
then
like
men,
and
we
will
be
your
friends.
And
there
is
not
a
doubt
in
my
mind,
but
that
the
whole
of
the
past
will
be
sunk
into
oblivion,
and
we
yet,
under
God,
will
become
a
united
and
happy
people.
The
whites
may
say
it
is
impossible,
but
remember
that
nothing
is
impossible
with
God”
(88‐89).
But,
it
9
should
be
added,
Walker
insisted
that
this
reconciliation
could
not,
and
should
not,
occur
until
blacks
and
whites
were
treated
as
equals
and
the
nation
acknowledged
its
past
injustices.
Bibliography:
Bernard
Boxill,
“Two
Traditions
in
African
American
Political
Philosophy,”
Philosophical
Forum
24
(1992‐1993):
119‐135;
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P.
Hinks,
To
Awaken
My
Afflicted
Brethren:
David
Walker
and
the
Problem
of
Antebellum
Slave
Resistance
(University
Park:
Pennsylvania
State
University
Press,
1997);
Wilson
Jeremiah
Moses,
Black
Messiahs
and
Uncle
Toms:
Social
and
Literary
Manipulations
of
a
Religious
Myth,
rev.
ed.
(University
Park:
Pennsylvania
State
University
Press,
1993);
Darryl
Scriven,
A
Dealer
of
Old
Clothes:
Philosophical
Conversations
with
David
Walker
(Lanham,
MD:
Lexington
Books,
2007);
Sterling
Stuckey,
ed.,
The
Ideological
Origins
of
Black
Nationalism
(Boston:
Beacon
Press,
1972);
and
David
Walker,
Appeal
to
the
Coloured
Citizens
of
the
World,
ed.,
Sean
Wilentz
(New
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Hill
and
Wang,
1995).
Tommie
Shelby
