An Objective Point Of View On David Walker’s Ar:: il
EDITOR S NOTE: The writer of
this special article is Sabrina E.
Johnson, anulivc of Charlotte who
presently resides in Philadelphia.
PA. Miss Johnson attends Alle
gheny College in Meadville. PA.
where she is a sophomore major
ing in political science and in
ternational economics. The daugh
ter of Angela Johnson of Phila
delphia and Robert Johnson of
Charlotte is interested in reading,
writing essays, music, sports,
dancing and people.
By Sabrina E. Johnson
Who was this man called David
Walker? What was his appeal-’
What was this message he was
trying to convey then and its affect
on now? Within the context of this
article the writer will not answer
these questions entirely, but mere
ly scratch the surface to acquaint
you, the reader, with an objective
point of view on Mr. Walker's
appeal.
David Walker was born in North
Carolina in 1785. Little is known of
his parents except his father was a
slave and his mother was a free
woman. Walker’s father died
before his birth, causing him to be
reared by his mother in the slave
holding South.-Walker acquired an
unstructured education dining his
formative years. This ’education'
caused him to become discontent
with his life in the South so he
began to search for Complacency
and finally settled in Boston some
time during the 1820's. In Boston
Walker held various types of jobs
until he had acquired enough
money to open his own business - a
shop selling sailor's gear (clothes,
shoes, etc?, i to seamen.
Eventually Walker became in
volved in the “unorganized” aboli
tion movement while it was trying
to organize itself. He made his
contribution* hy anting. how °»il
and horrible slavery was in period
icals such as “Freedom’s Journal"
and “Rights of All ” both of New
York and finally his major work.
“David Walker's Appeal To The
Colored Citizens of the World, But
in Particular, and Very Expressly,
—To Those of thF UTrtted~Stare5~Br '
America," in September of 1829.
On June 28,1930, Walker was found '
dead, in his shop’s doorway, of
Sabrina Johnson
...College sophomore
poisoning
David Walker's appeal deals
particularly with four wretched
nesses; slavery, ignorance, the
preacher of the religion 01 jesus
Christ and of the colonizing
scheme.
In the first article - ‘Our
Wretchedness in Conseauence of
Slavery " Walker explains the pro
oiems ot slavery tor both the black
man and the white man. He brings
out the realizations of man not
always learning from his past,
practicing his religion as he states
it and understanding why or why
not he does things not character
istic of his nature. Walker feels
that the black man and white man
are natural enemies because of the
white man's inability to view the
black man as a productive human
oeing oui as a oeast placed upon
this earth solely for his ‘use.’ This
article was written to enlighten the
black man as to why he was kept in
bondage and not granted the rights
of freedom and education.
The black man's ignorance of
how to solve his problem or escape
from his situation is brought out in
- the second artirlp Tliir Ww4rli
edness in Consequence of Ignor
ance.’’ Walker explains how the
black man understood that he was
being oppressed but did not know
how to alleviate the problems of
slavery. The black man’s lack of
education deprived him of the
‘ability to systematically reason
out a workable answer, by appli
cation of formal learning, for
relieving the pressure of the op
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pressor's hand, i Lbt it be said that
just because a man is under
educated formally does not mean
he lacks the ability to reason and
understand; but he lacks the
ability to systematically by ap
plication of formal learning) rea
son. answer why and solve a
problem. The absence of this
ability leads to a lack of unity
among blacks because of their in
ability to distinguish tteir friends
from their enemies <wRo to trust
and who not to trust)- "Ignorance
is the Mother of Treachery and
Deceit." (P. 21 “David Walker's
Appeal").
I he importance of Jesus Christ
carries with it a double standard:
'Believe in mv (;o<1 hilt wnrshin
Him only when I decide and How I
decide you will.’ This concept is
heavily stressed in the third article
- *'Our Wretchedness in Conse
quence of the Preachers of the
Religion ot Jesus Christ." The
white man wanted to tame the
savage beast called “black man"
by instilling his interpretation of
the gospel of Jesus Christ upon
him. David Walker explains how
the white man made it mandatorv
that his slaves believe in his
superior master and. ironically,
his forbidding them to worship as
they pleasedrThe white man brain1
washed the black man into believ
ing that he was put on this earth
only to serve him and by his i the
black man's) worshipping Jesus
Christ may his condemned soul.
However teaching the slaves about
Jesus Christ illustrates how sub
consciously. in his soul, the white
man did believe that the black man
was a human being- “.. There is a
secret monitor in their hearts
which tells them we are
i humani..." <P 61 -David Walk
er s Appeal" i
Finally, article four - "Our
Wretchedness in Consequence of
the Colonizing Scheme" focuses on
the idea of the white man obtain
ing territories and taming savag
erv only for his benefit According
to the white man. power was
demonstrated through his wealth
and his good deeds done to help
civilize the world and its inhabit
ants Everyone knows the white
man was doing the best thing by
going into "uncivilized" structured
societies and making them "civil
ized" and unstructured! Somehow
he was caaght Iwln ix and between ■
the passion of wealth and the
passion of God. Again we have his
secret monitor coming through,
unfortunately it was wry.
"David Walker's Appeal" voices
his thoughts and views on the
black-white society during the
slavery era However it does pro
vide insight as to why slavery
existed and some answers to
abolishing jt Walker's answers for
abolishing slavery are to antiquaie
the oppressor's hand and inform
the black people of there being a
w orld out there for them to explore
and manipulate for their benefit,
that they are qualified and quality
human beings with the ability to
perform These ideas carry into
today because they provide a
structured account of how things
were for blacks and inspires black
people to strive for the very best in
their mental, emotional, physical
and material lives for we are
—nutliing If wtrtftmot .issei t uur
selves and allow others to dictate
- to us. •• •
Walker David. "David Walker's
Appeal To The Colored Citizens id
the World." Intrnd. Charles M.
Wiltse. New York: Hill and Wang.
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