author
David Walker
d. 1830
Best known for his fierce 1829 pamphlet Appeal to the Coloured Citizens of the World, this American abolitionist pushed far beyond the cautious antislavery politics of his day. His writing called for Black dignity, immediate emancipation, and moral urgency in a nation built on slavery.
1 Audiobook
Walker's Appeal, with a Brief Sketch of His Life And Also Garnet's Address to the Slaves of the United States of America
by David Walker, Henry Highland Garnet
About the author
Born in Wilmington, North Carolina, in 1796 or 1797, he was free because his mother was free, even though his father had been enslaved. He later settled in Boston, where he worked, became active in the city's Black community, and emerged as one of the most uncompromising antislavery voices in the United States.
His lasting fame rests on Appeal to the Coloured Citizens of the World (1829), a pamphlet that condemned slavery, racism, and hypocrisy in American public life and religion. The work circulated widely and alarmed slaveholding authorities because it argued for immediate liberation and urged Black readers to claim their rights and resist oppression.
He died in Boston on August 6, 1830, not long after the Appeal appeared. Though his life was short, his words had a long afterlife, influencing abolitionist debate and securing his place as one of the boldest political writers of the early antislavery movement.