David Walker (1785-1830)
Interviewer: Hello Mr. Walker. I’m so glad you are here to share your story with our readers today, and to discuss your pamphlet, “Appeal: To the COLOURED CITIZENS OF THE WORLD, but in Particular, and very expressly, to those of THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA”. It is a very interesting and radical piece of literature. It has caused quite a stir, you know? How did you manage to get your pamphlets down south?
Mr. Walker: Well, by then I owned a used clothing shop by the docks and when the sailors came to my shop to purchase used clothes, I sewed the pamphlets into the linings. Then the sailors distributed them for me when they arrived in the south. Sometimes, I went to the docks myself, and chose a passenger to take them and distribute them for me. Of course, I had to be careful who I gave them to. The white southerners were so afraid of their slaves hearing or reading what I wrote, that they began making laws forbidding coloreds to learn to read and write. Georgia’s Governor, even wrote to the Mayor of Boston, Massachusetts, Hon. Harrison Grey Otis, requesting him to suppress the Appeal. Of course, I am a free man and the Mayor told him he had no power, nor inclination to hinder me in pursuing a lawful course in the utterance of my thoughts.
As far as stirring things up, Oh, don’t I know it. That was my intention; I had to use a strong tone and dramatic punctuation in order to wake up those in bondage to a vision of hope and pride, to overcome their sense of fatalism, resignation and servility. I had to find a way to show them what they could accomplish, to convince them fully of the various ways that whites were keeping them them in bondage. It’s absurd, really, if you think about it. The idea that God created us as a brutes, lesser humans. I wanted them to see the absurdity of the white people’s reasoning for our bondage. It is NOT reasoning from the mind of the One True Creator, that’s for sure!
Interviewer: There are many who contend that slavery is a biblical concept and natural part of the human world. Which is why the argument you make in your pamphlet is so important. That is one of the topics I wish to discuss with you. But before we can get into the details of your pamphlet, can you please share a little of your background and how you came into possession of your historical and theological background? Your knowledge of these topics is quite extensive for one so young.
Mr. Walker: You want my background? My background is of no importance, none at all. I’m black. That’s what matters and it is my people’s freedom that we are to discuss and I must get this message out, Ms. Milcarzyk…
Interviewer: I understand, Mr. Walker. You’re right. It is a mockery of a so-called free country when those governing that country set in law allowances for cruel treatment and bondage of other fellow humans beings. But, your background does matter; it’s your journey and how you came to accomplish what you did. So your story of how you came to pen such an informative and inspiring piece of literature does matter because it is part of the formation of our country. As you said, your Appeal influenced lawmakers. It influenced other African Americans. So, share your journey with our readers. The readers want to know and they do care.
Mr. Walker: Well, it is not easy to talk about, and of course, it is the same story of so many.
Interviewer: Maybe it’s the same story, but you’re the only one who wrote this Appeal. It’s been said of you that your childhood is what instigated you to write such a passionate pamphlet. Is that true?
Mr. Walker: It is very much true. I was born in the slave holding south- Wilmington, North Carolina to be specific- but was no place for me. My mother was a free woman, so I was born free on September 28, 1795. My father was a slave and died three months before I was born. As a young person, I told my mother I had to get out. Just had to. My soul couldn’t stand the wrongs that I witnessed being done to my father’s family and kindred. Such a great trial to live on the same soil where so many men were in slavery; I could not remain where I had to hear their chains and whips continually, and where I must encounter the insults of hypocritical enslavers. Go, I had to. If I remained there I wouldn’t live long. My mother understood my heart; I embraced her, received her blessings, then turned my back on North Carolina. I endured many trials as I journeyed north and further witnessed the brutality of America’s darling institution. Finally I landed in Boston Massachusetts, where I came into ownership of the used clothing store down by the wharf.
Interviewer: How old were you when you left home?
Mr. Walker: I’m not even sure, except it was before my twentieth year— maybe between 15 and 20. I worked a few jobs to earn my way north. In that manner, having travelled over a considerable portion of the United States, and having, in the course of my travels, taken the most accurate observations of things as they exist— the result of my observations has warranted the full and unshaken conviction, that we are the most degraded, wretched and abject set of beings that ever lived since the world began; and I pray God that none like us ever may live again until time shall be no more.
Interviewer: That is a bold thesis Mr. Walker… but one that you successfully prove to be true in your Appeal. You don’t deny the justification made by many Americans— that slavery has always been a natural course of human events, and therefore, many have attempted to make slavery an acceptable institution before God. But you also prove that this system in America is the cruellest account of slavery that has ever existed. You also successfully prove the heart, mind and soul that makes up the African Community.
Mr. Walker: Thank you Ms. Milcarzyk. No slavery in history has ever regulated a man or woman made in the image of our Holy Creator to being demeaned as a beast; no other country before now has ever performed scientific experiments on humans so they can prove one group of people are not human and are thus to be treated— owned, sold, inherited and worked— like beasts in a barn or field. I’m surprised they are not trying to butcher and eat us. But it was my intent to convince those of African descent that we are not brutes!!! We are human beings, just as human as whites are. I used such strong language in my appeal to WAKE UP the masses of my people, to wake up their hearts, minds, and souls. I do not understand this resignation in them. This is not what our ancestors wanted for future generations of Africans. But here we are.
Interviewer: Yes, here we are. I am so glad you wrote your pamphlet for future generations to know the truth of our past. If you don’t mind, can you please tell our readers how you came to possess such deep knowledge about theology and history? I mean, you wrote about so many figures and events, from the biblical Egyptians, Sparta, Lacedaemon, to the conspiracy of Cataline, Marc Antony, Octavius and Lipidus, the Tyranny of Tiberius and so many more. It is obvious you are a highly educated individual, yet left home at an early age to make your way north.
Mr. Walker: It is simple really. I am a self educated man. I would crawl on my hands and knees through mud and mire, to the feet of learned men, where I would humbly sit and humbly supplicate him to instil into me that which neither devils nor tyrants can remove, only with my life- for colored people to acquire learning in this country, makes tyrants quake and tremble on their sandy foundation. I can only pray that the Lord may undeceive my ignorant brethren and permit them to throw away pretensions and seek after substance of learning.
Interviewer: Any last thoughts for our readers, Mr. Walker?
Mr. Walker: Yes, actually. You did not mention the love that is behind every single passionate word I wrote. The Love of God for ALL people is what will make society better. God’s heart toward man is laid out in this little pamphlet. I do hope your readers will find a copy for themselves and take my words to heart. How we treat people matters. Add / Reorder
