David Walker (Abolitionist)
September 28 …
David Walker (Abolitionist) was born a free Black person on September 28, 1796 in Wilmington, NC. He later moved to Boston, opened a clothing business there and participated in the vibrant African American community.
Having traveled widely and studied the evils of slavery, Walker joined the anti-slavery movement, generously helping fugitives from the slave South. He shared his abolitionists ideas in New York City’s short-lived, but influential Freedom’s Journal (1827–1829), the first newspaper owned and operated by African Americans.
In 1829, Walker published his Appeal to the Colored Citizens of the World — a series of essays critiquing the powerful colonization movement and calling for the immediate abolition of slavery. In his essays, he offered a powerful vision that blended Christianity, natural rights, and America’s founding creed. He argued that slavery violated key tenets of Christianity and the Declaration of Independence’s promise of freedom and equality.
Following its publication, Walker then pushed to distribute his pamphlet widely to both free African Americans and enslaved people. His Appeal aroused so much alarm in the South that slaveholders enacted protective measures, restricting publications, discouraging literacy, and limiting the activities of Black preachers.
When David Walker (Abolitionist) died suddenly in 1830, many believed that he had been poisoned.
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