Economic Change, Antebellum / Slavery: David Walker

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Similar content addressed in SOLs: VS.1a-i; USI.1a-h; USI.8a-c

Resistance to slavery in America had always been an important aspect of slavery itself. In the 1800s, however, the movement to end slavery once and for all became stronger than ever before. A major part of that movement was /David Walker’s Appeal/.

  • David Walker's Appeal in Four Articles, together with a Preamble, to the Coloured Citizens of the World . . . (September 1829).Although he was born a freeman, David Walker saw slavery first-hand throughout his childhood. Those experiences inspired to write the /Appeal/, a long pamphlet written to help end slavery. The /Appeal, /which called for slaves to revolt (violently, if necessary) against the slave masters, was banned in many parts of the country. Some people were even arrested for owning it. Despite its controversy, the text became a major influence for later abolitionists and brought national attention to the cause of ending slavery.
  • David Walker's Appeal in Four Articles, together with a Preamble, to the Coloured Citizens of the World . . . (September 1829).One technique Walker used in his argument was to compare the system of slavery to the ideals that helped create America. Directly addressing America’s failure to reconcile the vision of liberty with the realities of enslavement was a popular rhetorical technique employed by many abolitionists.
  • Am I not a man and a brother?This is an example of the types of materials abolitionists used to promote their cause. It combines direct, controversial images with a descriptive text. In this case, the text is an anti-slavery poem by John Greenleaf Whittier.
  • The Confessions of Nat Turner, the Leader of the Late Insurrection in Southampton, VirginiaDavid Walker’s /Appeal /advocated immediate revolt. This impassioned plea for change would pervade the next forty years of abolitionism. One person influenced by David Walker’s call for rebellion was Nat Turner, a slave who led a violent revolt against slave owners in Virginia.