Walker's Appeal, with a Brief Sketch of His Life: And Also Garnet's Address to the Slaves of the United States of AmericaWalker, David
History
Walker's Appeal, with a Brief Sketch of His Life: And Also Garnet's Address to the Slaves of the United States of America
Walker, David
Slavery -- United States
After leaving home, David Walker travelled rapidly towards the North,
shaking off the dust of his feet, and breathing curses upon the system
of human slavery, America's darling institution. As might be expected,
he met with trials during his journey; and at last he reached Boston,
Mass., where he took up his permanent residence. There he applied
himself to study, and soon learned to read and write, in order that he
might contribute something to the cause of humanity. Mr. Walker, like
most of reformers, was a poor man--he lived poor, and died poor.
In 1827 be entered into the clothing business in Brattle street, in
which he prospered; and had it not been for his great liberality and
hospitality, he would have become wealthy. In 1828, he married Miss
Eliza ----. He was emphatically a self-made man, and he spent all his
leisure moments in the cultivation of his mind. Before the
Anti-Slavery Reformation had assumed a form, he was ardently engaged
in the work. His hands were always open to contribute to the wants of
the fugitive. His house was the shelter and the home of the poor and
needy. Mr. Walker is known principally by his "APPEAL," but it was in
his private walks, and by his unceasing labors in the cause of
freedom, that he has made his memory sacred.
With an overflowing heart, he published his "Appeal" in 1829. This
little book produced more commotion among slaveholders than any volume
of its size that was ever issued from an American press. They saw that
it was a bold attack upon their idolatry, and that too by a black man
who once lived among them. It was merely a smooth stone which this
David took up, yet it terrified a host of Goliaths. When the fame of
this book reached the South, the poor, cowardly, pusillanimous
tyrants, grew pale behind their cotton bags, and armed themselves to
the teeth. They set watches to look after their happy and contented
slaves. The Governor of GEORGIA wrote to the Hon. Harrison Grey Otis,
the Mayor of Boston, requesting him to suppress the Appeal. His Honor
replied to the Southern Censor, that he had no power nor disposition
to hinder Mr. Walker from pursuing a lawful course in the utterance of
his thoughts. A company of Georgia men then bound themselves by an
oath, that they would eat as little as possible until they had killed
the youthful author. They also offered a reward of a thousand dollars
for his head, and ten times as much for the live Walker. His consort,
with the solicitude of an affectionate wife, together with some
friends, advised him to go to Canada, lest he should be abducted.
Walker said that he had nothing to fear from such a pack of coward
blood-hounds; but if he did go, he would hurl back such thunder across
the great lakes, that would cause them to tremble in their strong
holds. Said he, "I will stand my ground. _Somebody must die in this
cause._ I may be doomed to the stake and the fire, or to the scaffold
tree, but it is not in me to falter if I can promote the work of
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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