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We Remember David Walker

This special person in history is not well known throughout the world but TWRToday remembers his work. David Walker was born in 1785, the son of a free black woman and a slave father in North Carolina. He was free because according to laws at the time, if his mum was free so was he. Even though Walker was free, this did not stop him from helping his people out of bondage. He still suffered prejudice and misfortunes because of his colour. As a boy he recalled seeing a son forced to beat his slave mother until she died. This was disturbing for him and this spurred him on to travel on the 'liberation road'.

This man had ambition as a black man despite all the oppression he endured. He started and run a clothing store in Boston where he settled. Here he liaised with important Africans in the US and started the 'Freedom Journal' the US's first black newspaper. It was during the 1820's that he joined up with organisations that criticised slavery.

He became Boston's spokesman against the cruelty of slavery and set out to abolish it. At such a time as 1829 this great warrior published his book 'Appeal' to make the slaves read it. This was a tall order as some slaves couldn't read, furthermore if seen by the slave masters it would anger them. He knew that they would indeed kill him if they found out but this did not deter the clever Walker. He received the help of sympathetic sailors and ship sailors who pleaded his cause. He used them to transport his leaflet. As he sold clothes to these sailors, he was smart enough to sew copies of the pamphlet 'Appeal' into the lining of the sailor clothes which he sold. The leaflet reached the south and was dispensed throughout the area among the slaves.

This booklet was very successful as it inspired the slaves and gave them hope. However the slave masters hated it and in turn they put a $3,000 price on his head and a $10,000 if he was brought back alive. Furthermore they instigated and rushed through laws that forbade the Africans to learn to read and write! These laws also barred the circulation of any freedom material.

Knowing the devotees of enslavement was after Walker. His friends encouraged him to escape to Canada. He replied 'Somebody must die in this cause, I may be doomed to the stake and the fire or the scaffold tree, but it is not in me to falter if I can promote the work of Emancipation'.

Now how many of you can stand up for your people today like Walker did in the 1820's? We are no longer in chains but we are affected by slavery today. I'm sure all is well with the minority of Africans world wide but on the whole you are all broke, starving, in prison, can't get a job, suffering with diseases, selling drugs, not doing well in school or something else which is a derivative of slavery. Could you do something to help your people reach their full potential as a collective? Or make them have some hope? Or are you comfortable in your position? Could you be a new school David Walker helping unfortunate people around the world? For most of you I guess not but you can indeed prove me wrong.

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