David Walker's Four Appeals

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David Walker's Four Appeals is written by David Walker and published by . It's available with International Standard Book Number or ISBN identification 0876504101 (ISBN 10) and 9780876504109 (ISBN 13).

Born of a slave father and free mother, David Walker was a self-educated author who wrote a scathing indictment of slavery in 1829, 'David Walkers Four appeals'. David Walker's Appeal is both an indictment of slavery and a rallying cry for retribution. A Black man, Walker was born in North Carolina in 1775, of a slave father and a free mother, which meant he was born free. Walker hated the institution of slavery. To avoid being lynched, he moved to Boston, where he taught himself to read and write. His indictment of slavery was published in 1829.This work is invaluable, because it was among the first, and was actually the boldest and most direct appeal in behalf of freedom, which was made in the early part of the anti-slavery reformation.This book produced more commotion among slaveholders than any volume of its size that had been issued from an American press. The slaveholders saw that it was a bold attack upon their idolatry, and that it was written by a black man who once lived among them. When the fame of this book reached the South, the 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 Honorable Harrison Grey Otis, the mayor of Boston, requesting him to suppress the Appeal. His Honor replied to the southern censor that he had neither power nor intention to hinder Mr. Walker from pursuing a lawful course in the expression of his thoughts. A company of Georgia men then bound themselves by oath: they would eat as little as possible until they had killed the youthful author. They also offered a reward of $1,000 for his head, and ten times as much for Walker alive. David Walker died a year after this scathing attack on slavery was published. It is believed he was poisoned. By Henry Highland Garnet. C. Edward Wall is an author, editor, publisher, university library director, and historian. Anton Ferguson is an author and editor.