Daivd Walker's Appeal

The reading that really grabbed my attention this week was David Walker’s Appeal published in 1829. I really found it interesting, how David Walker completely went against society and their rules, and basically had no fear of anything and published this paper that called for slaves in the South to revolt against their masters by killing them. This pamphlet was so unbelievably radical that even abolitionists including William Lloyd Garrison were alarmed by its violent approach to liberation. The fact that it sold over 100,000 copies was amazing at the time. During this time slaves were not even allowed to think about reading or writing, or they would face harsh punishment or even execution. The shear fact that David Walker was bold enough to write such an essay and then have it published and distributed was amazing. His appeal was heroic, but to publish it and have it distributed in the South, was almost a death sentence and no doubt put a price on his head. Although he died in 1830, Walker’s appeal remained a testament to the radicalism of the anti-slavery movement in the antebellum period. I also really found it interesting how this can be correlated to the Nat Turner Rebellion in Virginia which occurred the very next and confirmed for many whites in the South that abolitionism of the North was threatening violence in the South.
I guess for me this reading really stood out from all of the rest because there was so much power, so much emotion in it. David Walker basically convinces slaves that the only way to win your freedom is self-emancipation, and that you have to fight to get your freedom. There was no other way to obtain freedom. David Walker blames the slaves for being complacent and says listen if you want to be free then you have to fight for it. Don’t be scared of the white man. Do something about it. I really thought that this was an interesting point of view.