![Partial Transcript of David Walkers Appeal](/sites-drupal/default/files/styles/max_scale_640x640/public/field_ers_item_record_image/2020-11/Screen%20Shot%202020-11-13%20at%201.08.45%20PM.png?itok=DH2eBUBa)
David Walkers Appeal
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David Walkers Appeal in 4 Letters, 1829
David Walker (1796–1830) was an abolitionist, subscription sales agent, and writer for New York City’s Freedom’s Journal. His Appeal to the Coloured Citizens of the World was perhaps the most radical anti-slavery document ever published. Walker passionately called for the immediate abolition of slavery and encouraged violent resistance as necessary. Published widely and even said to have been sewn into clothing shipped for enslaved people in the South, the Appeal celebrated Black contributions to the United States, railed against religious hypocrites and colonization projects, offered an early Black nationalist politics, and demanded that Black people be granted full rights as American citizens. Walker’s fiery delivery worried conservative abolitionists, particularly those who wanted to appear more respectable by appealing to the religious mores and humanitarian leanings of certain lawmakers and the public.