A 5 page overview of this pre-Civil War collection of essays, letters, and pamphlets. The author of this paper structures the discussion around the life experiences of David Walker himself, speculating about which of these experiences groomed him to the point that he was able to produce what at one point in history would become what is referred to in editor David Wilentz’s introduction to the book as “the most notorious publication in America”. Bibliography lists 3 sources.
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The life and accomplishments of David Walker is an excellent avenue of study for the student studying the history of blacks in the United States. David Walker David
Walkers "Appeal" was first written in the early part of the nineteenth century in the years leading into the buildup of the societal circumstances which ultimately erupted as the American
Civil War. Walker was the son of a free black woman and a slave father. He was, therefore, born free and into somewhat better of a societal position
than that suffered by the majority of his race in the young United States. The student will quickly come to the realization, however that the relative "privilege" of Walkers
birth did not make him oblivious to the racial injustices which were occurring all around him. Walker would lash out against the injustices in a way that few blacks
of his time ever achieved. The collection documents titled "The Appeal" is the result of his retaliation and will serve as the focal point of this discussion.
Walker was born in the South and his father was one of immediate victims of the injustices faced by the black people. It was
practically unheard of for a slave to buy his or her freedom in the United States, it was even more impossible for the ex-slave to achieve any type of societal
equality with the slave owner (Sinclaire, 1995). There were many more injustices associated with this time period which were more insidious in their nature. Walkers attack on racism
and slavery was, understandably, relentless. Consequently, however, Walker became known as a radical and potentially dangerous black man. One can only wonder if his greatly abbreviated life (he
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