Walkers Appeal, with a Brief Sketch of His Life

Walker's Appeal, with a Brief
Sketch of His Life

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Title: Walker's Appeal, with a Brief Sketch of His Life And Also
Garnet's Address to the Slaves of the United States of America
Author: David Walker and Henry Highland Garnet
Release Date: August 12, 2005 [EBook #16516]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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WALKER'S APPEAL,
WITH A BRIEF SKETCH OF HIS LIFE.
BY
HENRY HIGHLAND GARNET.
AND ALSO
GARNET'S ADDRESS
TO THE SLAVES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
NEW-YORK: Printed by J.H. Tobitt, 9 Spruce st 1848.

PREFACE.
Such is the very high esteem which is entertained for the memory of
DAVID WALKER, and so general is the desire to preserve his
"Appeal," that the subscriber has undertaken, and performed the task of
re-publication, with a brief notice of his life, having procured
permission from his widow, Mrs. Dewson.
The work is valuable, 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. When the
history of the emancipation of the bondmen of America shall be written,
whatever name shall be placed first on the list of heroes, that of the
author of the Appeal will not be second.
_Troy, N.Y., April 12, 1848._

A BRIEF SKETCH

OF THE
LIFE AND CHARACTER OF DAVID WALKER.
It is generally the desire of the reader of any intellectual production, to
know something of the character and the life of the author. The
character of David Walker is indicated in his writings. In regard to his
life, but a few materials can be gathered; but what is known of him,
furnishes proof to the opinion which the friends of man have formed of
him--that he possessed a noble and a courageous spirit, and that he was
ardently attached to the cause of liberty.
Mr. Walker was born in Wilmington, North Carolina, Sept. 28, 1785.
His mother was a free woman, and his father was a slave. His innate
hatred to slavery was very early developed. When yet a boy, he
declared that the slaveholding South was not the place for him. His soul
became so indignant at the wrongs which his father and his kindred
bore, that he determined to find some portion of his country where he
would see less to harrow up his soul. Said he, "If I remain in this
bloody land, I will not live long. As true as God reigns, I will be
avenged for the sorrow which my people have suffered. This is not the
place for me--no, no. I must leave this part of the country. It will be a
great trial for me to live on the same soil where so many men are in
slavery; certainly I cannot remain where I must hear their chains
continually, and where I must encounter the insults of their hypocritical
enslaver. Go, I must."
The youthful Walker embraced his mother, and received a mother's
blessings, and turned his back upon North Carolina. His father died a
few months before his birth; and it is a remarkable coincidence, that the
son of the subject of this Memoir, was a posthumous child.
After leaving home, David Walker travelled rapidly towards the North,
shaking off the dust of his feet, and breathing curses upon the system of
human slavery, America's darling institution. As might be expected, he
met with trials during his journey; and at last he reached Boston, Mass.,
where he took up his permanent residence. There he applied himself to
study, and soon learned to read and write, in order that he might

contribute something to the cause of humanity. Mr. Walker, like most
of reformers, was a poor man--he lived poor, and died poor.
In 1827 be entered into the clothing business in Brattle street, in which
he prospered; and had it not been for his great liberality and hospitality,
he would have become wealthy. In 1828, he married Miss Eliza ----. He
was emphatically a self-made man, and he spent all his leisure
moments