The Collection

An Analysis of David Walker’s Appeal [Final Draft]

        Sometimes, words merely fuel a fire, but other times, they set the world ablaze. The latter was the case with the words of a militant African American writer, David Walker. In 1829, David Walker’s Appeal in Four Articles; Together with a Preamble, to the Coloured Citizens of the World, but in Particular and Very Expressly, to Those of the United States of America, was published and distributed throughout the country. While some claim that Walker’s condemnation of “Christian Americans” as the cruelest oppressors in existence was unsubstantiated and biased, I maintain that his case was not only valid, but was just and unbiased.

        Throughout his Appeal, Walker effectively referenced similar instances of oppression in history and logically evaluated them to justify his reproach of the Christian Americans. Though not excusing nor condoning their actions, Walker noted that the Spartans had “frivolous pretext” for their enslavement of the Helots. When they were conquered, they were taken as prisoners of war. Walker’s years of research led to the discovery that no such pretext existed for the enslavement of the Africans, which makes the Christian Americans’ actions all the more heinous and unjust. As Walker states, he could come to no other conclusion for the enslavement of Africans by the Christian Americans other than “enriching them and their country.” In this way, the Christian Americans’ oppression of generations of Africans was even more unjust than instances similar to that of the Spartans because the Christian Americans’ actions were purely for selfish and capitalistic gain, and not out of provocation.

         Walker also referred to the Egyptian enslavement of the Israelites to validate his condemnation of Christian Americans as the cruelest oppressors in history. He pointed to the story of Joseph, who was entrusted with Pharaoh’s land. He continued on to question the “American people themselves” as to when a colored person was ever given authority over anything in their oppressor’s land. The answer to this question is never has an African person been entrusted with authority over any land in America. Walker also pointed to Pharaoh’s gracious act of giving Joseph and his descendants ‘the best of the land’ to make their home. Walker hotly retorted, “I ask them [Christian Americans] where is the most barren spot of land which they have given unto us?” Again, the answer to this question is never has this been done Africans have never been give land to call their own in America. These examples both show just how much more cruelly Christian Americans treated the Africans in comparison to the Egyptians treatment of the Israelites.

         All of the former points are a mere taper next to the iceberg that floated on the consciousness of the Christian Americans. The underlying and more sinister fact about the oppression of Africans was that Christian Americans did not see Africans as fellow human beings. This sets the slavery in America apart from all other forms of slavery, where this was not case. In a passion so inflamed, that time, itself, has had no effect on its burning, Walker raged, “I call upon the professing Christians… I call upon the very tyrant himself, to show me a page of history… which maintain, that the Egyptians heaped the insupportable insult upon the children of Israel, by telling them that they were not of the human family.” During this time, this outrageous notion was so commonly held, even Thomas Jefferson, “a man of such great learning,” subscribed to it. This blasphemous claim dissevers the Christian Americans’ abominable actions from those of all other slave holders and substantiated his firm criticism that they were far crueler than any other oppressor. By providing factual accounts of history and objectively comparing them to the actions of Christian Americans, Walker unbiasedly validated his claim that even by the loathsome standards of slavery and oppression that exists across the world, Christian American were much crueler in their systematic oppression of Africans.

         Engulfed by that sacred fire that burns from within, Walker further justified his condemnation of the Christian Americans by challenging them on the religious beliefs and hypercritical actions to show how even by their own religious standards, their actions were unjust. Throughout his Appeal, he makes reference to the “God of Justice” to make the point that one day, God will answer the prayers of the oppressed as He has done in the past. This notion that God is just, and hears all prayers is a core Christian belief and teaching. It is hypocritical that the Christian Americans did not recognize this ideal in the case of the African slaves, and failed to see how their actions were unjust according to their own faith. Additionally, Walker explained how slavery opposed the Christian ideal that God is the one and only master of all mankind. He went on to say, “All persons… who are not blinded by the God of this world… who are able to lay aside prejudice… who are willing to admit that God made man to serve Him alone, and that man should have no other Lord or Lords but Himself—that God Almighty is the sole proprietor or master of the WHOLE human family…”. Faithful Christians would have understood that slavery contradicts this principle. When one human being steals another’s autonomy and forces them into servitude, an injustice has occurred, says Walker.

         The most humbling of Walker’s religious arguments spoke to the shared mortal nature of both the Christian Americans and the oppressed Africans. “Are we MEN!!—I ask you, O my brethren!... Did our Creator make us to be slaves to dust and ash like ourselves? … Have they not to answer for the deeds done in the body as well as we?” These simple yet powerful questions bring to light the fundamental Christian ideal that we will all parish one day. Despite our circumstance, color, or station in life, we all will one day be called to answer for the conduct by which we chose to live during out time here on Earth. Walker raised these questions to challenge Christian Americans to take a hard look in the mirror and realize that they will one day die and have to answer for their horrific oppression of the Africans. By challenging their religious convictions, Walker further justified his condemnation of the Christian Americans by showing that even according to their own moral and religious ideals, which they claim to hold so dearly, their oppression of Africans was wretched and unjust.

         In his Appeal, David Walker made these and more arguments to substantiate his claim that Christian Americans were the cruelest oppressors in existence. Through his fiery words, Walker sparked a passion for freedom that burns across time and space. Though a great deal of progress has been made in this country between when he first published his Appeal and now, America still has a long way to travel (add something about where we are traveling to? Where we have left or what we have left to do?). It is my hope that the blaze that David Walker set all those years ago will light our way as we continue on.