David Walker's Appeal

Walker begins the first article by arguing that enslaved African Americans are the only oppressed people in the history of the world who have been denied the title of “men” and considered instead to be “brutes.” Even though the United States claims to be an “enlightened and Christian” nation, it treats these enslaved people far worse than any other example of oppressed peoples throughout the “heathen” world. This reality is so clear to “unprejudiced men” that Walker claims there is no need to prove it. However, he endeavors to offer the example of the enslaved Israelites in Egypt. He tells the story of Joseph, the son of Jacob, who was granted a place of prestige ruling the Egyptians under the Pharaoh’s command despite being a child of Israel. Walker points out that, in the United States, no Black man holds even the lowest public office. He recalls how the Pharaoh gave Joseph a new name and the daughter of a priest to marry. In the United States, on the other hand, laws prevent white people and Black people from marrying. Next, the Pharaoh gave Joesph the best land in Egypt to dwell in with his family. Meanwhile, Walker recounts a story about a poor Black man in the United States who finally saved enough to buy a small piece of land but was “cheated out of his property” (22) by a white man. Most importantly, Walker claims that there isn’t a single shred of historical proof to suggest that the Egyptians “heaped the insupportable insult upon the children of Israel by telling them that they were not of the human family” (23), of which white Americans are certainly guilty. On the contrary, the Egyptian Pharaoh’s daughter raised the baby Moses as her own son, and he would have ruled all of Egypt if he hadn’t chosen to be with his own people.

Walker celebrates Moses for choosing “shame, with the people of God” (25) over the pleasure and comfort that the Egyptians offered and wishes more African Americans would follow this example. He believes it is a mistake to “[court] favor” among white Americans and argues that this perpetuates Black oppression. In a brief addition, Walker reminds African Americans to remain “humble” before Jesus Christ and only attempt to gain freedom when the way is “clear.” He insists that God is just and made African Americans black “because it pleased him” (25). While some white Americans, including Thomas Jefferson, believe that being Black is “unfortunate” and that all those with dark skin must wish to be white, Walker argues that they “wish to be just as it pleased [their] Creator to have made [them]” (25). They need not be afraid because God is “on [their] side,” and any man who does not fight for his freedom deserves to remain enslaved.

Walker goes on to discuss the comedy of American “Southerners and Westerners” talking about “barbarity.” He recounts a newspaper that complained of the Turks treating the Greeks “like brutes” next to an advertisement for enslaved African Americans. He then moves on to the suffering of enslaved Helots under the Spartans, which he calls “somewhat severe.” However, Spartans were “heathens,” so their crimes still cannot be compared to those of “Christian Americans.” Furthermore, the Helots and their children were punished with enslavement after creating “an intestine commotion” in Sparta. While this is a “frivolous pretext,” white Americans have no reason at all for enslaving Black people.

Walker then turns to slavery in Rome. He reminds his readers that many enslaved Black people are talented and intelligent, but few have had the chance to develop their abilities due to the oppression they experience. On the subject, he turns to the remarks of Thomas Jefferson, who argued that those whom the Romans enslaved, who were often great teachers or artists, were nevertheless white, suggesting that their intellect was not related to their “condition” but rather to their “nature.” Walker illustrates how this argument has been “swallowed” by white Americans and reflected in how they treat enslaved Black people. He argues that his “brethren” must challenge these arguments; otherwise, they “will only establish them” (30).

To close Article 1, Walker argues that the United States is growing thanks to the labor of enslaved African Americans. He claims that Jesus Christ is their one and only “master,” and they have no “right” to refer to anyone else as such. He cannot imagine how African Americans remain “so submissive” to white men, who “have always been an unjust, jealous unmerciful, avaricious and bloodthirsty set of beings” (32). Over and over throughout history, Walker argues that white men have illustrated a propensity toward violence, deceit, and mercilessness unmatched by people of other races. In light of their Christianity, the cruelty of white Americans becomes even more remarkable. Even the heathens of Europe were not guilty of the “hellish cruelties” that white Christians in the United States inflicted on their enslaved people. If possible, Walker suspects that white Americans would not hesitate to “dethrone Jehovah and seat themselves on his throne” and wonders if they are “as good by nature as we [Black people] are or not” (33).