Title page and excerpt of David Walker’s Appeal to the Colored Citizens of the World
David Walker, 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 (Boston: Revised and Published by David Walker, 1830), in University of North Carolina, “Documenting the American South,” docsouth.unc.edu/nc/walker/walker.html.
Excerpts from the Appeal by David Walker, 1829
The whites have always been an unjust, jealous, unmerciful, avaricious and blood-thirsty set of beings, always seeking after power and authority…
O Americans! Americans!! I call God—I call angels— I call men, to witness, that your destruction is at hand, and will be speedily consummated unless you REPENT…
They want us for their slaves, and think nothing of murdering us. . . therefore, if there is an attempt made by us, kill or be killed. . . and believe this, that it is no more harm for you to kill a man who is trying to kill you, than it is for you to take a drink of water when thirsty…
America is more our country than it is the whites — we have enriched it with our blood and tears…will they drive us from our property and homes, which we have earned with our blood?
Bonus content
Dramatic reading of David Walker’s “Appeal to the Colored Citizens of the World,” National Endowment for the Humanities (4 min).
youtube.com/watch?v=7IGNlROtf78
Longer excerpt and link to entire manuscript of David Walker’s Appeal from the National Constitution Center.