African American Abolitionist: David Walker

The Abolitionist movement during the Antebellum period, was a critical time in American history. The goal of this movement was to emancipate all slaves immediately, and end discrimination, as well as segregation. The brave men and women involved in this movement were called abolitionists and antislavery advocates. The antislavery advocates stood for freeing slaves gradually, and abolitionists wanted slavery gone immediately. No matter how fast, these people all wanted to spread opposition against slavery across the United States. Northern churches started liking this whole idea of abolishing slavery, which started conflict between the North and South. These arguments led up to the Civil War.

To what degree is labor humane? As a whole, the members of our society have never questioned if the way we live life is unjust. In 1830, a group of people recognized these wrongful ways. They spoke up and voiced their opinions on the way Americans were treating black individuals. But was slavery genuinely wrong? According to many members of society in the 1830's, no, slavery wasn't wrong. It was a way of life. After Lincoln abolished slavery in 1865 slavery has only been thought about as a moment in history. Now in 2017, we live in a free country, where no one is a slave. Or so we thought. Human trafficking is a growing issue in the world today. There are approximately 20 to 30 million slaves worldwide, of which 80% are women and children. The Polaris Project is one of the many organizations that is helping eliminate human trafficking today. The abolitionists and the Polaris Project have similar movements, as they both fight against forced human labor. The Polaris Project is more successful in using rhetorical appeals as they are making a substantial difference in ways the abolitionists did not.

David Walker was an abolitionist, orator, and author of David Walker's Appeal. Although David Walker's father, who died before his birth, was enslaved, his mother was a free woman; thus, when he was born in Wilmington, North Carolina, in September 1785, David Walker was also free, following the “condition” of his mother as prescribed by southern laws regulating slavery. Little is known about Walker's early life. He traveled widely in the South and probably spent time in Philadelphia. He developed early on an intense and abiding hatred of slavery, the result apparently of his travels and his firsthand knowledge of slavery.

Being an abolitionist was not a popular stance in pre-civil war America. Levi Coffin and his wife were abolitionists who assisted thousands of slaves make their way to freedom threw the Underground Railroad. The Coffins were radical, they risked their own freedom to help strangers have theirs. Levi was middle class white business owner, he had no incentive to speak out against slavery. In contrast to society the Coffins not only opposed slavery, but they took action against it. They begin housing run a way slaves in their own home. This was extremely risky because if they were caught they would be imprisoned and lose all they owned. Once they had a very close encounter with law. When questioned they refused to deny that they had slaves hidden,

The second reason John Brown is a terrorist is because he had a raid at the Pottawatomie Creek in Kansas. He killed pro slave people clearly because he did not agree with their views on slavery, but is that a truly a justifiable reason to take another mans life? John Brown had the right mind to abolish slavery, but there could have been a better way, like protesting to the point not even the government can refuse since the people are a, “Great beast”, as said by Alexander Hamilton.

From 1775 to 1830, many African Americans gained freedom from, yet during the same period the institution towards the southern parts of America to work in plantations. This was the start of new changes that was going to take place that free African Americans and enslaved African Americans. Between 1775 and 1830 was one of the greatest trials that came with many challenges for the African Americans to confront these issues.

In this assignment I will be taking a further look into the history of slavery. When thinking of slavery the immediate thought that comes to mind is all the negative aspects of the system. Prior to this research, I was unaware of slave systems that were not based on the long labor hours and the torture of slaves. Granted, there were still forms of slavery that practiced these brutal rituals, where slaves were treated as animals and were malnourished. One prime example of this, is the book titled “Am I Not A Woman And A Sister”, looks at the history of a Bermudan slave named Mary Prince. Another example of slavery that will be incorporated in this paper will come from a source about a woman slave named Semsigul, born in Caucasus an area that

David Walker was a free North Carolinian radical abolitionist who issued Appeal to the Colored Citizens of the World. Walker, like other abolitionists at the time, used both the Constitution and religion to present the illegality and the immorality of slavery in order to emphasize the need for immediate abolition in his Appeal. This pugnacious pamphlet called for the prompt eradication of slavery

8) What were the goals and methods of the abolitionist movement? Who were the leaders? Why were they unpopular?

As Walker most likely grew up in a terrifying environment, in which African Americans were abused by slave owners for seemingly-innocent reasons, Walker acknowledges these conditions that he may have seen or heard about. The fact that Walker’s father was a slave and his mother was a free black proves Walker’s reliability, as he has been on both sides of the free-and-enslaved decision. Furthermore, the Second Great Awakening allowed a formation of anti-slavery societies, including in the south (outside evidence). By the thousands, more and more Americans realized the cruelty of slavery, and started to form societies to try to stop it.

William Lloyd Garrison was a leader among the American abolitionists, a self-made journalist, and social reformer. He was world renown, considered one of the most vocal opponents of slavery before the Civil War. Garrison made an impact on the abolitionist movement by promoting non-violent and non-political resistance, calling for the immediate end to slavery as well as equal rights for black Americans.

Douglas was a slave when he was at the age of 6 and when he was at the age of 16 he began plotting to escape slavery. In 1836 Douglas and two of his friends created a plot to escape slavery. Douglas got caught and arrested and put in jail. When he had finished doing his time, he was promised freedom if he behaved and was surprised that he was not sold as a slave. He was 25 when he was released from jail. After working in the shipyard for a while, he moved to England, changed his name, and started a newspaper. The newspaper was called The North Star, and supported

In the United States, in the 19th century, years before and years to come, there was great debate between pro-slavery advocates and abolitionists. Both groups had strong views of one another, and fought hard for what they believed. During this time, the nation had been separated, there was the North and there was the South. States located in the North were considered to be free-slave states and consisted of many abolitionists. Two popular abolitionists include David Walker and Fredrick Douglas. States located in the South were considered to be slave states and consisted of many pro-slavery advocates. Three popular advocates include James Henry Hammond, Samuel Cartwright, and George Fitzhugh.

Although Walker was a free man and didn't receive the harsh treatment that slaves were receiving, on a daily basis Walker had seen many traumatic scenes caused by slave owners. This had aroused so much hurt and rage in Walker allowing him to want to go to the violent end of gaining freedom. Similar to that of David Walker, William Lloyd Garrison was an American abolitionist. His definition of Liberty was more stern and based off disgust and hurt because of the traumatic events that had took place around him. Garrison had strongly believed that justice is not only given to one race but to

numerous types of themes. Much of the work concentrates on the underlining ideas beneath the stories. In the narratives, fugitives and ex-slaves appealed to the humanity they shared with their readers during these times, men being lynched and marked all over and women being the subject of grueling rapes. "The slave narrative of Frederick Douglas" and "Harriet Jacobs: Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl" themes come from the existence of the slaves morality that they are forced compromise to live. Both narrators show slave narratives in the point of view of both "men and women slaves that had to deal with physical, mental, and moral abuse during the times of slavery."