Artist, educator, and activist L’Merchie Frazier and playwright Peter Snoad discussed David Walker’s Appeal to the Colored Citizens of the World. This talk was the second in a three-part series dedicated to Walker, his work, and his legacy.
David Walker, a 19th-century Black abolitionist, was a fiery and unforgiving voice in the fight for freedom and an inspirational and influential leader of the abolitionist movement. In his 1829 Appeal, Walker called on enslaved people to revolt against their enslavers and compelled white Americans to recognize the moral depravity of slavery. Copies of this revolutionary pamphlet were sewn into the lining of sailors’ clothing in Boston and then smuggled into the South for distribution. The Appeal made a tremendous impact; giving hope to the enslaved and terrifying slaveholders.
In this talk, L’Merchie Frazier and Peter Snoad, both experts on Walker, analyzed his seminal text and considered how the Appeal’s charges of greed, hypocrisy, and indifference remain relevant today.
