The David Walker Memorial Project

This ongoing project is aimed at raising public awareness of the Black abolitionist David Walker, a charismatic leader who campaigned for the immediate emancipation of enslaved people. His radical stance and actions not only influenced the abolitionist movement as a whole, but also inspired later Black freedom fighters including Martin Luther King and Malcolm X.

An evangelical Christian born free in North Carolina, Walker was an outspoken activist in the vibrant Black community on Beacon Hill in Boston, Massachusetts. He is best known for his seminal manifesto, David Walker’s Appeal to the Colored Citizens of the World – an impassioned rallying cry to African Americans to resist slavery, educate themselves, and unite against oppression. It also calls out White Christians for their hypocrisy in condoning and supporting slavery.

Walker organized circulation of his Appeal throughout the South via clandestine networks of friends, allies, and sympathizers. At a time of increased resistance among enslaved people, Southern political leaders and elite enslavers regarded the Appeal as a major threat and did everything in their power to suppress it. The governor of Georgia promised a reward of $10,000 for Walker’s capture. You can read more about David Walker and his work here. 

Comparatively few Americans have heard of David Walker. And we want to help change that. We began by establishing The David Walker Memorial Project and a dedicated website – currently being updated – to make more people aware of his life and work and his critical contribution to ending chattel slavery in the U.S.

We have collaborated on a number of educational efforts about Walker, including a presentation at the Museum of African American History on Beacon Hill, and a forum at Roxbury Community College in Roxbury, Massachusetts with historian Peter Hinks, author of To Awaken My Afflicted Brethren: David Walker and the Problem of Antebellum Slave Resistance. 

Walker is featured in Abolition Acre! A Black Freedom Trail in Boston, BHS’s self-guided walking trail of downtown abolitionist sites.   

A number of community groups, historians, activists, and educators have expressed their enthusiastic support for The David Walker Memorial Project. We look forward to working with them and others in collaborative pursuit of our long-term goal: the design and construction of a public memorial to David Walker in a prominent downtown Boston location.