Topic > The Means to an End: David Walker - 702

David Walker, I would consider him to be a very intelligent man who had a strong dislike for those who considered him an inferior person. Throughout the book he refers to the difference between the Christian religion and the slave religion. Walker also refers in the book to Israelite, Greek, Egyptian and Roman cultures. It is obvious that Walker himself was a well-educated young man. Walker also refers to and criticizes the statements of Thomas Jefferson which presents the fact that Walker understood the vocabulary of American icons who were part of the so-called master race. This challenged the thinking that blacks were second rate to the white race. Walker was passionate about his views on slavery and unhappy living conditions, repeatedly using capital letters and exclamations in his writings. As found in article 4, Walker states that he used “language so very simple, that the most ignorant, those who can read, will easily understand” (74). For this reason, Walker's intended audience was composed of black citizens who they suffered from slavery. I firmly believe that Walker planned for this document to be read by whites so that perhaps they could repent and change their ways. Walker also stated towards whites that “my goal is to see justice done at home, first to go and convert the heathen” (20). As a result, Walker's Appeal was both an inspiring and frightening document in that it also aimed to inspire the black African Americans to discover self-worth and pride in their heritage. This led Walker to assert that blacks should be like Moses, stating that Moses "would rather suffer shame, ... paper medium...I thought of this statement strongly stated in Walker's Appeal. Overall I found Walker's Appeal to be an inspiring document that could inspire anyone to fight for human rights and freedom. I found it interesting how Walker had such a broad knowledge of Roman, Greek, and Egyptian cultures to support his views of "the colored people of these United States are the most degraded, miserable, and abject set of beings that have ever lived since beginning of the world" (3). I also recognized that Walker had some themes in the text that were also repetitive in the story of Frederick Douglass himself. Also in Douglass' text I found that there is a difference between slave Christianity and a pure Christianity where blacks influence their own situation by being servile, and blacks should fight like Walker did even if he is doomed to death.