To Awaken My Afflicted Brethren

To Awaken My Afflicted Brethren: David Walker and the Problem of Antebellum Slave Resistance, by Peter P. Hinks. (University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1997). Pp 301. ISBN: 0-271-01578-0.

The subject of To Awaken My Afflicted Brethren, by Peter P. Hinks, is a study of the black abolitionist David Walker, and his seminal work The Appeal to the Colored Citizens of the World. Slavery in America, indeed race relations in general, take a more unique light when viewed through the lens of a freedman attempting to end the 'peculiar institution' in the United States. Such a position, however, especially for a black man, was one frought with risk. Hinks attempts to demonstrate the world that created such an individual, and why he made such a public demonstration of his opinions.

The world of David Walker, as presented by Hinks, is one of an able and capable black community. It is apparent among many whites that the 'truth' about slaves and freedmen were that they were brutish, lazy, and barely able to work without the prodding of masters, yet in this contradiction, one sees that the opposite is the fact: the measure of success in the South, especially in the Carolinas, was to maintain a livlihood handled entirely by slaves. The only way that such a generous livlihood can be maintained is through a workforce that is skilled and able. Here, Hinks presents the black community as an exceedingly capable one filled with skilled artisans, laborers, and, for a lucky few, intelligent individuals of broad education.

It is further apparent that there is a vast indiscrepency in the nature of the black and white relations of the South. South Carolina of the early 1800s saw a greater proportion of blacks, both freed and slave, than there were whites living in the state. To intelligent individuals, this was an unacceptable irony: that skilled blacks should work as property for a significantly smaller population was unthinkable.

This was the paradox that faced David Walker, and part of the root of his displeasure. Walker, as a freed black man born to a free mother and a slave father, understood the unfair arrangement presented herein firsthand. But Hinks takes great pains to demonstrate that there are deeper roots to Walker's willingness to agitate for abolition. During his formative years, Walker lived for a time in Charleston, South Carolina, during and in the wake of the Denmark Vesey conspiracy. Hinks argues that there was a powerful impression left in the young man's mind: that of free and intelligent members of the successful black community of Charleston plotting with members of the slave community for revolution.

Hinks follows the continued intellectual development of Walker, examining his spiritual growth in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, and his move to Boston, Massachuesetts. Here, Hinks explains what he feels to be another fundamental movement for Walker's rise in prominence in the African-American community of the time: his induction into the Prince Hall Lodge of Freemasons, the exclusive black wing of the secret society. The collection of intelligent colored men of letters and ideas was a potent mix for a man of Walker's clear talent, and part of the fundamental shaping of his own abolitionist ideas.

The thesis by which David Walker presented those ideas was The Appeal to Colored Citizens of the World. Hinks notes the sheer audacity of this one text, which outright questioned the institution of slavery in strong and confrontational tones not long after several slave revolts. The fear of the white community in response to Walker's demand is explored, and the responses analyzed in depth.

This fascinating portrait of not only the individual abolitionist, but the world which shaped him, is a well written and well organized book. The process of Walker's development is carefully laid out, each chapter following a basic theme and a common thread of thought. As a book within the greater whole of slave literature, it is a good source for understanding not only the freedman's perspective, but the feelings of the greater white community about them as they struggled for complete black emancipation.

John McCarron

To Awaken My Afflicted Brethren: David Walker and the Problem of Antebellum Slave Resistance. By Peter P. Hinks. University Park: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 1997.

This book by Peter Hinks is about the life of David Walker from Wilmington, North Carolina to Boston, Massachusetts. He traces Walker’s life and the influences that led to the writing of the Appeal to the Colored Citizens of the World. This book also studies “the nature, frequency, and impact of slave resistance in early antebellum America and how these forces may have influenced Walker.” (p. xiv)

David Walker likely was born in Wilmington, North Carolina to a free mother and a slave father. Although Hinks cannot prove this as Walker’s birth place, he feels that several indicators point to this location, such as evidence from Walker’s Appeal. Although Hinks tries to nail down Walker’s true birth place he finds no corroborating evidence, only blacks, both free and slaves, with the last name Walker in the vicinity of Wilmington. No free black named David Walker existed in the records. In Wilmington, Walker likely became exposed to religion at the Methodist Church and possibly obtained his education here as well.

As David Walker grew up he moved on from Wilmington and likely settled in Charleston, a city with much more employment opportunities for free blacks. Here Walker may have come into contact with Denmark Vesey, learning of his rebellious plot and reasoning for such a plan. Walker does not have evidence that the two ever came into contact, only similar rhetoric and ideas lead to this conclusion. Both of them agreed that the pursuit of the oppressed for holy righteousness could take on horrible form in the massacre of whites, which they believed, could be justified.

Walker probably left Charleston, South Carolina shortly after the Vesey trials and traveled before arriving in Boston in 1825. Here he lived as used clothing dealer and became involved in the free black society in Boston. In 1826 he began his entrance into this society by renting an apartment in the highest concentrated area of blacks in the city. He went on to join Boston’s African Lodge and also aided in the creation of Freedom’s Journal, likely the first national black newspaper. He also played an active role in other organizations that spoke for the black community nationally.

He published his first edition of the Appeal to the Colored Citizens of the World in 1829. Walker sent pamphlets to the South in order to have them distributed. Hinks names many of the men who received these pamphlets but can only speculate as to why these men were chosen. Authorities quickly seized them and fear once again ensued in the white population. North Carolina and a number of other states reinforced many of their laws against slave literacy, independent religious activity, and the mobility of free blacks and their interaction with slaves. Yet Walker’s Appeal did not create slave resistance in the South as the slaves did not need him to tell them what they had been doing all along. Still his pamphlet did make it clear that the blacks in the North knew of the suffering and were committed to a struggle to end the institution.

Hinks does a great job of interpreting Walker’s Appeal and its relevance in antebellum America. He spends a great amount of time in the book supporting his thoughts with passages from the Appeal. Yet as good as the book is in conveying Walker’s message and his attempts at shaking the slave system to its core by trying to open up the slaves’ eyes, many parts of the book leave you wanting much more. A great portion of this book seems based on Hinks's speculation, and although he seeks to find evidence to support his ideas, he usually ends up proving that it is mere speculation on his part. The majority of Walker’s early life, before Boston, that Hinks wrote about, he based on his interpretations of Walker’s passages in the Appeal and often did not find evidence to back these interpretations. Although Hinks does a great job when writing on Walker’s Appeal, too much of this book is based on his guesswork.

To Awaken My Afflicted Brethren: David Walker and the Problem of Antebellum Slave Revolt. By Peter Hinks. (University Park, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1997. Pp. 301).

The question of slave revolt in the Old South was a sticky one at the time. Its possibilities and probabilities may have grown clearer with hindsight, but no less intriguing. In To Awaken My Afflicted Brethren, Peter Hinks looks in depth at one of the more interesting men of the period and what he produced. Little is known about David Walker, who caused quite a stir with his Appeal to the Colored Citizens of the World. Hinks aims to provide his readers with a glimpse of "how David Walker compressed all [his] experience and knowledge in one great…effort to goad an exploited people into uplifting their understanding of themselves and smashing the slavery that was blighting their lives" (1)

According to Hinks, Walker likely began his life somewhere in the vicinity of Wilmington, North Carolina. Born to free parents but still on the bottom of the proverbial totem pole, he was able to see firsthand the depredations of the whites against the slaves. Though the region was predominately black, only a scant few were free. Habitually grouped by whites with the slaves, his opportunities for advancement would have been slim to none. So, it is not surprising that he left the area when circumstances permitted, likely for Charleston.

The future seat of secession boasted a great many more opportunities for a free black man in the early years of the nineteenth century than may at first be supposed. Residing in an area known as Charleston Neck, a large community of free blacks presented chances for work and social interaction. Particularly, the founding of an all black African Methodist Episcopal church is worthy of note. It later served as a staging ground for the leaders of the Denmark Vesey plot, which Hinks argues Walker was involved with. When the city cracked down on the community after the abortive rebellion, Walker moved on once again.

After likely traveling throughout the south and west, Walker settled down in Boston where he operated a second-hand clothing store. While there, he made connections with several notable free black activists. The climate of the north was growing more and more friendly towards organized resistance, as various groups formed and connected. Walker joined one of the most notable of these, the autonomous, all black Prince Hall Masonic Lodge. When Walker finally wrote the Appeal, he was able to take advantage of these contacts to distribute his tract. Its introduction into the South caused widespread panic among the white population, and was roundly denounced. However, the state authorities cracked down harshly on it, and it failed to spark anything like the sort of mental and physical revolution Walker was aiming for.

Was there anything really original about the Appeal? In content, Hinks argues that there was not. Everything that Walker wrote was said by others years before. What was striking was Walker's ability to assemble all of the various threads into one, clear document that forcefully drove home its point. In the end, it really provoked nothing serious. Those most affected by it were white, whose fears of slave insurrection blew the pamphlet's effect out of all proportion. The most important unintended consequence of its distribution was to drive the south further into their bunker mentality, adding a fresh coat of cement to the roof.

Hinks admits from the beginning that there is very little information of his subject's life. Unfortunately, it shows. Especially in the earlier portions of this book, Hinks is forced to supplement his insights on Walker with large amounts of general background information. The resulting text can go for a dozen pages with no mention of Walker or the Appeal whatsoever. The background is very necessary and worthwhile, but one wishes that Hinks had done a better job weaving Walker into it, rather than having him bob in and out like a buoy on a stormy sea.

Another difficulty is his almost constant reliance on conjecture. In many instances, this is not out of order, as he has good reasons to back up his statements. Other times, his evidence is merely circumstantial. For instance, his reasons for supposing Walker to be caught up in the Denmark Vesey conspiracy is simply that Vesey espoused ideas similar to some of those found in the Appeal. While arguing that it is likely Walker lived in a certain vicinity, he is constantly dealing with censuses and counts that show no David Walker as present at the time. This does not invalidate the book's usefulness, but the reader should bear in mind that many of his claims cannot be taken as gospel truth.

Still, to end the review there would be a great disservice to Hinks. Despite the handicaps innate in his topic, he provides his readers with as in depth and worthwhile a treatment of this subject as can be conceived. Assuming that he is correct in placing Walker in the areas he does, it goes a long way to understanding the man, and his Appeal. It fills out the picture, giving the reader further insight into the development of Walker's ideas. By doing so in this important episode, he/she also gains a fuller picture of antebellum slave resistance as a whole.