Few could be argued to be as bustling as Walker, who positively exploded onto the broader consciousness with the publication of the first edition of the Appeal in 1829, and the subsequent second edition and third edition, both in 1830. The fearless and fiery tone of Walker’s writing is as challenging in 2022 as it was in 1829. Everything about these publications was radical and dangerous, from the content of his message to, as Marcy J. Dinius argues, his editorial decisions around typography. Dinius explains that
the four articles… preach the value of education, insist on racial unity, condemn the African colonization movement, warn whites of an impending apocalypse if slavery continues, and, most controversially, promote violence as a legitimate- if not imminent- form of resistance.
Walker’s writing was bold in its arguments, especially in sections that directly criticized the hypocrisy of White Christian supporters of slavery and that argued against the African colonization movement. Abolitionists who wanted an end to slavery in the United States didn’t necessarily want Black people to stay in the U.S. as integrated citizens. Both Black and White abolitionists had arguments for moving freed Black people to African colonies like Liberia and Sierra Leone, but Walker was firmly against this as a solution and wanted equal rights in his country of birth. The writing displays Walker’s education, using eloquent rhetoric that reflects the Black oratory tradition and stinging castigations that pulled zero punches around the oppression of Black people. The evolution of the text across the three editions shows a writer who was sticking to his principles and standing firm. Dinius provides an example of this editorial evolution through a single sentence. In the first edition, Walker wrote “Are we men?– I ask you, O! my brethren, are we men?” By the third edition, that line was printed as “Are WE MEN! !– I ask you, O my brethren! are we MEN?” The words remain the same, but the rhythm and emphasis were shifted as Walker finalized his thoughts.
The Appeal grabbed readers’ attention in as dramatic a manner as Walker could have possibly imagined. In her book, Maria W. Stewart and the Roots of Black Political Thought, Kirsten Waters writes about how the pamphlet itself was viewed as dangerous by pro-slavery forces, while Walker actively worked to get his text in the hands of Black readers. He did not direct his writing to White audiences, and in the third edition added a special message to Black readers, saying that:
It is expected that all coloured men, women, and children† of every nation, language, and tongue under heaven, will try to procure a copy of this Appeal and read it, or get some one to read it to them, for it is designed more particularly for them.
The footnote under that dagger gives one of the clearest indications of how impossible it is to understate Walker’s boldness and the clarity of his pro-Black message:
†Who are not too deceitful, abject, and servile to resist the cruelties and murders inflicted upon us by the white slave holders, our enemies by nature.