David Walker Quotes

United States, Abolitionist
September 27, 1796 – June, 28, 1830.

David Walker was an American abolitionist, writer, and anti-slavery activist. Though his father was enslaved, his mother was free; therefore, he was free as well . In 1829, while living in Boston, Massachusetts, with the assistance of the African Grand Lodge , he published An Appeal to the Coloured Citizens of the World, a call for black unity and self-help in the fight against the oppressive and unjust slavery.

Also known as Writer

Leadership is building a bridge that connects the vision with the purpose, in order to empower those who are around us.

David Walker
Now, I ask you, had you not rather be killed than to be a slave to a tyrant, who takes the life of your mother, wife, and dear little children? Look upon your mother, wife and children, and answer God Almighty; and believe this, that it is no more harm for you to kill a man who is trying to kill you, than it is for you to take a drink of water when thirsty.

David Walker
- Believe
- Children
- Wife

I may be doomed to the stake and the fire, or to the scaffold tree, but it is not in me to falter if I can promote the work of emancipation.

David Walker
- Fire
- Doomed
- Emancipation
The Americans say that we are ungrateful-but I ask them for heaven's sake, what should we be grateful to them for-for murdering our fathers and mothers?-Or do they wish us to return thanks to them for chaining and handcuffing us, branding us, cramming fire down our throats, or for keeping us in slavery, and beating us nearly or quite to death to make us work in ignorance and miseries, to support them and their families. They certainly think we are a gang of fools.

David Walker
- Thinking
- Mother
- Father
Lord, please give me big ears and a thoughtful mind. Teach me to ask well and see it through other’s eyes.

David Walker
- Giving
- Teach
- Lord
I know that the blacks, take them half enlightened and ignorant, are more humane and merciful than the most enlightened and refined European that can be found in all the earth.

David Walker
- Earth
- Found
- Ignorant
To me, the real marks of beauty in a woman are courage, character, kindness, and personality.

David Walker
Church should be a place where love is evident, God delivers, lives are changed, hearts are healed, and families restored.

David Walker
- Heart
- Church
- Changed

Let no man of us budge one step, and let slaveholders come to beat us from our country. America is more our country, than it is the whites-we have enriched it with our blood and tears. The greatest riches in all America have arisen from our blood and tears.

David Walker
- Country
- America
- Justice