Quock Walker
Quock Walker, also known as Kwaku or Quork Walker (1753 – ?), was an enslaved American who sued for and won his freedom suit case in June 1781. The court cited language in the 1780 Constitution of Massachusetts that declared, "All men are born free and equal". The case is credited with helping abolish slavery in Massachusetts, although the 1780 constitution was never amended to prohibit the practice explicitly. Massachusetts was the first U.S. state to effectively and fully abolish slavery—the 1790 United States census recorded no enslaved people in the state.
Quock Walker | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1753 |
| Died | Unknown (before 1810) |
| Nationality | British, American |
| Occupation(s) | Enslaved person, farm worker |
| Known for | Won his freedom based on the unconstitutionality of slavery in Massachusetts |
Early life edit
Quock Walker was born in Massachusetts in 1753 to enslaved parents Mingo and Dinah, who were believed to be Ghanaians. He is believed to have been named Kwaku, Akan for "boy born on Wednesday," a traditional day-naming practice among the Akan people.[1][2] The following year, the entire family was bought by James Caldwell, of the prominent Caldwell family of Worcester County.[citation needed] Quock was promised his freedom at the age of 25 by Caldwell. Caldwell died when Quock was ten years old, but his widow renewed the promise, agreeing to give him his freedom at the age of 21. The widowed Mrs. Caldwell married Nathaniel Jennison in 1769 and died about 1772 when Walker was 19.
Quock Walker's siblings were born in Barre, Massachusetts, (then Rutland, MA): Cato Walker (1754–?), Minor Walker (1758–1852), Stephen (Step) Walker (1759–1845), Priscilla Walker (1767–[clarification needed]), Rosanna (Rose) Annis Walker (1771–1860), Esther Walker (1772–?), eventually became part of the Commonwealth v. Jennison lawsuit.[clarification needed]
When the time came for Walker's promised manumission, Jennison reneged on his late wife's promise and refused to free Walker. In 1781, Walker, then aged 28, ran away. He went to work at a nearby farm belonging to Seth and John Caldwell, brothers of his former enslaver. Jennison retrieved him and beat him severely as punishment. Soon after, Walker sued Jennison for battery, and Jennison sued the Caldwells for enticing Walker away from him.
Background edit
By the mid-18th century, enslavement of Africans was a common practice in Massachusetts.[3] A 1754 census listed nearly 4,500 enslaved people in the colony.[4] Abolitionist sentiment had been growing, especially as the philosophical underpinnings of independence and democracy became common parlance in the colony. While Massachusetts had derived wealth from the Atlantic slave trade, its merchant and mixed economy was not dependent on enslaved labor to the extent of southern states, where underdeveloped, agricultural economies depended on forced labor to produce commodity crops. In 1781, Elizabeth Freeman, an enslaved woman also known as Mum Bett, sued for freedom and won in county court based on her claim that slavery was inconsistent with the state constitution's declaration that "All men are born free and equal." Her case was cited by the state court in Quock Walker's case below.
Cases edit
In 1780, Judge John Lowell was a delegate to the state constitutional convention. As such, he is credited with authoring the Massachusetts state constitution clause that declared "all men are born free and equal."
Three trials related to these events; two were civil and one criminal. These took place during the American Revolutionary War when language about the equality of people was in the air and after the new Massachusetts constitution had been passed in 1780. The civil cases were: Jennison v. Caldwell (for "deprivation of the benefit of his servant, Walker"), apparently heard and decided first, and Quock Walker v. Jennison (for assault and battery).[citation needed] Both cases were heard by the Worcester County Court of Common Pleas on June 12, 1781.
In the first case, Jennison argued that Caldwell had enticed away his employee Walker. The court found in Jennison's favor and awarded him 25 pounds. The Walker case was opened by the plaintiff's attorney considering whether a previous enslaver's promise to free Walker gave him a right to freedom after the master previously making the promise had died before its fulfillment. Walker's lawyers argued that the concept of slavery was contrary to the Bible and the new Massachusetts Constitution (1780). The jury voted that Walker was a freeman under the constitution and awarded him 50 pounds in damages.
Both decisions were appealed. Jennison's appeal of Walker's freedom was tossed out in September 1781 by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, either because he failed to appear[5] or because his lawyers did not submit the required court papers.[6] The Caldwells won the other appeal; a jury concurred that Walker was a freeman, and therefore the defendants were entitled to employ him and owed his prior employer no damages.
In September 1781, the Attorney General filed a third case against Jennison, Commonwealth v. Jennison, for criminal assault and battery of Walker. In his charge to the jury, Chief Justice William Cushing stated:
As to the doctrine of slavery and the right of Christians to hold Africans in perpetual servitude, and sell and treat them as we do our horses and cattle, that (it is true) has been heretofore countenanced by the Province Laws formerly, but nowhere is it expressly enacted or established. It has been a usage – a usage which took its origin from the practice of some of the European nations, and the regulations of British government respecting the then Colonies, for the benefit of trade and wealth. But whatever sentiments have formerly prevailed in this particular or slid in upon us by the example of others, a different idea has taken place with the people of America, more favorable to the natural rights of mankind, and to that natural, innate desire of Liberty, with which Heaven (without regard to color, complexion, or shape of noses-features) has inspired all the human race. And upon this ground our Constitution of Government, by which the people of this Commonwealth have solemnly bound themselves, sets out with declaring that all men are born free and equal – and that every subject is entitled to liberty, and to have it guarded by the laws, as well as life and property – and in short is totally repugnant to the idea of being born slaves. This being the case, I think the idea of slavery is inconsistent with our own conduct and Constitution; and there can be no such thing as perpetual servitude of a rational creature, unless his liberty is forfeited by some criminal conduct or given up by personal consent or contract ...[7]
Legislators were unable or unwilling to address either enslavers' concerns about losing their "investment" or white citizens' concerns that if slavery were abolished, formerly enslaved people could become a burden on the community. Some feared that escaped enslaved people from elsewhere would flood the state.[8]
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court decisions in Walker v. Jennison and Commonwealth v. Jennison established the basis for ending slavery in Massachusetts on constitutional grounds. Still, no law or amendment to the state constitution was passed. Instead, slavery gradually ended "voluntarily" in the state over the next decade. The decisions in the Elizabeth Freeman and Quock Walker trials had removed slavery's legal support, and it was said to end by erosion. Some enslavers manumitted the people they enslaved formally and arranged to pay them wages for continued labor. Other enslaved people were "freed" but were restricted as indentured servants for extended periods.[3] By 1790, the federal census recorded no enslaved people in the state.[9]
Family edit
Quock Walker married Elizabeth Harvey on February 6, 1788, in Barre. He was found to reside in Barre, Massachusetts, in the 1790 Massachusetts Census but appears to have died before 1810. On December 5, 1792, his sister Minor Walker (1758–1852) married Peter Pitts Peters Sr., who was born in 1758 in Bennington, Vermont.[clarification needed] About 1820, Minor, Peter, and their eleven children moved from Barre to Cambridge. Several of their children (Walker Lewis, Peter Lewis Jr., and Andress Lewis) moved to the newly incorporated town of Lowell, where they married, raised their families, lived, and worked for many years.
Massachusetts Emancipation Day / Quock Walker Day edit
In recognition of the declaration of rights that rendered slavery unconstitutional in Massachusetts, Bill H.3117 was signed by Governor Charlie Baker on November 1, 2022. The bill declares July 8 as Massachusetts Emancipation Day, also known as Quock Walker Day. Massachusetts Emancipation Day is celebrated in Cambridge, Lexington, Lowell, and Worcester.
See also edit
- Elizabeth Freeman, also known as "Mum Bett", an enslaved person who won her freedom in county court in 1781 and whose case was cited as a precedent in Walker v. Jennison
- Walker Lewis, Quock Walker's nephew, who was ordained as one of the first African American Mormon Elders
- List of court cases in the United States involving slavery
References edit
- ^ O'Donovan, Connell. "Descendants of Mingo and Dinah: From West Africa to Colonial Massachusetts". O'Donovan website, hosted at University of California, Santa Cruz. Retrieved September 12, 2010.
- ^ O'Donovan, Connell (2006). . John Whitmer Historical Association Journal. Independence, Missouri: O'Donovan website, hosted at University of California, Santa Cruz. 26: 47–99. Archived from the original on July 6, 2010. Retrieved September 12, 2010. Revised undated version online at O'Donovan website.
- ^ a b Piper, Emilie; Levinson, David (2010). One Minute a Free Woman: Elizabeth Freeman and the Struggle for Freedom. Salisbury, CT: Upper Housatonic Valley National Heritage Area. ISBN 978-0984549207.[page needed]
- ^ Moore, George H. (1866). Notes on the history of slavery in Massachusetts. New York City, NY: D. Appleton & Co. p. 51. Retrieved July 26, 2010.
notes on the history of slavery in Massachusetts.
- ^ "Quock Walker". Massachusetts Historical Society (masshist.org). Retrieved October 4, 2009.
- ^ . mass.gov. Archived from the original on December 4, 2009. Retrieved November 10, 2010.
- ^ Harper, Douglass. Emancipation in Massachusetts, Slavery in the North. Retrieved May 22, 2010.
- ^ Rose, Ben Z. (2009). Mother of Freedom: Mum Bett and the Roots of Abolition. Waverley, Massachusetts: Treeline Press. ISBN 978-0978912314.[page needed]
- ^ Moore, George H. (1866). Notes on the history of slavery in Massachusetts. New York City, NY: D. Appleton & Co. p. 247. Retrieved July 26, 2010.
notes on the history of slavery in Massachusetts.
External links edit
- "Quock Walker Case", Africans in America, PBS-WGBH
- Martha Mayo, "Profiles in Courage: African Americans in Lowell", Center for Lowell History, University of Massachusetts Lowell