Quock Walker
| Quock Walker | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1753 Massachusetts |
| Nationality | British, American |
| Occupation | Slave, farm worker |
| Known for | Won his freedom based on unconstitutionality of slavery in Massachusetts |
Quock Walker, also known as Kwaku or Quok Walker (b. 1753 - d. unknown), was an American slave who sued for and won his freedom in June 1781 in a case citing language in the new Massachusetts Constitution (1780) that declared all men to be born free and equal. The case is credited with helping abolish slavery in Massachusetts, although the 1780 constitution was never amended to explicitly prohibit the practice. Massachusetts was the first state of the union to effectively and fully abolish slavery. By the 1790 federal census, no slaves were recorded in the state.
Quock Walker was born in Massachusetts in 1753 to slaves Mingo and Dinah, who were believed to be of Ghanaian origins. He is believed to have been named Kwaku in Akan, for "boy born on Wednesday", a traditional day-naming practice among the Akan people. The following year, the entire family was bought by James Caldwell, of the prominent Caldwell family of Worcester County. Quock was promised his freedom at the age of 25 by Caldwell. Caldwell died when Quock was ten, 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 1763 and died about 1772, when Walker was 19.
When the time came for Walker's promised manumission, Jennison refused to let him go. 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 master. 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.
By the mid-18th century, enslavement of Africans had become common practice in Massachusetts. A 1754 census listed nearly 4500 slaves in the colony.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 Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, its merchant and mixed economy was not dependent on slave labor to the extent of southern states. In 1781 Elizabeth Freeman, an enslaved woman also known as Mum Betts, sued for freedom and won in county court, based on her claim that slavery was not consistent with the state constitution's statement declaring that "all men are born free and equal." Her case was cited in the state court in Quock Walker, below.
...
Wikipedia