Quock Walker

Introduction

Quock Walker was an American slave who sued for and won his freedom in 1780 by using language in the Massachusetts Constitution that declared all men to be born free and equal. The case is credited with abolishing slavery although the 1780 constitution was never amended to prohibit it.

The Case

The Quock Walker case began by assessing the question of whether a previous master’s promise to free Quock gave him a right to freedom after the previous master died. Quock’s attorney, however, did not use this argument but rather argued that slavery was contrary to "Bible" and the Massachusetts Constitution.

Quock Walker was a slave promised freedom from his master, Mrs. Jennison at the age of 21. When the time came for his release, Mrs. Jennison refused to let him go. Quock Walker then fled in 1781 to work on a nearby far. As a punishment for his actions, Mrs. Jennison beat Quock Walker severely. Two cases emerged from his incident. Quock Walker’s case argued that the concept of slavery was contrary to the will of God, while Mrs. Jennison argued that slavery was necessary as a means of civilizing barbaric peoples. The opposing argument made my Mrs. Jennison was inferior to Quock Walker’s, which lead him to be set free in 1783.

William Cushing ruled that Walker was a freeman because of the previously promised manumission. Cushing added that the Massachusetts Constitution declared that all men were free and equal and thus guaranteed their right to life, liberty, and freedom. Cushing went on to say, “Without resorting to implication in constructing the constitution, slavery is…as effectively abolished as it can be by the granting of rights and privileges wholly incompatible and repugnant to its existence.” [Arthur Zilversmit, "The First Emancipation: The Abolition of Slavery in the North" (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1967), 114.]

However, the Walker-Jennison cases did not wholly end slavery in Massachusetts. There is no legal evidence that the ruling in this case effectively abolished slavery and slaves continued to be sold in Massachusetts.

Origin of Name

Quock also spelled as Kwaku, Quacko, Quork, Quock, and Qualk, is a Ghanaian name meaning, "boy born on Saturday."

Birth And Family

Quock was born in Massachusetts in 1753 to slaves Mingo and Dinah, who were owned by the prominent Caldwell family of Worcester County.

Footnotes

References

* [http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part2/2h38.html The Quock Walker Case: "Instructions To The Jury"]
* [http://www.masshist.org/endofslavery/?queryID=54 Massachusetts Historical Society "African Americans and the End of Slavery In Massachusetts: Quock Walker.]

External links

* [http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part2/2h38.html "Quock Walker Case: Africans in America" by PBS/WGBH]
* [http://www.masshist.org/endofslavery/ "Quork Walker Case: End of Slavery" by Massachusetts Historical Society]
* [http://www.mass.gov/courts/sjc/constitution-slavery-e.html "Quork Walker Case" by Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court]
* [http://people.ucsc.edu/~odonovan/elder_walker_lewis.html "The Mormon Priesthood Ban and Elder Q. Walker Lewis" by Connell O'Donovan. "John Whitmer Historical Association Journal" (Independence, Missouri, 2006), pp. 47-99]
* [http://library.uml.edu/clh/Prof/Pro.Html "Profiles in Courage: African Americans in Lowell" by Martha Mayo, Center for Lowell History, University of Massachusetts Lowell]

ee also

*Walker Lewis: Quock Walker's nephew