Black Study

Black Study: The Influence of David Walker’s Appeal

Mariame Kaba, 2026

Part of the Sojourners for Justice Press series via Haymarket Books

This zine situates study itself as an act of defiance, remembrance and freedom work by tracing the enduring legacy of David Walker’s An Appeal to the Coloured Citizens of the World (1829), a radical pamphlet calling for Black resistance, self-determination, and liberation.

Through archival photographs of Black people studying across generations — including images from Mariame Kaba’s personal newswire collection — Black Study meditates on the long lineage of intellectual and political struggle sparked by Walker’s words. Banned and denounced in its time, The Appeal nevertheless circulated widely, fueling abolitionist movements and shaping the philosophies of Black nationalism, civil rights, and direct action.