Enslaved American who filed a Freedom suit in Massachusetts in 1781
Quock Walker
Born
1753
Massachusetts
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
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.
QuockWalker, 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...
Quock may refer to: QuockWalker (1753-?), African American slave who sued for and won his freedom Audrey Quock (born 1977), Asian American model and...
in Montgomery County. Massachusetts Emancipation Day, also known as QuockWalker Day, was established by the state legislature in 2022 and first legally...
Lewis and Minor Walker Lewis. His full name was Kwaku Walker Lewis, named after his maternal uncle, QuockWalker also known as Kwaku Walker. (Kwaku means...
During the years 1781 to 1783, in three related cases known today as "the QuockWalker case," the Supreme Judicial Court applied the principle of judicial review...
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court appellate review of QuockWalker's freedom suit. When the court upheld Walker's freedom under the state's constitution, the ruling...
state. In this sense, the Walker case is seen as a United States counterpart to the Somerset Case. In the case of QuockWalker, Massachusetts' Chief Justice...
ISBN 9780313292262 The Massachusetts Constitution, Judicial Review and Slavery – The QuockWalker Case Archived 2009-12-04 at the Wayback Machine, Massachusetts Judicial...
Massachusetts, Grand Master 1831–1832, son-in-law of Barzillai Lew. He and David Walker oversaw the publication of John T. Hilton's An Address, Delivered Before...
the state. In 1783, Cushing presided over a series of cases involving QuockWalker, a slave who filed a freedom suit based on the language of the new state...
Supreme Court decision Freedom suits of 1781 (See Elizabeth Freeman - QuockWalker) Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 (See: Anthony Burns - Shadrach Minkins -...
Massachusetts Constitution in 1780 (which, in the Elizabeth Freeman and QuockWalker cases, effectively made Massachusetts the first state to have a constitution...
Supreme Court decision Freedom suits of 1781 (See Elizabeth Freeman - QuockWalker) Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 (See: Anthony Burns - Shadrach Minkins -...
Constitution of Massachusetts, which effectively (the Elizabeth Freeman and QuockWalker cases as interpreted by William Cushing) made Massachusetts the first...
investigator and anti-torture advocate Lucy Stone − suffragist and abolitionist QuockWalker − slave in Worcester County; won freedom on basis of state constitution...
freedom. A few years later, QuockWalker, a black slave, sued his master for false imprisonment; the jury found for Walker and awarded him damages of £50...
slavery was successfully challenged in court in 1783 in a freedom suit by QuockWalker; he said that slavery was in contradiction to the state's new constitution...
Surinam. His name is given to the plant genus Quassia. QuockWalker, also known as Kwaku or Quok Walker, sued for and won his freedom in 1781 in a case citing...
effectively ended in Massachusetts with this ruling in a freedom suit by QuockWalker. This led to an increase in enslaved men and women suing for their freedom...
after the Revolutionary War, rulings in freedom suits by Mum Bett and QuockWalker established that its representation of rights was incompatible with slavery...
Supreme Court decision Freedom suits of 1781 (See Elizabeth Freeman - QuockWalker) Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 (See: Anthony Burns - Shadrach Minkins -...
Court and the Abolition of Slavery in Massachusetts: More Notes on the 'QuockWalker Case'". The American Journal of Legal History. 5 (2): 118–144. doi:10...
It is often stated that Benjamin granted Prince his freedom, but the QuockWalker case effectively outlawed the practice when Prince returned from the...
Global Information