Quock Walker

The case is credited with helping abolish slavery in Massachusetts, although the 1780 constitution was never amended to prohibit the practice explicitly.

Quock Walker was born in Massachusetts in 1753 to enslaved parents Mingo and Dinah, who were believed to be Akan people.

[4] This timeframe falls within the American Revolutionary War period, when language about the equality of people was in the air and shortly after the Massachusetts State Constitution had gone into effect in 1780.

However, in 1780, the updated version of the Massachusetts State Constitution, written primarily by John Adams with the help of several committees (who determined its contents), declared "all men are born free and equal.

"[7] 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."

In 1781, Walker ran away and found work at a nearby farm belonging to Seth and John Caldwell, brothers of his former enslaver.

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.

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 ...[10]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.

The decisions in the Elizabeth Freeman and Quock Walker trials had removed slavery's legal support, and it was said to end by erosion.

[12] 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.