David Walker, a prosperous clothing shop owner, who was a well-known, outspoken member of the General Colored Association, also influenced Stewart. (A house at 81 Joy Street where from 1827 till 1829 Walker and his wife were tenants subsequently also became home to Stewart.) A leader within Boston's African-American enclave, Walker wrote a very controversial piece on race relations entitled "David Walker's Appeal to the Coloured Citizens of the World" (1829). In 1830, he was found dead outside of his shop, just one year after Stewart's husband had died. These events precipitated a "born again" spiritual experience for Stewart. She became a vocal and militant advocate for "Africa, freedom and God's cause". However, she was far less militant than Walker, and resisted advocating violence. Instead, Stewart put forth African-American exceptionalism, the special bond she saw between God and African Americans, and advocated social and moral advancement, even as she vocally protested against social conditions African Americans experienced, and touched on several political issues.