Isaac Tatem Hopper

Isaac Tatem Hopper
Nationality	American
Occupation	Philanthropist, Children's Village co-founder

Isaac Tatem Hopper (born Deptford, New Jersey, December 3, 1771, died New York City, May 7, 1852) was an American abolitionist who was active in Philadelphia in the anti-slavery movement and protecting fugitive slaves and free blacks from slave kidnappers. He was also co-founder of Children's Village with 23 others.

He moved to New York City in 1829 to run a Quaker bookstore. From 1841-1845 he served as treasurer and book agent for the American Anti-Slavery Society. In 1845 he became active in prison reform and devoted the rest of his life to the Prison Association of New York.

Isaac Tatem Hopper was born into a Quaker family in Deptford, New Jersey in 1771.

He became a Hicksite Quaker – a follower of Elias Hicks – although he lived in Philadelphia, while many Hicksites lived in rural areas.

Following the American Revolutionary War, Pennsylvania had abolished slavery before the end of the eighteenth century. The state, and especially the major port city of Philadelphia, became a destination and byway for fugitive slaves escaping the South. In the years before the American Civil War, Philadelphia was frequented by slave kidnappers, who often would capture free black children to sell into slavery, as well as hunt fugitive slaves to return to their owners for reward.

Hopper became an active and leading member of the Pennsylvania Abolition Society, whose members frequently worked to protect the rights of African Americans, as well as to seek the end of slavery in the United States. In time, Hopper became known in Philadelphia as a friend and adviser to blacks in all emergencies.

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