William Whipper
| William Whipper | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
February 22, 1804 Drumore Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania |
| Died | March 9, 1876 (aged 72) |
William Whipper (February 22, 1804 – March 9, 1876) was an African-American abolitionist. Whipper was a successful businessman who played a key role in the antislavery movement as a reformer. He advocated nonviolence and co-founded the American Moral Reform Society, an early African-American abolitionist organization. William Whipper epitomized the unique prosperity that Northern Blacks were able to attain in the mid-19th century.
Born February 22, 1804, in Drumore Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, to an enslaved African-American house servant and her white owner. William had siblings, Alfred, Benjamin, Hannah wife of Stephen Purnell and Mary Ann wife of James Burns Hollensworth.
After moving to Philadelphia in the 1820s, he began focusing his energies on his business pursuits. In 1834 he opened a free labor and temperance grocery store. His support of the temperance movement was motivated by liquor's destructive effect on Africa and the belief that alcohol consumption was a contributing factor for Africans selling their own people into slavery. In conjunction with his support for the temperance movement, Whipper began actively participating in the antislavery movement as well.
In 1835 Whipper relocated to Columbia, Pennsylvania, with fellow black entrepreneur Stephen Smith. The pair created one of the state’s premier lumberyards and accrued substantial wealth demonstrating the benefits of northern freedom. Whipper used his newfound wealth to further his personal fight for moral reform and abolition. He utilized his assets to the benefit of the antislavery movement by helping runaway slaves escape to the north. He was also involved in the Philomatheon Institute of Philadelphia, a literary organization which included Frederick Douglass, Charles Burleigh Purvis, Mifflin Wistar Gibbs, and Izaiah Weir.His sister Mary Ann married James Hollensworth and settled in Dresden, Ontario, Canada, a final destination on the Underground Railroad. Mary Ann and James were the overseers of William Whipper's investments in Dresden. William Whipper operated a major Underground Railroad station and provided shelter for slaves primarily from Virginia and Maryland, moving them in part in the railroad cars he owned.
...
Wikipedia