William Still

Still, William (1821–1902), abolitionist and historian. Born of free black parents in New Jersey, William Still grew up on a farm, with little opportunity for formal schooling. He moved to Philadelphia in 1844, married in 1847, and in the same year went to work for the Pennsylvania Society for the Abolition of Slavery. In 1851 he became chairman of the society. Later in the decade he campaigned to end racial discrimination on Philadelphia railroad cars. Until the end of the Civil War, Still was involved in aiding fugitives from slavery, an activity that allowed him to meet and interview hundreds of runaways. The records he kept of these interviews along with numerous other documents, such as biographical sketches of prominent activists and letters from abolitionists and escaped slaves, became the source material for his book, The Underground Railroad. Commissioned by the Pennsylvania Society for the Abolition of Slavery, this bulky volume was not published until 1872 because of Still's anxiety about reprisals that might await him because of his work on the Underground Railroad. The book was sold through subscription. Well received, it was reprinted in 1879 and 1883.

The Underground Railroad paid tribute to the generous efforts of white abolitionists on the “liberty line” but also stressed the courage and self-determination of the fugitives themselves in their quest for freedom. Still's motive in writing his book was to encourage other African Americans to write of the heroic deeds of the race during the crisis years of the mid-nineteenth century and, in general, to promote African American literature.

Bibliography

• William Still, The Underground Railroad, 1872; rpt. 1968

—Kenneth W. Goings

William Still (1821-1902), African American abolitionist, philanthropist, and business person, became an important strategist for the Underground Rail road and wrote an account of the hundreds of slaves he aided in their flight to freedom.

William Still was born free on Oct. 7, 1821, in Shamong, Burlington County, N.J. He was the youngest of 18 children born to parents who had been slaves. His father had purchased freedom. His mother had escaped slavery with two of her four children. His parents settled on a 40-acre plot near Medford, N.J.

At the age of 23 and self-taught, Still went to Philadelphia, where he held a number of jobs before joining the staff of the Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery, as janitor and mail clerk. During the 14 years he spent with the society, his responsibilities grew, and he took a special interest in assisting runaway slaves, often boarding them in his home.

In 1852 Still was named chairman of a committee of four acting for the Vigilance Committee of Philadelphia. The committee offered financial assistance to escaping slaves, and Still was especially effective in finding board and lodging for them among the black population of Philadelphia.

Still recorded the information he got from interviewing slaves so that he could reunite friends and relatives. During one interview, he discovered that the slave he was trying to help was his own brother, left behind when their mother escaped 40 years before. His careful records later became the documentation for his famous book, The Underground Railroad (1872).

When abolitionist John Brown raided Harpers Ferry, Va., in 1859, Still sheltered some of Brown's men who were able to escape the law, as well as some members of Brown's family. Still was constantly in danger of prosecution, and had his detailed records been discovered, they probably would have sent him and other members of the Vigilance Committee to prison. Charges were brought against him several times, but only once was he unable to clear himself, and this was in a civil suit brought by a former slave whose motives and character Still had challenged.

In 1855 Still visited Canada to see how the refugees from slavery who had settled there were faring. He was impressed by their determination and published an account of their achievement. He was also active in civil rights efforts for blacks in the North, especially in Philadelphia. He helped organize and finance a society to collect information on black life, was responsible for the establishment of an orphanage for children of black soldiers and sailors, and organized a Young Men's Christian Association for blacks. Still's book, The Underground Railroad, differs from most accounts of the time in emphasizing the bravery and ingenuity of the escaping slaves rather than the heroism of the railroad's white conductors.

Further Reading

Sources for biographical information on Still are Wilhelmina S. Robinson, Historical Negro Biographies (1967); William J. Simmons, Men of Mark (1969); and August Meier and Elliot Rudwick, eds., The Making of Black America (2 vols., 1969).