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William Still

Name: William Still

Birthplace: NJ

Status: Born free

Occupation/Training: Businessman

Residence: NJ, PA



Abolitionist Involvement: Born free in New Jersey, Still understood the problems related to fugitive slaves because he was the son of former runaways. His father had escaped from Maryland, and had worked hard to purchase his freedom after being recaptured. His mother had also escaped with some of the children, and had changed the family name from Steel to Still.

At the age of 23, Still left his home in New Jersey and moved to Philadelphia. He taught himself to read and eventually opened a stove business, which he maintained for about seven years. He then became a prosperous coal and lumberyard operator.

He worked actively in several abolitionist organizations, and became a dominant force in them. In 1851, he was elected chairman of the Pennsylvania Abolition Society. By 1852, he was also elected executive secretary and chairman of the Acting Committee of the General Vigilance Committee in Philadelphia. A member of his Vigilance Committee aided in the initial decision making just prior to the Christiana riot in that Pennsylvania town, by alerting Blacks there to the fact that warrants had been issued in Philadelphia for the fugitives in Christiana. By 1858, Still was the Philadelphia-based agent of 'The Provincial Freeman,' an abolitionist newspaper. He was closely involved in the work of Frederick Douglass, John Brown, William Lloyd Garrison, Lucretia Mott and J. Miller McKim.

He is best known for his work on the Underground Railroad. It has been estimated that of every twenty fugitives who passed through Philadelphia, Still probably aided nineteen of them. It is a fact that he personally assisted several of the more famous escapees: William and Ellen Craft, Harriet Tubman, Henry "Box" Brown and William Parker. In 1850, while acting as a stationmaster for the Underground Railroad, Still met a biological brother he had never known, who was traveling under the name Peter Freeman. Peter, a former slave, was attempting to locate his parents. Upon hearing Peter's story, Still realized that they were siblings. This dramatic incident was described in an article in the newspaper 'The Bugle,' and helped to publicize the abolitionist cause. In 1872, he published the records he had kept of 649 fugitives, entitled 'The Underground Railroad.'

Still also performed acts of social service. He assisted in the founding of the first African American YMCA, and earlier had opened an orphanage for the children of Black sailors and soldiers.

Although his home in Philadelphia was demolished in 1992, a marker placed by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission commemorates the location at 224 South 12th Street.

Family: Parents: Levin and Sidney Steel (aka Charity Still); brother: Peter and fifteen other brothers and sisters

Place of Death: PA, 1902

Publications: The Underground Railroad

References:Black Abolitionists, by Benjamin Quarles; There is a River, by Vincent Harding; Hippocrene Guide to the Underground Railroad, by Charles Blockson.



Link: Webpage at http://tqd.advanced.org/3337/still.html

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