William whipper and the underground railroad

African-American businessman and abolitionist (1804-1876)

For his nephew, the African American abolitionist, lawyer, judge, and legislator, see William James Whipper.

William Whipper (February 22, 1804 – March 9, 1876) was a businessman and abolitionist in the United States. Whipper, an African American, advocated nonviolence and co-founded the American Moral Reform Society, an early African-American abolitionist organization. He helped found one of the first black literary societies in the U.S known as the Reading Room Society whose constitution stated that its aim was the "mental improvement of the people of color in the neighborhood of Philadelphia."^[1] William Whipper epitomized the prosperity that Northern Blacks were able to attain in the mid-19th century.^{[citation needed]}

Early life

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 J

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