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Slavery

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The Violent Decade

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The Year of Jubilee (1863)

1842:  William Whipper Supports Garrison's Liberator By Subscribing

1842  Born a slave in Lancaster County, William Whipper (1804-1876) rose to prominence in Philadelphia's dynamic African American community and entered into a profitable business partnership with Columbia lumber merchant Stephen Smith--another ex-slave from Pennsylvania.  Whipper became active in the anti-slavery movement in the 1830's publishing an address in the Colored American newspaper with the title "An Address on Non-Resistance to Offensive Aggression."  The address advocated the use of passive resistance as a means to obtain results consistent with peaceful ideals.¹

In Columbia, Whipper and Smith welcomed freedom seekers crossing the bridge between Wrightsville, York County, and Columbia, Lancaster County.  They provided food, shelter and transportation to points further east, placing some fugitives in false-end boxcars for the trip to Philadelphia.  Whipper edited the newspaper, The National Reformer, a publication of the National Moral Reform Society.

While living in Columbia, Whipper subscribed to William Lloyd Garrison's anti-slavery newspaper, The Liberator. The page from Garrison's account book, below, shows that William Whipper paid $2.50 for a subscription, on 25 April 1842.

Notes:
1. The Liberator Cash Book, 1839-1846. p174. Boston Public Library, Digital version at Archive.Org: http://www.archive.org/details/accountbookoflib01mass

Covering the history of African Americans in central Pennsylvania from the colonial era through the Civil War.

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