7/30/2019 William Still
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William Still: From Slave to ConductorBy James Oliver Horton
One of the most effective organizers of a formal segment of the
Underground Railroad was a free AfricanAmerican named William
Still. His father, Levin Still, had purchased his own freedom. His
mother, Sidney,and his two brothers and two sisters, remained
enslaved in Maryland, however. Sidney and the children
managed to escape once but were captured and returned to
Maryland.
Aware that all five could not escape together again, Sidney made
one of the most difficult decisions anymother could make. In 1807,
leaving the two older boys behind with their grandmother (who was
also aslave), Sidney struck out for freedom again. This time, she
took only the two younger girls. Theysucceeded, and she was
reunited with her husband. To conceal their identities, they
changed Sidney'sname to Charity and the family name to Still.
Fourteen years later, William Still was born free in NewJersey.
At age 23, Still moved to Philadelphia, where he worked as a
mail clerk and a janitor for the PennsylvaniaAnti-Slavery Society.
He educated himself, became a businessman, and eventually was
appointed headof the General Vigilance Committee of Philadelphia, a
group dedicated to defending and assisting fugitiveslaves seeking
refuge in the city.
Over the next few years, Still and his associates worked to
organize an extensive network of safe housesand conductors that
soon became the foundation of one of the most effective Underground
Railroadsystems in the country. The group raised money to help
fugitives and kept an eye on the movements ofslave catchers
throughout Pennsylvania. Still's work became quite personal when he
was introduced to amiddle-aged man from Alabama in search of
information.
In a letter written on August 8, 1850, from his office in
Philadelphia, William Still described an amazingencounter with a
man who called himself Peter Freedman. Freedman sought information
about his family,who had come north some years before. As his story
unfolded, Still recognized much of the detail. "Myfeelings were
unutterable," he said. "I could see in the face of my newfound
brother, the likeness of mymother." Peter Freedman was Still's
brother. He had been left in slavery when his mother escaped.
Thebrothers had never met.
"I told him I could tell him all about his kinfolk," Still
recalled. The next day, Peter was reunited with hisfamily. Their
father was dead by this time, but Freedman met five brothers and
three sisters whom he hadnever known. "I shall not attempt to
describe the feelings of my mother and the family on learning the
factthat Peter was one of us," Still wrote.
The family's struggle was not over, however. When Freedman left
Alabama, he had left behind a wife andchildren whom he was
determined to free.
Members of the Underground Railroad secured their escape to
Indiana, but they were recaptured andreturned to slavery. When
Freedman attempted to purchase their freedom, their master demanded
theseemingly impossible sum of $5,000. With the help of Still's
abolitionist friends, he began a lecture tour,
telling the story of his enslaved family to raise money for
their freedom. It took four years of fundraising. InOctober 1854,
he accomplished his goal. Once free, Peter Still (the name he now
used) and his familysettled on a 10-acre farm in Burlington, New
Jersey, where they lived until Peter died of pneumonia in1868.
William Still continued his Underground Railroad activities and
worked for civil rights in Philadelphiathroughout the Civil War.
During and after the war, he raised funds to assist former slaves
who hadgained their freedom in the South. He also served on
Philadelphia's board of trade and helped establish aYoung Men's
Christian Association (YMCA) for the city's African Americans. In
his work, Still met
