"William-Whipper {February 22,1804-1876}

Was an African American abolitionist and businessman.He devoted nonviolence and co-founded

the American Moral Reform Society,an early African American abolitionist organization.Born in Lancaster Pennsylvania,to an African American servant and her white employer,William  Whipper epitomized the unique prosperity that Northern African Americans were able to attain in the mid 19th century.William had three siblings Alfred,Benjamin,and Mary Ann,William  was a successful businessman and played a key role in the antislavery movement as reformer.After moving to Philadelphia in the 1820s,he began focusing his energies on his business pursuits.In 1834 he opened a free labor and temperance grocery store.William support of the temperance movement motivated by liquors destructive effect on Africa and the belief  that alcohol consumption was a contributing factors for Africans selling their own people into slavery.In conjunction with his support for the temperance movement,William began actively in the antislavery movement as well.In 1835 William relocated to Columbia,Pennsylvania,with fellow African American entrepreneur Stephen Smith.The pair created, one of the state's premier lumberyards and accrued substantial wealth demonstrating the benefits of northern freedom.William used his newfound wealth to further his personal fight for moral reform and abolition.He utilized assets to the benefits of the antislavery movement by helping runway slaves escape to the north.His sister Mary Ann married James Hollensworth and settled in Dresden,Ontario,Canada,a final destination on the Underground Railroad.Mary Ann & James were the overseers of William's investments in Dresden.William operated a major Underground Railroad station and provided shelter primarily from Virginia & Maryland,moving them in part in the railroad cars he owned.His ideology regarding antislavery was unique and complex.One of his main tenets rested in moral reform.Moral reform refers to the idea that the abolitionist movement"served as a check on the evil disposition of African Americans and inculcated moral principles "The American Moral Reform Society 1836-1841."William believed that white prejudice against African Americans stemmed from the condition in which African found themselves,not just the color of their skin.In order to overcome their condition,he stipulated that "blacks had to improve their mental,economic,and moral situations.By making such improvements,blacks would seemingly conform to white standards of living,making social acceptance more attainable.Another key component of his ideology was rooted in the idea of nonviolence and rational persuasion.At the age of 24,William published his famous essay "An address on Non-Resistance to Offensive Aggression."This address suggested that nonviolent means of moral righteousness were necessary  to encourage a peaceful political movement toward change.This address has been considered a precursor to what would become some of the same nonviolent strategies followed during later civil rights movement.William demonstrated his dedication of moral reform via the creation of the American Moral Society.In 1835,he attended the annual convention of the Improvement of Free People of Color.He urged delegates to dopt a resolution,which ended the usage of the word "colored.Because of his persistence,the delegates decided to organize a society that would have no racial boundaries.The convention gave birth to the American Moral Reform Society,and gave William credit as a founding father.The American Moral reform Society attempted to promote general aims such as educating African Americans,establishing an African American press,and printing histories of African Americans.William married the sister of Stephen Smith,Harriet Smith of Columbia Pennsylvania,he raised his nephew,James Whipper Purnell,as his son.He taught him the lumber business as well as the inner workings of the Underground Railroad. He later became a lumber merchant in Chatham and was also secretary to Martin Delany while he was planning his back-to-Africa expedition.James W.Purnell was also a member of the John Brown convention held in Chatham.James married the cousin of Mary Ann Shadd Cary and the niece of Abraham Dorcas Shadd,Julia A.Shadd,daughter of Absalom and Eliza Shadd in 1864.James & Julia's son,Dr.William Whipper Purnell,was a practicing physical in Washington,D.C. and was a good friend of Dr. Daniel Hale Wiliams who peformed the first open heart surgery in the U.S..William Whipper Purnell married the granddaughter of John Jones,the leading abolitionist from Chicago,Theodora Lee Purnell.They had one son Lee Julian Purnell,who was one of the first African Americans to graduate from MIT in Electrical Engineering .He later had a successful engineering practice in Washington,DC and was the dean for the engineering department at Howard University for 20 years.