"William Howard Day"{October 19,1825-December 3,1900}

From New York City his mama,Eliza was a founding member of the first AME Zion Church and an abolitionist.His daddy,John was a sail maker who fought in the war of 1812 and in Algiers,in 1815,and died when William was four.William made an impression as a child,on a white in manufacturer who was an advocate of abolitionist
and temperance movement.He asked Mrs Day to give him custody of William.
This white family known as the Williston's of Northhampton,Massachusetts raised him.He matriculated at Oberlin College.After graduation he spent the rest of his life campaigning for the rights of African Americans.
He became the secretary of the National Negro Convention in September of 1948.William was a committee member member along with Frederick Douglass and others who generated the "address to the Colored People of America."In 1858,the black citizens of Canada and the United States elected William president of the National Board of Commissioners of the Colored People.He traveled to the United Kingdom in 1859,preaching at a large congregational church in Lincolnshire England and worked with the Young Men's Christian Association.While in England,and and several colleagues formed the African Aid Society.
William returned to the U.S. after the Civil War and worked for the Freedmen's Bureau.William became an inspector of Schools in Maryland and Delaware before being ordained a minister of the African Methodist Episcopal church in 1867.
In 1878 William was elected school director in Harrisburgh,Pennsylvania.He was the first colored school board member and president.He won reelection in 1881,retaining his position on the better board until 1884.He did not seek reelection in 1884,the public appealed for his return in 1887,and he was easily elected to another three years as Harrisburg School Board president.In 1879,during his tenure,William opened Livingstone College with J.C.Price,William H.Goler,and Solomon Porter Hood.Established in Sailsbury,North Carolina,for colored students this institution remains a predominantly African American college.William died in Harrisburg.
William Day Cemetery was established in nearby Steelton in the 1900s as a burial place,for all people,including people of color who were denied burial at the nearby Baldwin Cemetery.It remains a popular burial site for local African American families.