Vigilant Association of Philadelphia

File:Robert Purvis, Abolitionist.jpg in the 1840s]]

The Vigilant Association of Philadelphia was an abolitionist organization founded in August 1837 in Philadelphia to "create a fund to aid colored persons in distress".{{Cite book |last=Foner |first=Eric |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/1086231994 |title=Gateway to freedom : the hidden history of the underground railroad |date=2 February 2016 |isbn=978-0-393-35219-1 |pages= |publisher=National Geographic Books |language=En |oclc=1086231994}} The initial impetus came from Robert Purvis,{{Cite journal |last1=Boromé |first1=Joseph A. |last2=White |first2=Jacob C. |last3=Ayres |first3=Robert B. |last4=McKim |first4=J. M. |date=1968 |title=The Vigilant Committee of Philadelphia |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/20090197 |journal=The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography |volume=92 |issue=3 |pages=320–351 |jstor=20090197 |issn=0031-4587}} who had served on a previous Committee of Twelve{{clarify|date=January 2023}} in 1834, and his father-in-law, businessman James Forten.{{sfn|Boromé|1968}}{{sfn|Tomek|2015}}

Up and running by 1838, the committee had begun to break down in 1852. William Still was an important conductor along the railroad and a founder of the vigilance committee in Philadelphia.{{Cite journal |last=Gara |first=Larry |date=1961 |title=William Still and the Underground Railroad |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/27770004 |journal=Pennsylvania History: A Journal of Mid-Atlantic Studies |volume=28 |issue=1 |pages=33–44 |jstor=27770004 |issn=0031-4528}}

History

Its executive was the Vigilant Committee of Philadelphia and its first president was a black dentist, James McCrummell. Other abolitionists who helped included John Greenleaf Whittier, who helped form the committee and promoted the association in his newspaper Pennsylvania Freeman.{{sfn|Boromé|1968}}{{sfn|Tomek|2015}}

There were five members of the acting committee for the Vigilant Association of Philadelphia, which included Nathaniel W. Depee, William Still, Jacob C. White, Passmore Williamson, and Charles Wise.{{Cite book |last=Sanders |first=Nancy I. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OqkuXWDrzSEC |title=Frederick Douglass for Kids: His Life and Times, with 21 Activities |date=2012-06-01 |publisher=Chicago Review Press |isbn=978-1-61374-357-7 |pages=54 |language=en}}{{Cite book |last=Switala |first=William J. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZebVPh0mMW0C |title=Underground Railroad in Pennsylvania |date=2008-08-21 |publisher=Stackpole Books |isbn=978-0-8117-4912-1 |language=en}}{{Cite journal |last=Still |first=William |date=2022-02-15 |title=Organization of the Vigilance Committee |url=https://pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca/theundergroundrailroad/chapter/organization-of-the-vigilance-committee/ |website=Toronto Metropolitan University Pressbooks |language=en-ca |via=}}

In June 1842, future writer Harriet Jacobs was among the fugitive slaves who were aided by the Association.Jean Fagan Yellin: Harriet Jacobs. A Life. New York 2004, p. 66.

References

=Citations=

=Sources=

{{citation |last1=Boromé |year=1968 |first1=Joseph |title=The Vigilant Committee of Philadelphia |journal=Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography |volume=92 |number=3 |pages=320–351 |jstor=20090197 |publisher=Historical Society of Pennsylvania}}
{{citation |url=http://philadelphiaencyclopedia.org/archive/vigilance-committees/ |first=Beverly C. |last=Tomek |encyclopedia=The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia |title=Vigilance Committees |publisher=Rutgers University |year=2015}}

External links

[http://www2.hsp.org/collections/manuscripts/v/vigilant1121.htm Historical records of Philadelphia Vigilant Association] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160831141938/http://www2.hsp.org/collections/manuscripts/v/vigilant1121.htm |date=2016-08-31 }} held at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania

Category:African-American history in Philadelphia

Category:American abolitionist organizations

Category:Organizations based in Philadelphia

Category:Underground Railroad in Pennsylvania

Category:19th century in Philadelphia