page_title: William Whipper
section_title: Business career
hierarchical_section_title: William Whipper / Business career
caption_attribution_description: Portrait of William Whipper (1804–1876)
context_page_description: William Whipper was an African-American abolitionist. Whipper was a successful businessman who played a key role in the antislavery movement as a reformer. He advocated nonviolence and co-founded the American Moral Reform Society, an early African-American abolitionist organization. William Whipper epitomized the unique prosperity that Northern Blacks were able to attain in the mid-19th century.
context_section_description: In 1835 Whipper relocated to Columbia, Pennsylvania, with fellow black entrepreneur Stephen Smith. The pair created one of the state's premier lumberyards and accrued substantial wealth demonstrating the benefits of northern freedom. Whipper used his newfound wealth to further his personal fight for moral reform and abolition. He utilized his assets to the benefit of the antislavery movement by helping runaway slaves escape to the north. He was also involved in the Philomathean Institute of Philadelphia, a literary organization which included Frederick Douglass, Charles Burleigh Purvis, Mifflin Wistar Gibbs, and Izaiah Weir. His sister Mary Ann married James Hollensworth and settled in Dresden, Ontario, Canada, a final destination on the Underground Railroad. Mary Ann and James were the overseers of William Whipper's investments in Dresden. William Whipper operated a major Underground Railroad station and provided shelter for slaves primarily from Virginia and Maryland, moving them in part in the railroad cars he owned.
caption: Portrait of William Whipper
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