Vigilant Association of Philadelphia
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![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1d/Robert_Purvis%2C_Abolitionist.jpg/300px-Robert_Purvis%2C_Abolitionist.jpg)
Founder Robert Purvis in the 1840s
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d4/James_Forten.jpg/220px-James_Forten.jpg)
Co-founder James Forten
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". The initial impetus came from Robert Purvis, who had served on a previous Committee of Twelve in 1834, and his father-in-law, businessman James Forten.[1][2]
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.[1][2]
In June 1842, future writer Harriet Jacobs was among the fugitive slaves who were aided by the Association.[3]
References
Citations
- ^ a b Boromé 1968.
- ^ a b Tomek 2015.
- ^ Jean Fagan Yellin: Harriet Jacobs. A Life. New York 2004, p. 66.
Sources
- Boromé, Joseph (1968), "The Vigilant Committee of Philadelphia", Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, 92 (3): 320–351, JSTOR 20090197
- Tomek, Beverly C. (2015), "Vigilance Committees", The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia, Rutgers University
External links
- Historical records of Philadelphia Vigilant Association held at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania