{"id":290,"date":"2015-01-22T00:49:44","date_gmt":"2015-01-22T00:49:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-288pinsker\/?p=290"},"modified":"2021-09-18T18:50:55","modified_gmt":"2021-09-18T18:50:55","slug":"william-still","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-288pinsker\/2015\/01\/22\/william-still\/","title":{"rendered":"William Still"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"New<\/a>

New York Times, July 15, 1902<\/p><\/div>\n

Who was abolitionist William Still and what did the New York Times<\/em> say about him in his obituary? \u00a0It turns out that Still was a leader in the fight against slavery. \u00a0The Times\u00a0<\/i>coverage of his death, from July 15, 1902, actually called him the “Father of the Underground Railroad.” \u00a0Yet today he is almost totally obscure. \u00a0Students seeking out information about Still can pretty easily\u00a0discover information about his life with any typical Google search, but actually obtaining an image of the obituary itself would normally require using a subscription database, either direct from the\u00a0New York Times\u00a0<\/em>or from a service such as ProQuest Historical Newspapers (available via\u00a0the Dickinson College Library databases<\/a>). \u00a0However, the House Divided Project has posted a transcript of the obituary<\/a>\u00a0for anyone to see.<\/p>\n

Still was important for many reasons, but foremost among them was his collection of records from the Philadelphia Vigilance Committee. \u00a0Nobody in the history of the Underground Railroad preserved more documents and better information about the operations of the fugitive aid network than William Still. \u00a0That’s why some people in his lifetime considered him the “Father of the Underground Railroad.” \u00a0Here are some digital links to his incredible documentary legacy:<\/p>\n