Rev. Stephen Smith (1797–1873) was an African American businessman, philanthropist, preacher, real estate developer, and abolitionist. He had lived in Pennsylvania in the 19th-century and contributed large amounts of his wealth in the effort to abolish slavery. Smith had been an agent of the

Underground Railroad The Underground Railroad was an organized network of secret routes and safe houses used by freedom seekers to escape to the abolitionist Northern United States and Eastern Canada. Enslaved Africans and African Americans escaped from slavery ...

in Philadelphia. He co-founded and owned "Smith, Whipper & Co." a lumber business in Columbia, Pennsylvania; and later helped found the "Stephen Smith Home for the Aged".

Early life

Stephen Smith was born in 1797 in

Dauphin County Dauphin County (; Pennsylvania Dutch: Daffin Kaundi) is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 286,401. The county seat is Harrisburg, Pennsylvania's state capital and ninth-most populous city. ...

, Pennsylvania to an enslaved black woman named Nancy Smith. At the age of 5, he became the indentured servant to the Pennsylvanian politician, Thomas Boude. At the age of 21, Smith had gathered enough money to purchase his freedom. In 1818, Smith purchased his freedom for US $50 (~$ in ).

Business career

Men of Color Civil War Recruitment Broadside 1863

After purchasing his freedom Smith had big plans ahead of him and in the same year of 1816 Smith opened up his own lumber business in Columbia, Pennsylvania. Smith would be very successful in the lumber business and looked for partners to grow his business even bigger. In the early 1830s Smith formed a partnership with

William Whipper William Whipper (February 22, 1804 – March 9, 1876) was a businessman and abolitionist in the United States. Whipper, an African American, advocated nonviolence and co-founded the American Moral Reform Society, an early African-American aboli ...

. Smith and Whipper would go and have huge success in the Lumber, coal, Philadelphia real estate, railroad cars, and investments in the stock market. Smith would make a big fortune with all that money Smith put it to good use and became a true leader of the black community in their efforts to fight slavery. Smith was one of the wealthiest 19th-century black Philadelphians, holding this title alongside

Frederick Douglass Frederick Douglass (born Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, February 14, 1818 – February 20, 1895) was an American social reformer, Abolitionism in the United States, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman. He was the most impor ...

James Forten James Forten (September 2, 1766March 4, 1842) was an American Abolitionism in the United States, abolitionist and businessman in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. A free-born African American, he became a sailmaker after the American Revolutionary War. ...

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, Rev.

Richard Allen Richard, Rick, or Dick Allen may refer to: Artists *Dick Allen (poet) (1939–2017), American poet, literary critic and academic *Richard Allen (abstract artist) (1933–1999), British painter *James Moffat (author) (1922–1993), Canadian-Britis ...

, Rev.

Peter Williams Jr. Peter Williams Jr. (1786–1840) was an African-American Episcopal priest, the second ordained in the United States and the first to serve in New York City. He was an abolitionist who also supported free black emigration to Haiti, the black repu ...

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, and Joseph Cassey.

Abolitionist and philanthropist

In 1830 Smith was a chairman of the African American Abolitionist Organization in the town of Colombia, Pennsylvania. Smith attended national

colored conventions ''Colored'' (or ''coloured'') is a racial descriptor historically used in the United States during the Jim Crow era to refer to an African Americans, African American. In many places, it may be considered a Pejorative, slur. Dictionary definit ...

of the free black people held in

New York State New York, also called New York State, is a state in the northeastern United States. Bordered by New England to the east, Canada to the north, and Pennsylvania and New Jersey to the south, its territory extends into both the Atlantic Ocean and ...

in 1834 and in Philadelphia in 1835. Word go out of Smith's success and many people grew jealous and felt the need to send Smith a message. In 1835 a group of unknown people vandalized the office of Smith and destroyed all his papers and records. This incident motivated Smith to abolish slavery more and more in the area. Smith would acquire a small hall in the area where African Americans would hold meetings. Smith would also help the local

that would run through Maryland and provide help all the way to Canada. After the

Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 The Fugitive Slave Act or Fugitive Slave Law was a law passed by the 31st United States Congress on September 18, 1850, as part of the Compromise of 1850 between Southern interests in slavery and Northern Free-Soilers. The Act was one ...

Whipper and Smith persuaded 15,000 African Americans to make their way to a new start in Canada. In 1864, Smith worked with the white

Quakers Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestantism, Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally ...

in establishing the House for Aged and Infirm Colored Persons, which was later renamed the Stephen Smith Home for the Aged. Smith eventually died in 1873 of unknown reason.

References

External links

Colored Conventions
{{Authority control 1797 births 1873 deaths African-American abolitionists American abolitionists African-American businesspeople Colored Conventions people Underground Railroad people African-American Methodist clergy 19th-century African-American clergy African-American upper class

Early life

Business career

Abolitionist and philanthropist

See also

References

External links