William Still and His Freedom Stories

This story is about William Still, a documenter of the underground railroad. William Still was the freeborn son of formerly enslaved parents. As a child, William aided a fugitive slave, and the experience shaped his worldview on slavery. As William grew older, he worked odd jobs to support himself and eventually accepted a job at The Pennsylvania Anti- Slavery Society. In his role as office manager, William began documenting the personal stories of every person he encountered. This documentation provided proof of the Underground Railroad, a network of people who aided those who ran away from the institution of slavery. Some of his documented stories included the famous escapes of Henry “Box” Brown, Harriet Tubman, and married couple William and Ellen Craft. After the abolition of slavery, Still would use the documents to write a book chronicling the work of people in the Underground Railroad network. William Still is known as the “Father of the Underground Railroad” for his contributions to its survival.