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William Cooper Nell, Abolitionist, Author, Printer,  Underground Railroad Operative.

5/13/2016

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Picture
William Cooper Nell, 12/16/1816 – 5/25/1874.
 

William Nell, an educated lawyer was born in Boston as a free African American.  His former house at 3 Smith Court, Beacon Hill, Boston, (now a private residence), immediately across from the African American Museum and the segregated Abiel Smith School.

Nell was educated at the Abiel Smith School, at the corner of Joy and Smith Street, Boston, Massachusetts.  This school was the center of a lawsuit by the Roberts Family, William Nell and Robert Morris (this nation's second African American admitted to practice law), to end school desegregation.  Unfortunately, in 1850 the Massachusetts Supreme court decided that “separate but equal” was legal. Five years later the Massachusetts legislature enacted a desegregation order overriding the state supreme court decision.  Unfortunately, the legal precedent was set and numerous states adopted the concept.  In 1896 the Supreme Court supported a Louisiana law confirmed by Plessy vs Ferguson that "separate but equal" was the law of the land.  Nearly, ninety-eight years after William Nell, Robert Morris and Sarah Roberts challenged the segregation of Massachusetts schools, the Supreme Court, in Brown vs Board of Education finally ended “separate but equal” for the nation.
 
Nell experienced discrimination first hand particularly at the Smith school. He won of a financial award for academic performance under a Ben Franklin scholarship program. Every year the award was presented at Faneuil Hall.  He was excluded from the ceremony and  simply presented with Ben Franklin’s autobiography.
 
In 1830 Nell studied law.  He was refused entrance to the bar association because he would not swear allegiance to the Constitution of the United States.  He openly suggested that the Constitution granted legality to slavery.  For those of you that are not versed in the quiet manor used to compromise slavery into the Constitution, here is one clear confirmation.  Southern states were granted a 3/5th voting right for each of their slaves in deciding the proportion of the House of Representatives and the Electoral College.  By the break out of the Civil War, there were 3,911,061, slaves according to the 1860 United States Census.  This gave the South 2,346,636, additional votes.  This 3/5th grant loomed larger every year that slavery was legal.
 
Nell, began to write.  He assisted William Lloyd Garrison in printing the Liberator.  An abolitionist newspaper that routinely and secretly made its way to southern slaves.  The Liberator was found among the dead slaves of the Nat Turner uprising. Nell, assisted Frederick Douglass with his publication, the North Star, and was often completely responsible for its content if Douglass was traveling to speaking engagements.
 
By 1855, Nell had completed extensive research on the African American contribution to the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812.  Fellow abolitionist, Harriet Beecher Stowe and Wendell Phillips wrote the introduction to “The Colored Patriots of the American Revolution.”  [1] 
 
Nell tells an interesting story on page 31 regarding George Washington. To put this in context Washington had over one-hundred slaves during the War of Independence and 317 by the time he died.  Martha made him promise to free the slaves upon her death bed. It did not happen until Washington himself was on his death bed.  However, in 1776, George was visiting Colonel Pickering, a regimental commander overlooking the Dorchester Heights during the siege of Boston.  Time flew by and Washington decided to sleep that night with the regiment.  The Colonel’s aide decamp, a free African American, known as Primus Hall, [2] was ordered to prepare a place for Washington to sleep.  At this late hour there were no more blankets and no additional straw to provide the General of this fledgling Continental Army. Primus discreetly, gave up his blanket and straw for the General.  It wasn’t long before General Washington recognized the aides sacrifice.  That night George and Primus shared the one available blanket and straw bedding.
 
Nell, continued his abolitionist activity writing against the Dred Scott decision, slavery in Cuba and for equal education.    At the age of 58 Nell died of a stroke.  Surviving him was his wife Lucy B Ames and his two sons William Cooper Jr., and Frank Ames Nell. 
 
 
 
 


[1] The Colored Patriots of the American Revolution, the American Negro History and Literature.  The New York Times  Dewey Decimal 973.3 N32c; Library of Congress Card No.,  68-29013.
[2] Primus purchased the house immediately next to the present National Museum of  African American History that served temporarily as the school house for African Americans until it was replaced by the Abiel Smith School.

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  • Freedom Trail Tour
    • The Boston Massacre Tour
    • Boston Civil War Tour
    • The Kennedy Tour
    • The Boston Massacre Lesson Plan
    • Paul Revere's Neighborhood
    • Paul Revere's Row to Charlestown 4/18/1775
    • Virtual Tour of the Massachusetts State House
    • The Boston Massacre per the Pennsylvania Gazette
    • Paul Revere Lesson Plan
  • Revere Bells Index
    • The Stickney Revere Bell Listings of 1976
    • Paul Revere Bell of Beverly
    • Revere Bells in Boston >
      • Paul Revere Bell Old South Meeting House
    • California's 2 Paul Revere Bells
    • Paul Revere & Son's Bell Westborough Massachusetts
    • Falmouth, Massachusetts
    • Revere Bell Fredericksburg VA
    • Revere Bell Hampton NH
    • First Parish Church of Kennebunk
    • Revere Bells in Maine
    • Revere Bell in Mansfield
    • Revere Bell of Michigan
    • Revere Salem Mass Bell
    • Roxbury First Unitariarn Universalist Church and their Revere Bell
    • Revere & Son Bell, Savannah Georgia
    • Singapore Revere Bell
    • Tuscaloosa Bell >
      • History of the St John and Leavens Patriarchs
      • Samuel St John Jr Estate Genealogy
      • Authenticating the Revere Tuscaloosa Bell
      • Joshua B Leavens Last Will and Testament
      • 20th Century Tuscaloosa bell
    • Revere Bells Lost in Time
    • Revere Bells Washington DC
    • Revere Bell in Wakefield, Mass
    • Revere Bells Woodstock VT
  • Bostonians
    • Edward F Alexander of The Harvard 20th Civil War Regiment
    • Polly Baker
    • John Wilkes Booth
    • The Mad Hatter, Thomas, Boston Corbett who Killed John Wilkes Booth
    • Richard-Henry-Dana-Jr
    • James Franklin
    • Benjamin Harris of Publick Occurrences
    • Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
    • William Lloyd Garrison
    • USS Thomas Hudner DDG116
    • Edward Hutchinson Robbins Revere
    • Amos Lincoln
    • King Philip
    • Mayor's of Boston
    • Mum Bett & Theodore Sedgwick
    • James Otis
    • Paul Joseph Revere
    • John Rowe >
      • John Rowe's Diary Entries
      • John Rowe's Dinner Party
      • John Rowe and the Jail Fire
      • Hang John Rowe?????
      • John Rowe the Fisherman
      • Joh Rowe's Tea Ship
    • Be Proud to be Called a Lucy Stoner
    • Rachel Wall , Pirate
    • Paul Revere the Coroner of Boston
    • Deborah Sampson
    • Who was Mrs. Silence Dogood?
    • Dr. Joseph Warren's Dedication
  • History Blog
  • Lilja's of Natick
    • Lilja Brothers Military History
    • Lilja's Family Album
    • Memorials and Tributes to the Five Lilja Brothers
    • Lilja Family Tree
    • Lilja Historical Family Tree Documents
    • Lilja References
  • Collage of Boston
    • 4th of July Parade, Bristol RI
    • Boston Harbor
    • The Customs House
    • Forest Hills Cemetery
    • Georges Island
    • Nonviolent Monument to Peace - Sherborn
    • The Battle Road
    • Skate bike and scooter park
    • Cassin Young & USS Cassin Young
    • MIT
    • Historic Charles River
    • The Roxbury Standpipe on Fort Hill
    • John & Abigail Adams National Park