Thomas Shipley: The Most Famous Abolitionist You've Never Heard Of

On this episode of Our American Stories, in the early nineteenth century, Philadelphia lived with a contradiction. It called itself a free city, yet kidnapping rings operated within it and pulled Black residents back toward the world of slavery. Thomas Shipley was one of the few abolitionists who cared about each person who went missing. He infiltrated murderous mobs, warned would-be victims, and testified against ringleaders throughout his life. Here’s his remarkable story.

Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:10):
And we continue with our American stories. Thomas Shipley was
a nineteenth century Christian philanthropist who devoted his life to
the extinction of human bondage. Here to tell the story
is Jack Miller Center's editorial officer and historian, Elliot Trego.
The Jack Miller Center is a nationwide network of scholars

(00:33):
and teachers dedicated to educating the next generation about America's
founding principles and history. To learn more, visit Jackmiller Center
dot org. Let's take a listen to Elliot Trego.

Speaker 2 (00:47):
Thomas Shipley is the most famous abolitionist You've never heard of.
A white American living in Philadelphia during an age of slavery.
Shipley's lifelong devotion to freedom made him a beloved icon
within the abolitionist community. His tireless efforts helped free hundreds
of black Americans captured by slave owners and kidnappers, while
his lobbying of the Pennsylvania State Legislature protected thousands more.

(01:11):
Despite his pacifist upbringing as a Quaker, Shipley did not
hesitate to throw himself into carnage, whether that meant testifying
against slave owners, pursuing slave catchers, outwitting kidnappers or charging
headlong into a vicious race riot. One of his eulogists
and fellow abolitionist friends, Isaac Parish, christened him adviser and

(01:35):
protector of Black Americans, for on every occasion of popular
disorder in which the safety of the black community was
under threat, Shipley could be founded at as post fearlessly
defending their rights and using his political influence with those
in authority to throw around them the protection of the laws.
So who was Thomas Shipley and why did Black Americans

(01:56):
consider him their most sincere and active friend. Born in
Philadelphia in seventeen eighty seven and orphaned by age six,
Shipley was adopted into the household of fellow Quaker Isaac Bartram,
who had married Thomas's older sister. He attended boarding school
in Westchester, Pennsylvania, and throughout his youth possessed an uncommon perseverance,

(02:18):
love of reading, and peaceful disposition. Upon leaving school, he
apprenticed to the hardware business, and later he and his
brother in law opened their own hardware store on Market
Street in Philadelphia. At age twenty, Shipley joined the renowned
Pennsylvania Abolition Society, an activist group of wealthy and middle
class Quakers devoted to protecting and emancipating Black Americans. Although

(02:41):
Pennsylvania passed a gradual Emancipation Act in seventeen eighty, black
Americans still faced constant harassment in violence, especially in Philadelphia.
Pennsylvania Abolitionist worked in close conjunction with the black community,
serving as free legal counsel, investigating slave owners claims and
tracking the kidnappers who proud the city in search of

(03:02):
vulnerable Black Americans. While Shipley attended Abolitionist meetings, took copious notes,
and served on the organization's Board of Education for Black Youth,
his role as the leader of the Acting Committee made
him an abolitionist legend as what might be best understood
as an abolitionist enforcer group. The Acting Committee consisted of

(03:23):
young white abolitionist men who met monthly to discuss problems
plaguing black life in Philadelphia. Led by Shipley, the Acting
Committee investigated slave owners claims and the activities of professional
kidnappers by corroborating evidence, pursuing leads, speaking with informants, referring
cases to the Pennsylvania abolition Society's roster of exceptional lawyers,

(03:46):
and even helping accused fugitives escape. Most importantly, Thomas Shipley's
work with the Acting Committee helped lay the foundation for
what became known as the Underground Railroad. In eighteen twenty,
Shipley and the Acting Committee spearheaded Pennsylvania state legislation that
increased the penalties for kidnapping free blacks to sell down South.

(04:06):
Six years later, Shipley traveled to the state capitol of
Harrisburg to lobby legislators to prevent influential Maryland slave owners
from turning Pennsylvania into a slave catrist paradise. Maryland representatives
feared that Pennsylvanians might not return supposed fugitives, especially because
of abolitionists like Shipley and as white and black allies.

(04:27):
While Pennsylvania lawmakers made concessions to Maryland in the resulting legislation,
namely by agreeing that state officials could issue removals of
fugitive slaves, the combined efforts of Shipley and the black
abolitionist Richard Allen and Stephen Gloucester and Harrisburg convinced legislators
to include an amendment disallowing slave owner testimony in fugitive

(04:48):
slave cases. Thomas Shipley was also one of the earliest
proponents of immediate as opposed to gradual emancipation. Abolitionist heroes
like Frederick Douglass s and William Lloyd Garrison espoused what
contemporaries called immediatism, the immediate, uncompensated, and total emancipation of
enslaved black Americans. Some Pennsylvania abolitionists were wary of Douglas

(05:13):
and Garrison, preferring to take a gradual course in eliminating
the institution by petitioning influential politicians. This new wave of abolitionists,
labeled radical by their enemies, viewed these conservative methods of
emancipation as inferior to their method of constant and unequivocal
agitation on the slavery question. Shipley's experiences in the Acting

(05:34):
Committee and with the black community revealed to him a
pressing need to eliminate slavery in all its forms immediately.
For hardly a day went by in which he did
not personally tend to the needs of an accused feuditive
slave or the heartbroken family of a black kidnapping victim.
As a founder of the American Anti Slavery Society, Shipley
was present for the organization's first convention, held in Philadelphia

(05:58):
in December eighteen thirty three. This new society, comprised of immediatists,
pledged to organize anti slavery societies, if possible, in every city, town,
and village in America. Sent forth agents to lift up
the voice of remonstrance, of warning, of entreaty, and of rebuke,
and circulate unsparingly and extensively anti slavery tracts and periodicals.

(06:25):
Over the next two years, this group of Immediate Abolitionists
sent over one million abolitionist tracts, periodicals, and letters across
the Union, infuriating slave owners and their northern allies. Throughout
the eighteen thirties, Shipley and his black and white allies
in Philadelphia endured the wrath of pro slavery forces within
the city. Two major race riots erupted there in eighteen

(06:48):
thirty four and eighteen thirty five, and in both cases,
white Philadelphians burned most of Black Philadelphia to the ground.
In the words of one eyewitness, law and order were
laid waste, and the officers of justice looked on, some
perhaps with dismay, and others with indifference. The eighteen thirty
eight riot began after a black man from Cuba named

(07:11):
Juan tried to kill the man who kidnapped him. News
of the attempted murder soon spread across Philadelphia, giving many
working class whites a pretext to attack Black Philadelphians. As
vengeful whites ransacked Black Philadelphia mercilessly beating random black men,
women and children and setting fire to their homes, Thomas

(07:31):
Shipley sprang into action, disguising himself as a rioter. Shipley
mingled with them both to get a clear sense of
their next target and to learn their names and faces
to later report them to the authorities. Sure Enough, the
mob caught wind of a group of sixty black men
hold up in Benezet Hall, a meeting place named after

(07:53):
the famous abolitionist Anthony Benezet. Aware of their plans and
seeing them brandishing their clubs and sold words, Shipley broke
off from the group and sprinted to the hall. When
he arrived, several black men came out ready to fight,
thinking that Shipley was a leader of the mob. As
he raised his voice to the men, the effect was electric,

(08:14):
according to one witness, because the whole throng knew him
as their friend, Heeding his warning and trusting in Shipley,
the men escaped as the mayor and police officers dispersed
the mob. Later, Shipley testified against the ringleaders of the riot,
many of whom were sentenced to prison. Tragically, Thomas Shipley
died a year later, mere months after being elected president

(08:37):
of the Pennsylvania Abolition Society. When news of his death
reached a black community, hundreds of black Philadelphians gathered at
his house, hoping to catch one last glimpse of the
man who dedicated his life to protecting them. Thousands more
black Americans attended his funeral at the Arch Street Meetinghouse
in Philadelphia and watched as six black pallbearers lowered his

(08:59):
coffin in the ground. While relatively unknown to Americans today,
Thomas Shipley's legacy informs much of our views of abolitionism
in general. In this sense, all Americans already know Thomas Shipley.
We already know Thomas Shipley through the Underground Railroad, a
movement spawned from his courageous collaborations with white and black allies.

(09:21):
We recognize Thomas Shipley in Americans dedication to the immediate
and total emancipation of enslaved Americans. And we already know
Thomas Shipley because, in the words of the black abolitionist
Robert Purvis, the principles of Shipley are American principles, the
most important of which is the practical recognition of natural
and equal rights amongst men. Although he did not live

(09:46):
to see the end of slavery, Shipley's important work forwarded
the realization of the fundamental dignity and equality of all
human beings.

Speaker 1 (09:57):
And a terrific job on the editing storytelling in Productive
by our own Greg Hangler, and a special thanks to
Jack Millicenter's editorial officer and historian Elliot Trego And boy,
we got to learn a lot about the most famous
abolitionist you never heard of, Thomas Shipley. And that scene,
that funeral scene, six black ballbearers lowering his casket into

(10:19):
the ground, thousands of black Americans attending, and all because
this white Christian abolitionist, and my goodness, the number of
Christians behind the abolition movement here and abroad Wilberforce in
England is a story that must be told and a
considerable cost to themselves in their livelihoods. The story of

(10:39):
Thomas Shipley, the story of the abolition movement. Here on
our American stories