2025 Honorees of Smith Memorial Playground

William Still, a free-born Black, became an abolitionist movement leader and writer during the antebellum period in American history. He was also one of the most successful Black businessmen in the history of the City of Philadelphia. Born on October 7, 1821, in Burlington County, New Jersey, he was the youngest of eighteen children of Levin and Charity Still. Both of his parents were born into slavery. His father bought his freedom and his mother escaped slavery in Maryland. William Still grew up with vivid images of the horrors of slavery. His parents instilled in him strong family and work values as well as pride and self-determination. In 1844, he moved to Philadelphia and in 1847 married Letitia George, who gave birth to their four children. That year, he was hired as clerk for the Pennsylvania Society for the Abolition of Slavery. He became an active agent on the Underground Railroad, assisting fugitive Africans who came to Philadelphia. With the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, Still was appointed chairman of the society’s revived Vigilance Committee that aided and supported fugitive Africans.

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