William Cooper Nell

William Cooper Nell (December 16, 1816 – May 25, 1874) was an American abolitionist, journalist, publisher, author, and civil servant of Boston, Massachusetts, who worked for the integration of schools and public facilities in the state. Writing for abolitionist newspapers The Liberator and The North Star, he helped publicize the anti-slavery cause. He published the North Star from 1847 to 1851, moving temporarily to Rochester, New York.

Abolitionist work

Inspired by the founding of William Lloyd Garrison's newspaper, The Liberator, William Cooper Nell decided to challenge race-based discrimination and segregation, as his father had done. Nell was particularly interested in encouraging the intellectual and social well-being of young African Americans. He was dedicated to integration and opposed the separate abolitionist organizations for blacks and whites. In his devotion to integration, he dismantled the abolitionist Massachusetts General Colored Association, which had been organized by his father. In 1855, Nell and his colleagues gained a victory; segregation was ended in Boston schools. Nell also encouraged young African Americans to learn outside of the public school system. Garrison said of him, "Perhaps no one has done so much—certainly no one has done more—for the intellectual and moral improvement of our colored youth." On April 14, 1869, Nell married Frances Ann Ames, the 26-year-old daughter of Philip Osgood Ames, a barber from Nashua, New Hampshire, and his wife Lucy B. (Drake) Ames. The Nells had two sons: William Cooper Jr. (1870–92) and Frank Ames (1872–81).

Nell died of a stroke in 1874 at the age of 58. His wife survived him by more than twenty years, dying in Nashua, New Hampshire, on September 13, 1895.

Legacy and honors The William Cooper Nell House, now a private residence in Beacon Hill, was designated a National Historic Landmark in recognition for his contributions to the abolition movement. He lived at that home in the 1860s.

Works by Nell

Introductions by Harriet Beecher Stowe and Wendell Phillips, The Colored Patriots of the American Revolution: With Sketches of Several Distinguished Colored Persons, Boston: Robert F. Wallcut, 1855.