Founders included James Mott, Lucretia Mott, Robert Purvis,[1][2] and John C. Bowers, Sr.[3]: 154 In August 1850, William Still while working as a clerk for the Society, was assisting a fugitive slave calling himself "Peter Freedman".
[4] In 1855, while working for the Society, Passmore Williamson and William Still helped Jane Johnson escape slavery while in Philadelphia with her master, a well-known congressman, John Hill Wheeler.
As one of the first challenges to the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 the case created a scandal, with Williamson imprisoned for several months, charged with riot, forcible abduction, and assault.
Williamson eventually turned his cell into a virtual abolitionist media center, drawing visits from luminaries like Frederick Douglass.
[5] Robert Purvis, African American son of a wealthy white cotton broker, was a leading member during the life of the organization.