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.

[1] He also helped found the New England Freedom Association in the early 1840s, and later the Committee of Vigilance, to aid refugee slaves.

[3] His father was an important figure in the abolitionist movement, having helped to create the Massachusetts General Colored Association in the 1820s.

In 1829, he was passed over for an award given to excellent students upon graduation from the Abiel Smith School, apparently because of his ethnicity, and excluded from a celebratory dinner.

"[1] In 1843, Nell continued his crusade against segregation within the abolitionist movement by denouncing the Buffalo National Negro Convention.

[1][2] He was influential in beginning the New England Freedom Association, an all-black organization that helped fugitive slaves in the North.

[3] Nell served as publisher to Frederick Douglass' The North Star, from late 1847 until 1851, moving temporarily to Rochester, New York, during this period.

Douglass attacked Nell and other leading black activists who supported Garrison, including Robert Purvis of Philadelphia and Charles Lenox Remond.

[2] In 1851, Nell and other petitioners requested money from the state legislature to commission a monument to Crispus Attucks, one of the first martyrs of the American Revolution.

[1] He reminded people of the participation of African Americans in the fight for independence from Great Britain, and helped have Attucks recognized in the commemoration of the Boston Massacre.

While it was contrary to his earlier dislike of segregated abolitionist efforts, he argued that the Scott decision was such an insult to blacks that they needed to act separately.

In 1861, he was hired as a postal clerk in Boston, earning the distinction of being the first African American to hold a federal civilian post.

[7] 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.