Juneteenth: 7 Lesser-known black abolitionists
3.William Howard Day
Born in New York, New York, in 1825, William Howard Day was a minister, newspaper editor, educator, Young Men's Christian Association worker and advocate for the abolition of slavery.
In the Antebellum era, Day was secretary of the National Negro Convention in Cleveland, Ohio, working alongside prominent antislavery activist Frederick Douglass.
Day oversaw several educational and philanthropical efforts in the United States and England, and after the Civil War, worked for the Freedmen's Bureau and was elected school director in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
In 1867, Day was ordained a minister in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, having previously served as a preacher at a congregation in Lincolnshire, England.
“Day died in Harrisburg on December 3, 1900, at 75,” explained an entry on the African American Registry website. “In the 1900s, William Howard Day Cemetery was established in nearby Steelton as a burial place for all people, including people of color who were denied burial at the nearby Baldwin Cemetery. It remains a popular burial site for local African American families.”
