William P Newman

Photo comes from the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center; Info: 'Cincinnati's Underground Railroad,' by Dr. Eric R. Jackson and Richard Cooper,

William P. Newman, who escaped slavery in Virginia during the 1830s, became the pastor of the Union Baptist Church (now located on Seventh Street in downtown Cincinnati) and served in that position from 1848 to 1850. Before this, he studied for many years at Oberlin College and was a fiery orator. He traveled to Canada several times as an antislavery lecturer. Newman was also instrumental in the establishment of black schools in the Buckeye state and as an agent of the Ladies Education Society of Ohio. However, when the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 was enacted, Newman and his family moved to Ontario, Canada; he continued to fight for the freedom of African Americans, both enslaved and free persons of color, until he returned to Cincinnati in 1864. He died two years later.