How Did Peter Still Contribute To The Abolitionist?

Long ago, there was a man who showed that freeing your family from the clutches of slavery can be done with a small amount of resources and a large amount of faith. Peter Still was an American Slave who was born property of Saunders Griffith and had many owners before eventually defying the odds by buying his freedom. He contributed to the abolitionist cause not directly, but by helping raise awareness about the topic by traversing the country to tell his story, he faced challenges by somehow being able to make money as a slave and get enough to buy his own freedom, and he inspired others in the book depicting his life even up to this day. Peter Still helped push the abolitionist movement by raising awareness of it. He did this by going across

Peter also faced many challenges throughout his life. But the most important one was that he needed to be free and see his family, who had run away from slavery many years ago. The only way that could happen is if he were to obtain emancipation, or if he were to acquire his own liberties. With McKernian, his owner, most definitely not interested in losing Peter, and impossibly firm on that he wouldn’t emancipate Peter, Peter knew he had to have someone else in the plan. He devised a plan, where a Jewish man who sympathized with Peter named Joseph Friedman would buy him, and then he would pay for his freedom from there. When Peter was loaned out to Friedman to work in his shop, he asked him, knowing that Friedman could say no and Peter could receive consequences for saying such a thing, that if Joseph could buy him so that he could then buy himself. Fortunately for Peter, Friedman said yes, and soon enough, Peter managed to buy his freedom and escape the clutches of slavery once and for

As previously stated, he not only bought his own freedom, but went further by traveling the country for two years, searching for money to buy his family’s freedom. He told his story along the way, and also did to his brother, William Still. They never knew they were brothers up until around 1850 as Peter was left behind in a desperate attempt at freedom from his mother, who went to start a new life with their father, who had already bought his freedom before and was a free man. His brother heard his story, one of many hardships but still with victories in them. William decided he would include Peter’s story in his book, The Underground Railroad, and then hundreds of thousands of people could see Peter’s journey and use it as inspiration for themselves to show that nothing is impossible, even with the world trying to hold you down. Peter's story shows us many things. It shows him overcoming many challenges and losing his sons, mother, brother, and more. Even with that, he managed to get his family out of the clutches of slavery. He did it despite everything the slave owners and slave catchers threw at him. It serves as inspiration for many out there still reading his story to this