Born in South Carolina to a wealthy white father and mixed race mother, Robert Purvis (1810–1898) was one of the nineteenth century's leading black abolitionists and orators. In this first biography of Purvis, Margaret Hope Bacon uses his eloquent and often fierce speeches to provide a glimpse into the life of a passionate and distinguished man, intimately involved with a wide range of major reform movements, including abolition, civil rights, Underground Railroad activism, women's rights, Irish Home Rule, Native American rights, and prison reform. Citing his role in developing the Philadelphia Vigilant Committee, an all black organization that helped escaped slaves secure passage to the North, the New York Times described Purvis at the time of his death as the president of the Underground Railroad. Voicing his opposition to a decision by the state of Pennsylvania to disenfranchise black voters in 1838, Purvis declared "there is but one race, the human race." But One Race is the dramatic story of one of the most important figures of his time.

Acknowledgments
Ancestral Chart of the Purvis Family
Introduction

1. Of Southern Birth

2. The City of Brotherly Love

3. Present at the Beginning

4. World Traveler

5. "We are Not Intruders Here"

6. To Aid the Fleeing Slave

7. A Time of Loss

8. Gentleman Farmer

9. "This Wicked Law"

10. "Are We Not Men?"

11. "A Proud Day for the Colored Man"

12. "Equality of Rights for All"

13. The Freedmen's Savings Bank

14. "We are To the Manner Born"

15. "His Magnificent Record"

Notes
Bibliography
Index