Boston Vigilance Committee (second) is established.

It is founded by Rev. Theodore Parker and others at a rally at Faneuil Hall [in the home of Dr. Henry Ingersoll Bowditch on Otis Place]. Its purpose is to aid fugitive slaves. Forty men – black and white – are unanimously elected members, including Parker, John Andrew, Lewis Hayden, Robert Morris, and Joshua Smith. Subsequent meetings are held at the office of Samuel Gridley Howe office at 20 Bromfield Street. Although most of those involved in the organization are white, members also include African-Americans Lewis Hayden, Robert Morris and John Swett Rock. The committee assists Ellen Craft and William Craft in 1850,* Shadrach Minkins in 1851,* and raises money to assist more than 100 runaway slaves.