Joseph and Amy Cassey (1789-1848)/(1809-56)
Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania
Marker Inscription
This prominent, wealthy African American abolitionist couple founded intellectual and benevolent societies for blacks. Dealing in real estate, Joseph provided rentals and loans to both blacks and whites at his barbershop here. Amy was active in the Female Anti-Slavery Soc.
Erected by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
The Story
In the decades before the Civil War, Philadelphia was home to a thriving community of free Black Americans who built their own institutions of self-help and reform. Joseph Cassey, a prosperous barber and real-estate dealer, extended rentals and loans to Black and white customers alike, while he and his wife Amy founded benevolent and intellectual societies. Amy Cassey was also active in the Female Anti-Slavery Society, part of a network of women driving the abolitionist cause.
Why it matters
The Casseys show how a free Black family turned economic success into a foundation for abolition and community uplift, a cornerstone of the antebellum fight against slavery.
Plan your visit
NearbyMake a day of it — museums, food, and places to stay near this marker.
Museums & culture
- Portrait Gallery in the Second Banknearby · 420 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA
- National Liberty Museumnearby · 321 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia
- Benjamin Franklin Museumnearby
- New Hall Military Museumnearby · Philadelphia
- Fragments of Franklin Courtnearby
- Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish Historynearby · 101 South Independence Mall East, Philadelphia, PA
Attractions
- Second Bank of the United Statesnearby · 420 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA
- Carpenters' Hallnearby · 320 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA
- First Bank of the United States0.1 mi away · 120 South 3rd Street, Philadelphia, PA
- Liberty Bell0.1 mi away · 526 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA
- President's House0.1 mi away
- Benjamin Franklin Grave0.2 mi away
Food & drink
- Franklin Socialnearby · 401 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA
- Buddakannearby · 325 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA
- Red Owl Tavernnearby · 433 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA
- Olivier Cafenearby · 50 South 3rd Street, Philadelphia, PA
- National Mechanics0.1 mi away · 22 South 3rd Street, Philadelphia
- Menagerie Coffee0.1 mi away · 18 South 3rd Street, Philadelphia, PA
Places to stay
- Renaissance Philadelphia Downtown Hotelnearby · 401 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA
- Best Western Plus Independence Park Hotel0.1 mi away · 237 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA
- Apple Hostels Philadelphia0.1 mi away · 32 South Bank Street, Philadelphia, PA
- Apple Hostels0.1 mi away · 33 Bank Street, Philadelphia, PA
- Wyndham Philadelphia Historic District0.2 mi away · 400 Arch Street, Philadelphia, PA
- Thomas Bond House0.2 mi away · 129 South 2nd Street, Philadelphia
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Related people
- · Joseph Cassey
- · Amy Cassey
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society
Philadelphia, PA · est. 1992
In 1833, Quaker reformer Lucretia Mott helped organize this society of some sixty women dedicated to ending slavery, headquartered on this spot. Barred from full participation in male-led abolition groups, these women built their own influential organization, raising funds and rallying support for emancipation. After the Civil War, they turned their energies to aiding the newly freed, extending their reform work into a new era.
Frances E.W. Harper (1825-1911)
Philadelphia, PA · est. 1992
In the decades before and after the Civil War, Frances Ellen Watkins Harper was among the most widely read and widely heard Black voices in America—a poet, novelist, and traveling lecturer who took the abolitionist and, later, equal-rights cause to audiences across the country. From this Philadelphia home she wrote and organized, insisting that education was the surest road to advancement for Black Americans. Her work bridged the antislavery struggle and the reform movements of the later 19th century.
Anthony Benezet (1713-1784)
Philadelphia, PA · est. 2016
In the crowded streets of colonial Philadelphia, a mild-mannered Quaker schoolteacher named Anthony Benezet quietly became one of the most influential abolitionists of his age. From this home he taught free and enslaved Black children in the 1750s and 60s, and in 1754 opened one of the era's earliest schools for girls—radical acts in a city where slavery was still ordinary. His tracts against the slave trade crossed the Atlantic, shaping antislavery thinkers in Britain and America alike.
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA · est. 2026
Traced to legislation passed by Pennsylvania's colonial assembly in 1684, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania stands as the oldest appellate court in the nation. Over the centuries it handed down influential rulings touching the abolition of slavery, the rights of labor, and the rights of women. Its structure and reasoning became a model that federal and other state courts would follow.