Biography Search Display Name: William Lambert Year of Birth: 1817 Year of Death: 1890       Biography: A nineteenth century activist in the Underground Railroad and advocate for the rights of African Americans, William Lambert played an important role in the lives of African Americans seeking to achieve first class citizenship in a society that did not universally welcome the idea. With Detroit's proximity to Canada, Lambert's involvement in this effort to assist enslaved people of African descent to escape bondage into Ontario Canada was substantial. A native of Trenton, New Jersey where he was educated in Quaker schools, Lambert relocated to Detroit in 1838. Though born free, his father bought his own freedom. By profession, he was a tailor with a shop on East Jefferson. His success is reflected by his estate, which was valued at $75,000-$100,000 when he died. A religious man with strong convictions, Lambert was also a founder of the St. Matthew Episcopal Church, serving as one of its wardens. Shortly after relocating to Detroit, Lambert became the secretary of the first state convention of colored citizens that Michigan ever held. In this capacity, he successfully argued that the word "white" be taken out of the state constitution. In 1840 he addressed the Michigan legislature arguing that that body amend the state constitution to allow for the enfranchisement of African Americans. As a leader in the Underground Railroad, he assisted in the escapes of Thornton and Ruth Blackburn in 1833 and Robert Cromwell in 1847, both major moments in Detroit and abolitionist history. "In 1843, he helped organize the first State Convention of Colored Citizens and served as its Chairman. Urging Blacks to participate directly in the struggle for freedom and equality, he helped prepare an address to the citizen's of Michigan outlining African-American grievances and demanding full civil rights." Lambert was also one of the people in attendance at the Detroit home of William Webb when John Brown presented what would prove to be an unsuccessful plan to attack Harpers Ferry for the expressed purpose of inciting an insurrection leading to the overthrow of slavery. The renowned abolitionist, Frederick Douglass and several other Detroiter's were in attendance at this meeting. Lambert was also Treasurer of an abolitionist convention in Chatham, Ontario where John Brown prepared a provisional constitution of the United States and Declaration of Independence that identified slavery as a heinous institution whose elimination was essential. His final years found him suffering from mental illness and he eventually took his own life despite the efforts of his immediate family to monitor his activities. His life and myriad contributions to humanity are commemorated on an historical marker indicating where, in Detroit, he lived.

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