The Bustill’s were somewhat of a distinguished family. My great-great-great-grandfather Cyrus Bustill was born in Burlington, New Jersey in 1732. He purchased his freedom before the Revolutionary War and joined the sizable free Black community in Philadelphia. He became a baker and supplied food to the starving troops in Valley Forge and received thanks from Gen. George Washington himself. Later he helped found the first Black self-help organization in America—the Free African Society in 1787 in Philadelphia.

My great-great-grandfather Joseph Cassey Bustill was an agent in the Underground Railroad. He helped over a thousand slaves escape to freedom. He also founded the First Colored Presbyterian Church of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Then there was Sarah Mapps Douglass, who was a founding member of the Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society. My mother’s sister Gertrude wrote for several Philadelphia newspapers. Aunt Gertrude’s husband Dr. Nathan Francis Mossell was the first Black graduate of the University of Pennsylvania’s Medical School. He was also an activist for racial justice.