Wilson Ruffin Abbott (1801–1876) was an American-born Black Canadian and successful businessman and landowner in Toronto, Ontario.
Having to flee the United States in 1834, he became a wealthy man in Toronto and one of the largest landowners in the ward. Prominent in local affairs, he was elected to Toronto City Council, instigated taxpayer petitions on public issues of concern to both black and white residents and had served briefly on the organizing committee for the Canadian Anti-Slavery Society. He was also the father of Anderson Ruffin Abbott, Canada's first black physician.
Famous quotes containing the words wilson and/or abbott:
“These are days ... when a great cloud of trouble hangs and broods over the greater part of the world.... Then all about them, all about us, sits the silent, waiting tribunal which is going to utter the ultimate judgment upon this struggle.... No man is wise enough to produce judgment, but we call hold our spirits in readiness to accept the truth when it dawns on us and is revealed to us in the outcome of this titanic struggle.”
—Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924)
“It’s all sorts of middle-aged white men in suits—forests of middle-aged men in dark suits. All slightly red-faced from eating and drinking too much.”
—Diane Abbott (b. 1953)