born Dec. 27, 1829, Davie county, N.C., U.S.
died March 9, 1909, Washington, D.C.
U.S. antislavery writer.
His 1857 work The Impending Crisis of the South argued that slavery harmed nonslaveholding whites and inhibited economic progress in the South. It became influential in the antislavery movement in the North; in the South it caused a furor and was banned in several states. For his safety Helper moved to New York City. After the American Civil War , Helper wrote three bitter racist tracts advocating the deportation of blacks to Africa or Latin America.