Betsy Crofts will moderate a discussion on “Continuing Conversations on Race” at the Newtown Quaker Meeting Adult Class at 9:45 a.m. on Sunday, October 27, at the historic Friends Meetinghouse, 219 Court Street. Meeting for Worship in the manner of Friends will follow at 11 a.m. The public is invited.
There will be brief presentations by three members of the Quaker Meeting — Susan Hoskins, John Davison, and Claire Staffieri — who will each speak of a personal experience which opened their eyes and changed their perspective on race.
After the presentations, attendees will break into small groups to share their own experiences regarding race.
Betsy Crofts is a former teacher at George School; Susan Hoskins is Executive Director of the Friends Council on Aging; John Davison is a retired George School history teacher; and Claire Staffieri is a former property manager.Subscribe
Quakers believe there is “that of God in every person and each person is equal in the eyes of God” and they have wrestled with the issues of slavery and civil rights since their early beginnings in 1652 England.
In 1688, members of Germantown Friends Meeting in Philadelphia first recorded their opposition to slavery. And in 1727 in England and in 1774 in America, Quakers became the first religious body to officially oppose slavery.
More recently, the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) sponsored Martin Luther King Jr’s trip to India in 1959 to study the non-violence of the Gandhi organization. In 1963, Quaker Bayard Rustin helped organize the March on Washington and Quaker Joan Baez was one of the singers. Four years later, King’s powerful “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” was first published by the AFSC with a run of 50,000 copies!
In 2013, The Economic Policy Institute issued a report about civil rights which it called “The Unfinished March.” Indeed, the Newtown Quaker Meeting’s Peace and Service Committee, sponsor of this program, believes each of us has a responsibility and a stake in the Unfinished March for equality and opportunity for everyone.
Newtown Friends Meeting, co-founded by the Quaker artist and minister, Edward Hicks, in 1815, holds services every First Day (Sunday) with classes for children and adults at 9:45 a.m. and Meeting for Worship at 11:00 a.m. Professional childcare is provided and coffee and snacks are served in the Gathering Room after meeting for worship. All meetings are open to the public and visitors are warmly welcomed. Like Thank Reply