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Current Activities 

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Retrospective Justice in Healing Historical Injustice and Ills: Reparations 

Defined as “an attempt to administer justice years after the commission of a severe injustice or series of injustices,” we advocate that Quakerism adopt Retrospective Justice as a model for healing historical injustice. Our ministry is providing education on this call to action through e-newsletters, publications, and collaborative lecture-presentations with Friend Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge, a leader in South Africa’s anti-apartheid movement, the African National Congress, and transnational organizations. 

The Quakers of Color International Archive (QCIA)

As a study-and-research collection, our archive documents the oral histories of Quakers of Color worldwide through videotaped interviews and transcriptions. Established in 2019, the QCIA is a partnership with UMass Amherst, Haverford College, and Swarthmore College, currently housed in the W.E.B. Du Bois Library of UMass Amherst. For access to these videotaped interviews and transcriptions of Friends of African, Asian, Middle Eastern, and Latinx descent, please click here

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Reforming Quakerism: Developing New Narratives & Models

The BlackQuaker Project calls on Friends to take the following steps:

  • Address the inadequacies of the acronym SPICES, which neglects the testimony of justice and constrains our vision of what Quakerism is and what it might be.

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  • Move the justice testimony to the front-burner in the Religious Society of Friends.

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  • Focus on structural violence–not just direct, visible violence–as we confront today’s domestic and international conflicts.

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  • Adopt a model of Retrospective Justice for healing historical injustice. 

The Black Quaker Lives Matter Film Festival & Forum 

Since 2021 we have been programming annual virtual screenings and fora to celebrate the lives and contributions of Quakers of African descent. Held over Zoom webinar, these events are free and open to the public with recordings of past installments available to view on our website. Click on the following text if you wish to watch recordings of our 2022 and 2023 events.

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Publications

We remain committed to releasing e-newsletters, pamphlets, and books that give voice to Quakers of Color, both past and present. To subscribe to receive our e-newsletter, click here. To view a full record of all our past e-newsletters click here. To view a selected list of our other publications, click here.

Advocacy: Paul Robeson & Bayard Rustin 

We work to restore Friend Bayard Rustin and Quaker-descendant Paul Robeson–who has been the focus of over 50 years of advocacy and research by Harold D. Weaver, Jr.–  to their rightful places in world history. To view Dr. Weaver’s 1973 vintage video-lecture on Robeson, click here. To view our 2024 event, the Bayard Rustin Legacy Forum, click here. 

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Harold D. Weaver & Anne Steere Nash at Guilford College  

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Harold D. Weaver, Jr and Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge deliver a joint orientation  on Retrospetive Justice to QUNO-Geneva Staff 

Collaboration with Quaker Organizations and Beyond

We continue to partner with key Quaker and non-Quaker organizations and initiatives, including the American Friends Service Committee, Haverford College, New England Yearly Meeting of Friends (Quakers), the Friends World Committee for Consultation, and the Independent Working Group for the extended United Nations’ International Decade for People of African Descent (2015-2024). Click here to see a full list of our collaborators. 

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