Philadelphia Yearly Meeting

of the Religious Society of Friends

Famous Quakers

The Skirmish

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Haddonfield Meeting will be participating in the Skirmish for the first time this year, providing a family-friendly, quiet space for picnics, games, and educational information from 9 AM-3 PM.  This town-wide event commemorates an engagement between British and Hessian soldiers and the Colonial Militia; the Meeting will be provide information about the role of Quakers during the “Commotion” (American Revoluton).

Schedule:  From 10 am – 2 pm, there will be a display regarding Colonial Medicine (meetinghouse); from 10:30 am – 12 pm, Colonial-Era Toys & Games (school playground behind 47 N. Haddon Avenue);  from 11 am – 1 pm, Refill Your Water Bottles & Grab a Cookie (meetinghouse); 12 pm – 1 pm, Gravestone Rubbings & Scavenger Hunt (graveyard).   The re-enactment of the Skirmish is at 2 PM along Kings Highway; those with sensitive ears are welcome to come to the far side of the Meetinghouse to escape the noise.   AND:  From 10 AM-1 PM, there will be a History Faire at the Masonic Temple.  There will also be information tables at the Meetinghouse (Friends Avenue) and the School (Haddon Avenue).  Everyone is welcome; Friends are especially encouraged to visit with us.    A map of the area can be found on the meeting’s website.   RAIN Date:  Sunday, June 5.

Let’s Talk About Black Quakers

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Let’s Talk About Black Quakers

Join the Black Quaker Project for a bi-weekly, free, online film festival, and Let’s Talk! Watch any or all of the five films screening on alternate Saturdays from 12 February through 9 April, or just bring your thoughts about Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge, Howard Thurman, Mahala Ashley Dickerson, Bayard Rustin and/or Paul Robeson to an informal discussion of what we’ve learned on Thursday 21 April at 7:30pm.  All are welcome; click here or call 646-558-8656 and enter meeting ID 873 3565 8140 to join the conversation.

The Quaker History of Eastern State Penitentiary

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Arch Street Meeting House will be hosting Matt Murphy from Eastern State Penitentiary for an evening program! Matt’s presentation will discuss the many connections between Quakers, prisons, and Eastern State Penitentiary.

 

Matt Murphy has served as the Tour Programs Supervisor at Eastern State Penitentiary Historic Site since 2015. Matt is responsible for creating major programming and oversees the hiring, training, and evaluation of the education staff. Matt is a seasoned expert in facilitative dialogue methodology. From Alcatraz Island to Independence National Historical Park, Matt has served as a cultural heritage interpreter at sites across the nation and has appeared on popular media outlets such as the Washington Post and the Travel Channel.

This program is presented in partnership with Eastern State Penitentiary.

[Read more…] about The Quaker History of Eastern State Penitentiary

Quakers in Education: Elise M. Boulding, Ezra Cornell, and Johns Hopkins

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Quaker education has always been grounded in basic principles of the Religious Society of Friends. Each child has that of God within, and Friends’ education is centered in truth, practical learning, scientific inquiry, simplicity, and concern for civic society.

Quakers have a long history of questioning power and engaging in social action for human rights and peace. Today, many Quaker schools or Quaker affiliated institutions of higher education frame their learning environments with social or civic responsibilities and define community expectations through the lens of Friends’ values while still honoring the individual.

As the United States grew from colony to nation, the Quakers advocated for and delivered universal pubic education in Pennsylvania, built colleges, and created private Quaker secondary and elementary schools. The motto of the William Penn Charter School; “Good Instruction is Better than Riches” dates back to its founding in 1689 and still serves to describe Friends’ fundamental belief that knowledge outperforms wealth over time.

In the United States, Quakers were key to the founding of Haverford College (Pennsylvania), Guilford College (North Carolina,) Earlham College (Indiana), Swarthmore College (Pennsylvania), Johns Hopkins University (Maryland), Cornell University (New York), and the Wharton School of University of Pennsylvania (Pennsylvania). All that does not mean that Quakers were perfect. As we see in the stories below, the were human and also strongly influenced by their own time and place.

[Read more…] about Quakers in Education: Elise M. Boulding, Ezra Cornell, and Johns Hopkins

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