Quaker Brotherhood: Interracial Activism and the American Friends Service Committee, 1917-1950

Conclusion: Race and Reconciliation at Mid-Century

Conclusion Race and Reconciliation at Mid-Century AFSC leaders often grounded Service Committee activism in a Quaker legacy of racial justice. Mary Hoxie Jones emphasized these historical connections in her 1937 history of the organization, in which a fictional AFSC staff member uses language from George Fox’s journal in describing the AFSC as “an ocean of light and love which flows over the ocean of darkness and death.” Almost two decades later, Ralph Rose cited abolitionist John Woolman in arguing that even though the majority of AFSC workers were no longer Friends, “the methods used in bringing various community groups together on common problems are essentially Quaker. It is as a reconciler between the various groups that the Quaker worker has proved acceptable.” In living up to this legacy, Rose continued, the Service Committee now bridged science, which had “caught up with Religion in recognising the truth of the Christian belief that all men are the children of one Father,” and faith in successfully employing Friendly “demonstrations , persuasion, and counselling, rather than opposition and direct action, which seem out of keeping with the Quaker tradition.” Applying these traditional techniques to the modern world, Quakers affirmed, allowed “love [to] overcome hatred, prejudice, and fear.”1 AFSC Interracial Activism in the 1950s But even as AFSC officials linked their efforts to the Quaker past and trusted Friendly methods, staff understood that their approach to race relations had evolved since the Service Committee’s earliest forays into the field. A staff evaluation in 1953, for example, began by describing 178 conclusion techniques that would have sounded familiar to members of the Interracial Section three decades earlier, noting that the Community Relations Committee (CRC) used “personal contacts” and “face-to-face” conversations to mend racial strife. But the staff report also acknowledged a broader view of interracial relations that had evolved over the past thirty years, describing a more complicated problem that touched on economics , emotions, and socio-historical realities as well as morality.2 While, as Susan Lynn has observed, Service Committee efforts still focused on “transforming the values of individual members of society,” its work now also emphasized “creating social change in society at large, tackling the problems of job discrimination, school integration, and housing discrimination as major priorities.”3 Furthermore, AFSC leaders understood the need for additional innovation in the early 1950s, especially as the Cold War intensified. While some references to the worldwide political struggle were abstract—calling for an end to discrimination and prejudice, “tragic denials of both our Christian faith and our democratic ideals”—others were more direct. For example, the AFSC’s annual report for 1950 stressed the importance of such work in light of the Korean War, a conflict, “in part, between white men and colored.” Observing that “we have not done enough,” the report warned that “when the colored peoples of the world look at our democracy they are looking at a changing picture but one that still indicates a failure.”4 Complicating matters further, AFSC efforts to address race relations in the broader society still elicited resistance from Friends as had often been the case. Rose addressed such problems directly, acknowledging that some Quakers remained “indifferent to the problems faced by their neighbors.” This indifference took more malignant forms, for example in the continued segregation of Friends’ Meetings, which had “very few Negro members.” Rose also pointed out that while Quaker schools and colleges had made real progress in desegregating, the remaining unreformed institutions would require yet more “love and patience” to correct.5 The CRC addressed racism among Friends in late 1953, recording its concern “with furthering the testimony of Friends on the equality of all men in the sight of God and of one another. The testimony emphasizes the worth and dignity of the individual. It applies to all alike, regardless of race, color, class, creed or national origin.” Putting this simple testimony into practice, CRC members admitted, proved difficult because “we are all subject to human weaknesses and fail too often to interpret correctly or perhaps to attend to the guidance of Divine Light.” This resulted in awkward situations as staff members found themselves confronted by the Race and Reconciliation at Mid-Century 179 hypocrisy of segregation at some Quaker businesses, schools, and Meetings . Reporting that “other citizens are quick to notice a seeming departure from Quaker principles,” staff warned that, although “Friends like to think of themselves...