Other Resources

Supporting Transgender/Nonbinary Students in Independent Schools: Policy and Practice

Friends Council NAIS 2018 workshop featuring Quaker school educators: Edna-Anne Valdepeñas [George School]; Maria Alonso [Westtown School]; Rachel Kane [Sidwell Friends School]; Jason Craige Harris [Friends Seminary]; Betsy Torg [Friends Council on Education].

Black Fire: African American Quakers On Spirituality And Human Rights

EDITED BY: HAROLD D. WEAVER, JR., PAUL KRIESE, STEPHEN W. ANGELL
Black Fire gathers together the voices of 18 remarkable individuals who spoke and wrote as African Americans from within the Quaker community. They testify about their viewpoints on racial justice - both within the Religious Society of Friends and society at large - and they speak of their life in the Spirit. As a collection, these selections exhibit the vitality and wisdom that three centuries of African American Quakers have contributed to and on behalf of Friends. See below for more detail.(Also available as an ebook. Enter "Black Fire" in the search field at left to find electronic editions.)
Available from www.quakerbooks.org

Bayard Rustin's Letter to the Draft Board (1943)

The attached letter is what Bayard Rustin sent to the draft board explaining his refusal to participate in World War II. Rustin subsequently spent close to three years in federal prison as a conscientious objector.

Bayard Rustin...
A master strategist and tireless activist, Bayard Rustin is best remembered as the organizer of the 1963 March on Washington, one of the largest nonviolent protests ever held in the United States. He brought Gandhi’s protest techniques to the American civil rights movement, and helped mold Martin Luther King, Jr. into an international symbol of peace and nonviolence.

Despite these achievements, Rustin was silenced, threatened, arrested, beaten, imprisoned and fired from important leadership positions, largely because he was an openly gay man in a fiercely homophobic era. Five years in the making and the winner of numerous awards, BROTHER OUTSIDER presents a feature-length documentary portrait, focusing on Rustin’s activism for peace racial equality, economic justice and human rights.

Today, the United States is still struggling with many of the issues Bayard Rustin sought to change during his long, illustrious career. His focus on civil and economic rights and his belief in peace, human rights and the dignity of all people remain as relevant today as they were in the 1950s and 60s. (868k PDF)
Image above, Bayard Rustin & Martin Luther King.

Creating Community: Goshen Friends School & Frederick Douglas Christian School

Two independent, religiously based schools - one predominantly black, the other predominately white - partner to create relationships built on mutual respect, friendship and common bonds.  read more

Diversity Plan - Friends School of Baltimore

While the implementation of Friends School’s diversity program is a shared responsibility among all members of the School commu- nity, the Diversity Committee of the Board of Trustees has a particular leadership role. It will seek to ascertain the School’s progress as measured against its expressed plans and intentions, and—in consultation with the Diversity Council, the new Diversity Coordinator, and the School’s administration, it will consider new directions and ideas as the School moves forward. The six queries in this plan have been devised by the Diversity Committee to help guide its work, assess the School’s progress, and discern whether new strategies will be appropriate. 144kb PDF

Fit for Freedom, Not for Friendship: Quakers and Racial Justice

Donna Mcdaniel & Vanessa D. Julye (Authors)
While Fit for Freedom, Not for Friendship tells the Quaker story, the issues it raises certainly touch a wider audience. Attached are two files, a flier with more information on the book and front matter from the book that gives its scope and mission to help educators evaluate it for classroom use. QuakerBooks of FGC offers discounts on books purchased for classroom use. (A study guide for the book is forthcoming.)

Available from www.quakerbooks.org

Friends Select School Diversity Statement and Goals

Friends Select School is an independent, college-preparatory school with 545 students in grades pre-kindergarten through twelve. Friends Select draws its identity from its Quaker heritage and beliefs and from its Center City location. Framed by this basic identity, the school provides a challenging academic program to a diverse, coed student population.

From Assimilation to Inclusion

How White Educators and Educators of Color Can Make Diversity Work By Michael Brosnan, Editor, Independent School Magazine

Drawing on extensive research and in-depth interviews with a wide range of independent school educators and other diversity professionals, Michael Brosnan has done an extraordinary job of pulling together material that is, at once, informative, concrete, challenging, affirming and firmly rooted in the realities of independent schools.

The publication is available for purchase of hard copies or you can download the pdf version and make your own copies. Use the link below for more information:
NAIS Independent Schools Magazine

Princeton Friends School's Diversity Initiative - Mosaic

Since its founding, Princeton Friends School (PFS) has been committed to welcoming and supporting a diverse population. Grounded in the Quaker testimony of equality, and emanating from the school’s core value of “respect for all,” PFS has sought to build a community that honors the gifts and contributions of everyone. In order to address its diversity and to learn more deeply about the varied experience of members of the PFS community, Mosaic was formed in the spring of 2009.

Sowing the Seeds of Allyship

Becoming an ally to people who are marginalized or oppressed means first understanding what we bring to that encounter. What unconscious biases have we been carrying around? Second, to be an ally is to be in relationship to another human being. How can we get below the surface to really know each other?

In this gently interactive workshop from Bright Invention, Dolores Davis and Benjamin Lloyd guide participants through games and exercises designed to uncover our own unique constellations of privilege and oppression. Safe group encounters are facilitated through small “home groups” of three to five people discussing the themes and ideas in the workshop. Along the way, Dolores and Ben share their own personal journeys with privilege, racism and allyship. The workshop culminates with two scenarios performed by CCT actors representing opportunities for allyship.

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Way Opens

Eight years ago, Patricia Wild asked, “What happened to the African Americans who desegregated my high school in Lynchburg, Virginia in 1962?” That question became a quest; Way Opens tracks her journey. She finds Dr. Lynda Woodruff, now a college professor, and Reverend Owen Cardwell, a Baptist preacher, and learns history lessons never taught in her segregated high school. Gently guided by Lynda and Owen, her Quaker meeting, and the people she meets along the way, Patricia examines her White privilege.

To learn more about Patricia Wild, Way Opens, and how to order for your class, please visit www.patriciawild.net
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