Archives

Our archives hold the records of AFSC and our over century of a work. They provide a unique and singular view of the social, political, and economic movements of our time. Thousands of researchers have used the archives to develop books, articles, documentaries, exhibits, and more.

AFSC statement on the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.

AFSC statement on the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.

1968

AFSC worked closely with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, from sponsoring Dr. King's trip to India to support for the Poor People's Campaign. King's death was keenly felt by staff throughout AFSC, which was captured in this statement by Executive Secretary Colin Bell. 

Theme: Peacebuilding & Nonviolence Education
Year: 1968
Content Type: Document
Speak Truth To Power

Speak Truth To Power

1955

A Quaker search for an alternative to violence prepared for – and submitted to – the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC). These studies on moral ways to ease international tensions were approved for publication on March 2, 1955 (Stephen G. Cary, Chairman). Reprinted in January, 1983 and 2012. In September, 2010, the Board of Directors of the American Friends Service Committee approved a minute restoring the name of Bayard Rustin as one of the principal authors of Speak Truth to Power (see historical note at the end). AFSC regrets the failure to acknowledge Bayard Rustin s co-authorship of this pamphlet in 1955. Our records now include his name in the list of authors.

Theme: Peacebuilding & Nonviolence Education
Year: 1955
Content Type: Document
1969_AFSC Board Deligation meetings with Dr. Henry Kissinger on Vietnam

1969_AFSC Board Deligation meetings with Dr. Henry Kissinger on Vietnam

1969

Summary reports of three meetings which took place in 1969 between AFSC delegation and Dr. Henry Kissinger concerning US policy in Vietnam.

Year: 1969
Content Type: Document
Archival image of two men working on a prosthetic limb

AFSC in Vietnam: Quang Ngai Clinic

1968

Archival image of two men working on a prosthetic limb
Theme: War & Conflict, Relief Work
Year: 1968
Content Type: Video
Quaker Service Bulletin Fall 1967

Quaker Service Bulletin Fall 1967

1967

Newsletter featuring the opening of the AFSC's Quang Ngai clinic.

Theme: Peacebuilding & Nonviolence Education
Year: 1967
Content Type: Document
Countering U.S. militarism after 9/11

Countering U.S. militarism after 9/11

AFSC was one of the few national organizations that publicly spoke out against the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan—and helped lead the movement opposing war with Iraq. In this video, AFSC Archivist Don Davis looks back at how AFSC supported communities resisting war and militarism.

Into the Archives: Countering U.S. militarism after 9/11
Content Type: Video
Six people listening to someone off camera talk

Sharing Ground Alaskans Listening to Alaskans

2004

Six people listening to someone off camera talk

Follow the story of the compassionate listening project, and the surprising common concerns and values that emerged despite very real differences in cultures, histories and lives. Watch the full series 

Can simply listening help to heal strife in Alaska over how to best protect subsistence uses of fish and game?  From 1998 to 2003, Alaska Quakers partnered with the American Friends Service Committee and the Alaska Humanities Forum to find out. Follow the story of the compassionate listening project, and the surprising common concerns and values that emerged despite very real differences in cultures, histories and lives. Watch the full series 

Theme: Economic Justice
Year: 2004
Content Type: Video
Indigenous Land Rights Reader-500 Years of Resistance

Indigenous Land Rights Reader-500 Years of Resistance

1992

A Project of the Third World Coalition and the Native People's Work Group

Theme: Peacebuilding & Nonviolence Education, Civil Rights
Year: 1992
Content Type: Document
OPENING CLOSED DOORS - Prince Edward County History

OPENING CLOSED DOORS - Prince Edward County History

2004

OPENING CLOSED DOORS by Connie Curry
Narrative of the American Friends Service Committee's Work in Prince Edward County, Virginia. 1959-1965
In 1959 Virginia officials defied court orders to desegregate Prince Edward County schools and chose instead to abandon public education. The American Friends Service Committee was there, demonstrating solidarity with the families of the 1,700 black children who were locked out of their schools. A segregated school system was organized for white children with tuition grants from public funds enabling them to attend the hastily organized private academies. AFSC representatives anticipated a crisis of perhaps a semester or two. They were there until 1965, a year after public schools were reopened. Amidst the chronological unfolding, drama and individual stories during these years, several major themes emerge in the full narrative of AFSC involvement in the county.

Theme: Civil Rights
Year: 2004
Content Type: Document
The Theory And Practice Of Civil Disobedience

The Theory And Practice Of Civil Disobedience

1968

Testimony in connection with the theory and practice of civil disobedience is offered as part of a larger task of exposing the roots of violence in our society.
The American Friends Service Committee feels qualified to speak on this subject because of our position as an agency of the Religious Society of Friends, which for more than 300 years has regarded civil disobedience as an honorable and appropriate witness for men to make under certain circumstances and with certain safeguards.

Theme: Peacebuilding & Nonviolence Education
Year: 1968
Content Type: Document
Quaker Testimonies

Quaker Testimonies

2012

This booklet is an introduction to Quaker values and their influence on the work of the American Friends Service Committee. In it we explore
some of the principal testimonies and practices of the Religious Society of Friends.

Theme: Peacebuilding & Nonviolence Education
Year: 2012
Content Type: Document
Trading Books for Soldiers The True Cost of JROTC

Trading Books for Soldiers The True Cost of JROTC

2000

School districts agree to host Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC) programs in their schools, often unaware of the true cost. In this report, we  examine  the hidden factors that cause JROTC to cost far more than is normally claimed by the military.

Theme: Anti-Militarism, Peacebuilding & Nonviolence Education
Year: 2000
Content Type: Document
Help Increase the Peace - Program Manual

Help Increase the Peace - Program Manual

1999

HIP, or Help Increase the Peace, is a program of the American Friends Service Committee which teaches non-violent approaches to conflict resolution and social change.

Theme: Anti-Militarism, Peacebuilding & Nonviolence Education
Year: 1999
Content Type: Document
PERSPECTIVES ON AFSC's CRIMINAL JUSTICE PROGRAMS

PERSPECTIVES ON AFSC's CRIMINAL JUSTICE PROGRAMS

1977

The concern of the American Friends Service Committee with the treatment of persons convicted or accused of crimes in this society is rooted in the Quaker opposition to violence and injustice and the Quaker principle that there is that of God in every person. The AFSC views each individual as a person of worth and value who should be treated with dignity, respect, and humanity, regardless of his or her circumstances in life or how offensive his or her behavior to others. We seek through our actions to achieve meaningful communication with all persons-those who victimize others, those who are victims, those who oppress, those who are oppressed-in the  expectation that the measure of goodness and truth in each individual seeks expression and can respond.

 

 

Theme: Prisons & Policing
Year: 1977
Content Type: Document
Voices from the Community

Voices from the Community

1986

Voices from the Community
Everyday thinking people share their views on the Philadelphia-MOVE confrontation and reflect on its meaning for their communities. Reflections one year later from, Linda Wright Avery, Burton Caine, William R. Meek, The Rev. Paul Matthews Washington.

Theme: Peacebuilding & Nonviolence Education, Prisons & Policing
Year: 1986
Content Type: Document
MILITARY SERVICE: QUESTIONS AND CHOICES

MILITARY SERVICE: QUESTIONS AND CHOICES

1986

MILITARY SERVICE: QUESTIONS AND CHOICES
Curriculum Materials for High School Students on Registration, the Draft and Military-Related Studies by  Robert Gould April, 1986, Published by the American Friends Service Committee

 

Theme: Peacebuilding & Nonviolence Education, Anti-Militarism
Year: 1986
Content Type: Document
A Compassionate Peace

A Compassionate Peace

1982

A Compassionate Peace: A Future for the Middle East

A Report prepared for the American Friends Service Committee

Theme: Peacebuilding & Nonviolence Education
Year: 1982
Content Type: Document
SERO Hurricane Katrina Assessment Team Report

SERO Hurricane Katrina Assessment Team Report

2005

The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC)-Southeastern Regional Office (SERO)Hurricane Katrina Disaster Assessment Project is intended to provide the foundation for a long-term response to select communities (geographic and diverse cultural groups) within the disaster area: Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi. The assessment team was directed to:
1. Identify specific communities that will benefit from a focused a significant AFSC presence.
2. Conduct a needs assessment in these areas.
3. Begin laying the groundwork for AFSC involvement by establishing relationships with local agencies, churches and other grassroots/community based organizations.
4. Prepare a report on their findings.

Theme: Civil Rights, Economic Justice
Year: 2005
Content Type: Document
Before You Enlist

Before You Enlist

2006

Before You Enlist and After You Say No. A Counter-Recruitment Training Manual

 

Theme: Peacebuilding & Nonviolence Education
Year: 2006
Content Type: Document

"I Will Never Be Silenced": Testimonies of Hope from Colombian Women

2007

"I Will Never Be Silenced": Testimonies of Hope from Colombian Women was produced by many hands. Fellowship of Reconciliation and AFSC field staff in Colombia conducted the interviews of the women whose testimonies appear here.

Theme: Immigration & Refugees
Year: 2007
Content Type: Document
What Are We Afraid Of?

What Are We Afraid Of?

1988

What Are We Afraid Of?

An Assessment of the "Communist Threat" in Central America

A NARMIC - American Friends Service Committee Study by John Lamperti

Theme: Peacebuilding & Nonviolence Education
Year: 1988
Content Type: Document
Questions and Answers on the Soviet Threat and National Security

Questions and Answers on the Soviet Threat and National Security

1981

Theme: Peacebuilding & Nonviolence Education
Year: 1981
Content Type: Document
Jobs Security and Arms in Connecticut

Jobs Security and Arms in Connecticut

1980

A Study of The Impact of Military Spending on The State

Theme: Anti-Militarism, Peacebuilding & Nonviolence Education
Year: 1980
Content Type: Document
Buried Alive: Solitary Confinement in Arizona’s Prisons and Jails

Buried Alive: Solitary Confinement in Arizona’s Prisons and Jails

2008

StopMax is a national campaign spearheaded by the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) that seeks to end the use of long-term solitary confinement in prisons and jails. This report represents the launch of the StopMax Arizona campaign.

Theme: Prisons & Policing
Year: 2008
Content Type: Document
Report on the First LGBT Youth Empowerment Speakout

Report on the First LGBT Youth Empowerment Speakout

1993

This report documents an incredible example of a grassroots national commitment to hearing and addressing the needs and concerns of LGBT youth. No one group or individual was singularly responsible for making the 1993 Youth Empowerment Speakout (YES) a reality. Only by struggling together were organizers able to effectively bring together LGBT youth and youth supporters from around the country. The result was that on April 24 and 25, 1993, over 2,000 youths gathered to share their joys, frustrations, and visions of new possibilities. It is a testament to the hope and belief that change, while illusive, is feasible.

LGBT Rights

Theme: Peacebuilding & Nonviolence Education, Civil Rights
Year: 1993
Content Type: Document
Police Thereat to Political Liberty

Police Thereat to Political Liberty

1979

The authors of this report' conclude that police surveillance and record keeping for political reasons exist on a vast scale. Local, state and federal agencies, joined by private and quasi-private groups, coordinate their surveillance and share information, misinformation, and opinions. This "intelligence" activity remains largely uncontrolled, and poses a grave threat to constitutional rights of freedom of expression, due process, and privacy. Police surveillance and dossier-keeping have had a serious impact upon the poor, upon Blacks, Hispanic people, and other ethnic and cultural minorities. Surveillance indeed has been used to inhibit or stifle lawful attempts to seek redress for grievances or to effect social change.

NARMIC

Theme: Prisons & Policing
Year: 1979
Content Type: Document
Nonviolence not first for export

Nonviolence not first for export

1972

James E. Bristol started working for the AFSC in 1947 after serving time in prison as a conscientious objector. He became director of the Quaker Center in New Deli in 1957 and accompanied the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King when they made their historic trip to India. In this booklet, published in 1972 James Bristol espouses on the concept of nonviolent change/revolution and how, in some modern situations adopting a nonviolent stance is not always a practical position for those who are being oppressed.

Theme: Peacebuilding & Nonviolence Education
Year: 1972
Content Type: Document
World War II and its aftermath

World War II and its aftermath

This Quaker milk station in Barcelona was one of 16 set up to serve refugees and provide for children’s health during the Spanish Civil War.

Manuel Izquierdo fled Spain at age 14 and ended up at La Rouviere Quaker children’s colony, where he drew his diary. He lived to become a prominent artist in Portland, Oregon.

Sewing classes gave refugee women a way to support themselves and their families in a new life.

In 1938, a team from AFSC traveled to Germany to negotiate the delivery of urgent relief to the Jewish population and the release of as many Jews as possible. Once war broke out, the Nazi authorities ignored their promises.

As war overtook Europe, AFSC continued to manage the children’s colonies in southern France, taking in Jews and others fleeing the Nazis.

The colonies became havens for the most vulnerable children from the refugee camps—those who were alone or especially sick or frail.

A 1941 report stated that “Les Quakres Americains” were feeding 7,200 adult refugees and 800 children daily in camps and hospitals.

While providing medical support to prisoners at Gurs internment camp, Norwegian nurse Alice Resch Synnestvedt managed to smuggle buses filled with Jewish children to her Quaker colleague Mary Elmes in a nearby town.

Mary Elmes (right) would gather or create papers needed for the children’s evacuation to safety in the United States.

AFSC established several hostels for displaced Europeans in the U.S. and Latin America, including the Finca Paso Seco Hostel in Cuba.

The Friends Ambulance Unit, staffed chiefly by conscientious objectors, served throughout Europe, as well as China, India, and Greece. This mobile surgery operated in Pao-shan Yunnan, China in 1946.

AFSC continued our commitment to victims of war even after hostilities ended. These German children welcomed the Quaker truck that brought them milk.

AFSC staffer Esther Rhoads distributes milk to children in post-war Japan.

In 1947, AFSC and British Friends Service Council accepted the Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of Quakers worldwide for efforts to heal rifts and oppose war. The prize emphasized work during and after both world wars to feed starving children and help Europe rebuild itself.

When the British Mandate over Palestine ended in 1948, the ensuing war left hundreds of thousands of Palestinians as refugees in Gaza. AFSC took an active role in their well-being.

During the Spanish Civil War, AFSC joined British Quakers in feeding displaced children on both sides of the conflict. After Franco’s victory, the relief moved to the south of France, where Spanish refugees were soon joined by many others fleeing the Nazis. AFSC staff worked to assist people in these refugee camps and to secretly transport children to safety. Numerous “hostels” were created across Europe, in the U.S., and in Cuba to provide safe haven for tens of thousands of Jews. 

The Friends Ambulance Unit worked to save lives across Europe and in China. They also organized medical care for people trapped inside transit, forced labor, and refugee camps.

According to the committee that awarded the Nobel Peace Prize to AFSC in 1947: “The end of World War II brought a burst of AFSC effort, with Quakers engaged in relief and reconstruction in many of the countries of Europe, as well as in India, China, and Japan. In 1947, the Service Committee helped to resettle refugees who had lost their homes as a result of communal rioting over the partition of India; and in 1948, Quaker workers undertook a program of relief for Arab refugees on the Gaza Strip.

Content Type: Slide show
Resisting the Vietnam War

Resisting the Vietnam War

Despite intense Cold War politics, AFSC promoted broad antiwar coalitions that included mainline churches, student groups, labor unions, and more radical organizations.

At the end of 1965, AFSC released this devastating report on the situation in Southeast Asia. It intensified opposition to the war and inspired us to focus even more on peace education.

The researchers of NARMIC drew on many sources to expose the military industrial complex. Their slide shows and reports were widely used by churches and peace groups.

NARMIC’s slide show on the automated air war revealed the military’s strategy to “give wherever possible the appearance of peace while executing war; replace the man with the machine.”

The draft brought many young men who opposed the war to AFSC for military counseling.

Defying a U.S. embargo, AFSC sent medical supplies to North Vietnam. Here, a staffer delivers cardiac surgery equipment to the Viet-German Friendship Hospital in Hanoi in 1969.

At AFSC’s Quang Ngai rehabilitation hospital in South Vietnam, patients from both sides of the conflict received treatment side-by-side.

Ingeniously designed U.S. sensors and explosives uncovered by NARMIC harmed only people, not buildings or military equipment.

This sensor, designed by Honeywell Corporation to look like animal dung, sends a signal when stepped on that allows a computer to trigger a bomb.

After the war, unexploded ordnance continued to injure and kill. A flat shovel was safer than a traditional hoe for turning the earth. The Shovels for Laos project sent over 500,000 shovels to mine-laden areas.

By 1978, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam were all closed to Americans. But Laotians trusted AFSC enough to let our staff remain and work in the most remote, impoverished areas.

From 1965-70, AFSC helped build the antiwar coalitions that challenged U.S. policy in Vietnam.  Bridging the divide between liberal faith groups and more radical antiwar resisters, we argued for a big tent and broad peace movement. Through our research and communication project NARMIC (National Action/Research on the Military Industrial Complex), we provided critical facts and analysis to help activists confront corporate war profiteers. For years, AFSC and Quakers were also at the center of the draft resistance movement.

After President Nixon announced the “end of war” in 1973, NARMIC and our staff on the ground in Vietnam revealed another story.  Automated weapons were continuing to rain terror from the skies, not only in Vietnam, but also in Cambodia and Laos. From 1973-75, we campaigned and convened stakeholders to help bring a real end to hostilities. By 1978, when few nongovernmental organizations were permitted to remain in the region, AFSC continued to work for peace and reconciliation, having earned trust on all sides.

Learn about AFSC's current work to build Global Peace.

Theme: Peacebuilding & Nonviolence Education
Content Type: Slide show
Supporting immigrants and refugees

Supporting immigrants and refugees

In 1987, Maria Jimenez founded ILEMP, AFSC’s counter-surveillance program for border patrol activity along the U.S.-Mexico border. Based in Houston, Texas, Jimenez solicited and investigated reports of violence and racial profiling.

Roberto Martinez (with microphone) coordinated ILEMP activities in San Diego, California. From 1987-90, ILEMP documented 380 cases of excessive force, racial harassment, and sexual assault.

Our “Project Voice” brought immigrants and allies together to push for comprehensive immigration reform and a clear path to citizenship.

The principles that guide our work with immigrant communities come from nine decades of experience. Published originally as “A New Path,” these principles have influenced other immigrant rights groups, as well.

In 2002, our Denver office helped immigrant workers start “El Centro,” the first immigrant- run day laborers’ organization in Colorado.

AFSC staff and partners around the country joined the millions of people rallying for immigration reform in 2006.

AFSC piloted our Citizenship Training Institute in Florida in 2008, reaching out to the region’s immigrant communities with leadership development courses.

At AFSC’s Pan Valley Institute (PVI) in California, immigrants can learn, organize, and develop leadership skills. Each year PVI’s Tamejavi Festival brings the diverse communities of the Central Valley together to celebrate their cultures.

Preventing family separation has been a major theme of our work. Here, an immigrant family from New Jersey participates in a 2014 Capitol Hill lobbying day coordinated by our Newark office.

In May 2015, AFSC co-sponsored a rally in San Diego protesting killings by the Border Patrol.

At this 2015 demonstration, we joined partners to demand an end to the Congressional mandate that requires Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to maintain 34,000 beds for immigrant detention at all times.

From our origins during WWI, AFSC has been committed to opening hearts and communities to refugees and migrants. Decades of work in regions plagued by war, drought, famine, and economic oppression have given us an up-close view of the “push factors” of migration.

We have also confronted the abuse of those migrating across borders. In the late 1970s, we began work at the U.S.–Mexico border and in 1987 our Immigration Law Enforcement Monitoring Program (ILEMP) was one of the first efforts to address human-rights abuses by the U.S. Border Patrol. At the same time, AFSC programs in San Diego, Newark, South Florida, Denver, and elsewhere were also becoming active in various immigration issues.

In 2002, this work was united as Project Voice, which laid out a strategy and principles for achieving comprehensive immigration reform. Those ideas influence our work today, as we document abuses, provide legal services, accompany migrant and immigrant movements, and build alliances with others who share our vision.

Content Type: Slide show

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