Dear Friend,
As mid-term elections approach, communities nationwide are organizing to protect our right to vote. AFSC has a long history of working to protect this right. During the Civil Rights movement, we sent volunteers to the South to teach citizenship education, and today we continue to advocate for voting rights for all.
This month our Protect, Resist, and Build webinar focused on civil resistance and election defense. We were joined by Freedom Trainers who provided crucial information and explored pre- and post-election scenarios with us. Watch a recording of the webinar to learn skills you can put into action right away. Together, we can resist authoritarianism in peace and solidarity.
Tonya Histand
Director of Public Engagement
Alumni news & notes
A new exhibit opened at the Barnes Museum in Philadelphia featuring the works of six Japanese American artists. All the artists were forcibly incarcerated in internment camps during World War II. At least two of the artists, George Nakashima and Ruth Asawa, were assisted and eventually released through AFSC programs. Ruth went on to participate in an AFSC workcamp in Mexico in the 1940s.
Bob Wilcox was a long-time member of AFSC’s Central and Midwest Executive Committees. But he was best known in St. Louis as a theater critic who saw over 200 shows a year. Read more about Bob’s life.
Aishah Shahidah Simmons’ papers are now open for research at Duke University’s Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library. The 39-linear-foot collection documents more than three decades of filmmaking, writing, Black feminist survivor-centered cultural work, her work at AFSC, and personal history.
As a young conscientious objector to the Korean War, Frank Barry went to Mexico with AFSC. He took along a camera to document his love of chasing trains. Frank’s work has appeared in over 90 publications, and he has published two books of his own.
Arthur Dye worked for AFSC in Philadelphia and Seattle. In Philadelphia, he counseled conscientious objectors at a time when young Americans were being drafted to fight in Vietnam. Some of the proudest moments of his career date back to his time as executive secretary of AFSC’s Pacific Northwest regional office.
Kathy Knight worked for AFSC's New England office in the early 1970’s on Southeast Asia work. During the Vietnam war, she became active with AFSC and remained active in the Boston area peace movement for decades.
Cozine Welch Jr., who worked as a statewide organizer with AFSC's Michigan Criminal Justice Program, has been named the Detroit Justice Center's first Formerly Incarcerated Artist in Residence, and his new performance piece is already making national headlines.
Do you have news to share? Email us today!
Updates from AFSC
AFSC sues Trump administration
Earlier this year, AFSC and three other organizations filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration. We’re challenging its attempt to silence and punish people defending the rights of Palestinians and other victims of war crimes. At issue is an executive order that sanctions people connected to the International Criminal Court and threatens to penalize groups, like AFSC, that work with them. This is against everything we stand for as a Quaker organization; it is a dangerous affront to our constitutional rights and our religious freedoms.
What is bird dogging? And why should you learn how?
Bird-dogging is the disciplined art of seeking out a public official and asking polite but pointed questions to hold them accountable—in public, on the record, where they can’t easily dodge. Any one of us can hold people in power accountable with nothing more than a direct question.
In Gaza, we have witnessed a genocide perpetrated by the Israeli military that has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians and injured many more. Although a ceasefire was declared in October 2025, people continue to face starvation and disease. Most hospitals are shuttered, and 90% of homes and buildings are uninhabitable. Nearly all of Gaza's population—2 million people— has been displaced, and its people still urgently need food, water, medical supplies, fuel, and other essentials. AFSC's emergency relief effort is helping to alleviate suffering in the short term and reduce inequality and oppression in the long term.
From our Archives
AFSC’s Archives were highlighted during a program at the Portland Library focusing on the life and legacy of Ann Hibino. Ann was a resident of Portland from 1951 until her death in 1998. In 1991, AFSC collected an oral history about her life before, during, and after World War II. Ann and 120,000 other Japanese American citizens who lived on the West Coast were forcibly incarcerated by the American government. In this video Ann's daughter, Diane Hibino, reads excerpts from Ann's interview and discusses her life in California, Utah (at Topaz War Relocation Center), and in Portland CT.
More ways to take action and connect with AFSC:
- Fundraise for AFSC!
- ICE out of our communities!
- No war with Iran
- Are you interested in receiving life income while supporting AFSC? A gift annuity is easy to arrange. Reach out to GiftPlanning@afsc.org or visit us online.
Thank you for reading our AFSC Alumni Newsletter!