History, Truth and Trouble
"Walk cheerfully over the world, answering that of God in everyone."
Quakers in America
Underground Railroad
Quakers were early and active participants in the Underground Railroad, driven by the belief in the equality of all people and in the immorality of slavery. (Painting - Charles T. Webber, 1893)
Women’s Rights
Alice Paul, an uncompromising Quaker suffragist, master tactician and non-violent resister, organized the first ever picket line at the White House in 1917.
Quakers Speak Truth to Power
Humanitarian Relief
The 1947 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the Quakers, represented by the American Friends Service Committee and the British Friends Service Council. (Archives / AFSC)
Civil Rights
Quakers led, organized and joined the 1963 March on Washington. In 1964 the American Friends Service Committee nominated MLK for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Quakers Get into “Good Trouble”
Draft Resistance Counseling
During the Vietnam War the American Friends Service Committee was a primary resource to counsel and support men from 1965-1973 wishing to avoid the draft on moral grounds. (Archives / AFSC)
Immigration
Portland Quakers (with other faith leaders) were arrested during a “Pray In” at the offic of Sen. Susan Collins’, 27 January 2026 (Nora Saks, Maine Public)