From women's suffrage to abolition, Quakers have done religion right
If you're like most Americans, what you know about Quakers begins and ends with the guy on the container of oats. But this religious group has been at the heart of the most important activist fights.
Quakers are not often discussed in modern culture, but maybe they should be, because there is a lot we can learn from them, and take from their philosophy. For instance, Quakers have been at the forefront of the fights to free the slaves and to obtain voting rights for women.
Quakers — or members of the the Religious Society of Friends — believe that all human beings are equal and thus deserve respect, and their fundamentalism when it comes to belief was at the cornerstone of the early fight for abolition. According to PBS, “The Quaker campaign to end slavery can be traced back to the late 1600s, and many played a pivotal role in the Underground Railroad.”
“In 1776, Quakers were prohibited from owning slaves, and 14 years later they petitioned the U.S. Congress for the abolition of slavery,” the outlet reported.
Among the first White people to oppose slavery, the Quakers stood in contrast to other faith-based groups with Christian roots. Bishop Stephen Elliott, the 37th bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States, used his religion to justify slavery.
He said:
“For nearly a hundred years the English and American Churches have been striving to civilize and Christianize Western Africa, and with what result? Around Sierra Leone, and in the neighborhood of Cape Palmas, a few natives have been made Christians, and some nations have been partially civilized; but what a small number in comparison with the thousands, nay, I may say millions, who have learned the way to Heaven and who have been made to know their Savior through the means of African slavery!”
According to Quaker history, the group’s opposition to slavery began with George Fox, who fought for better treatment of slaves in the 1670s in Barbados. That trend continued throughout the years, leading to Quakers being the first to petition for slaves to be freed in the U.S. Most importantly, Quakers still fight for slaves to this very day.
More than that, their belief in equality also led them to fight for women’s rights. According to PBS, “the early days Quaker views toward women were remarkably progressive, and by the 19th century many Quakers were active in the movement for women's rights.”
“One of the earliest suffragettes was Quaker minister Lucretia Mott, a fierce abolitionist who refused to use cotton cloth, cane sugar, and other slavery-produced goods. Frustrated by anti-slavery organizations that would not accept female members, Mott set about establishing women's abolitionist societies,” PBS reported. “In 1848 Mott helped bring together the first American women's rights meeting in Seneca Falls, New York, and was elected as the first president of the American Equal Rights Association after the end of the Civil War. When slavery was outlawed in 1865, she didn't stop her activist aims and began to advocate giving black Americans the right to vote.”
Susan B. Anthony, another Quaker, also dedicated her life to attaining equal voting rights for women in the U.S.
“Quaker commitment to bettering the lives of women continued through until the 20th century. Prominent suffrage leader Alice Paul, widely recognized as helping to deliver the vote for women in the United States in 1920, attributed her Quaker upbringing for her beliefs on rights for women,” the PBS report states.
It doesn’t even end there. Quakers have also fought for prison reform rights, as well as the treatment of mentally ill individuals.
That being said, all Quakers have not always done everything right. This Doing Religion Right series represents a positive snapshot associated with a religion or religious individual, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t negative aspects, as well. Some Quakers, for instance, opposed same-sex unions.
Stay Reasonable!
David G. McAfee