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Event
QUAKERS: The Quiet Revolutionaries
Title Includes
AMERICAN
A veteran who works as a volunteer at the Japanese American National Museum, encounters a mother and her young daughter, triggering events that happened in his past, including his time as a young man in a Japanese American Internment Camp and later serving with the 442 in WWII.
QUAKERS: The Quiet Revolutionaries
QUAKERS: The Quiet Revolutionaries opens with father and daughter activists Ingrid and George Lakey, founders of Earth Quaker Action Team (EQAT). Ms. Lakey is shouting through a bullhorn on a Philadelphia sidewalk when we first meet her. We show their group waging a successful national campaign to make PNC Bank give up financing mountaintop removal coal mining. 'We can do it!' says Ingrid. 'It's in our DNA.' Alice Paul, an eighth generation New Jersey Quaker who studied at the feet of Emmeline Pankhurst in England, was an important force in the fight to pass the Nineteenth Amendment. Braving imprisonment and torture, her group of suffragists were the first to picket the White House. After a 75-year struggle, women finally won the right to vote. Historical events such as protests for women's suffrage are intercut with interviews with contemporary Quakers. Says Ingrid Lakey: 'I stand on their shoulders.' The narrative of the film is driven by stories of Quakers led, like Ingrid Lakey, by their unique vision. Revolutionaries from the start, Quakers defied the Church of England and embraced racial and gender equality. Using verite and archival footage, interviews, voiceover quotations, and graphic animations, we reveal nearly four centuries of Quaker activism. At least a quarter of the film was shot on location in England. Quaker historian Ben Pink Dandelion (Birmingham University, UK) takes us back to post-Civil War England in the 1650's, where George Fox's vision of 'that of God in everyone' took root. Those drawn to his new religion 'lived in the light,' valuing personal spirituality over institutionalized religion. Quakers were persecuted, tortured and even killed, which continued with their arrival in the New World. The Religious Society of Friends, commonly known as Quakers, insisted on fixed price trading, insuring a reputation for reliability and honesty. The Quaker on the cereal box is one of many advertisements we show taking advantage of that reputation. Their early testimonies of equality, integrity, community and peace remain fundamental to Quakers today. Starting as early as the 1700s, Quakers encouraged their members to choose between slaveholding and their faith. This led to many Quakers leaving the South and becoming leaders in the Underground Railroad. We explore an abolitionist's safe house in Indiana to a jazz riff by Dizzy Gillespie. Bayard Rustin, a Quaker credited with introducing Martin Luther King to nonviolent direct action, was chief organizer of the March on Washington in 1963. He introduces us to the Peace Testimony as one who chose prison as an alternative to serving in World War II. Author and activist George Lakey has also spent time in prison standing up for his beliefs. Says his daughter Ingrid: 'We are using Quaker worship as part of what we do...You don't need your faith over here and your activism over here, they can be one.' This film is not a valentine to Quakerism. We are critical of controversial Quaker presidents Richard Nixon and Herbert Hoover, who are disparaged by historians and activists. We also introduce an African American author who has a critical view of the Quakers' approach to desegregation in the 1960s and 70s. She speaks out despite the fact that she happens to be a Friend herself. We hope that these stories of partnership between faith and activism can start a conversation to help us navigate these troubled times.
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LocationMoses Brown School: Woodman Family Community and Performance Center (View)
250 Lloyd Ave
Providence, RI 02903
United States
Categories
| Non-Smoking: Yes! |
| Wheelchair Accessible: Yes! |
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Contact
Attendees
Dave M.
Kingston, RI United States
Aug 09, 2018 4:36 PM |
Dave M.
Kingston, RI United States
Aug 09, 2018 4:36 PM |
Name Withheld
Providence, RI United States
Aug 09, 2018 9:06 AM |
Nancy W.
Providence, RI United States
Aug 03, 2018 6:09 PM |
Nancy W.
Providence, RI United States
Aug 03, 2018 6:09 PM |
Melvyn B.
Providence, RI United States
Aug 03, 2018 7:37 AM |
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