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Library Exhibit Focuses on “Assertive Quakers”

story and photos by Jesse Soll ’95

“All bloody principles and practices...we do utterly deny, with all outward wars and strife and fighting with outward weapons, for any end or under any pretense whatsoever.”
—George Fox, Peace Testimony

MS/US Librarian Lawrence Gibson’s latest mini-gallery exhibit outside the third floor library (see excerpts at right) focuses on “Assertive Quakers,” including George Fox, William Penn, Elizabeth Gurney Fox, John Woolman, and the American Friends Service Committee. Gibson’s inspiration for this display was the talk of war with Iraq. “I wanted to show another point of view and to focus on the pacifist ‘peace testimony,’” he says.

Gibson has used displays as an educational tool since early in his career as an educator at both public and private schools in Annapolis, Maryland. These days he tries to make thematic changes monthly, always with a focus on current issues. Says Gibson, “The displays are intended to promote thinking and reading of available sources at Brooklyn Friends. I also chose “Assertive Quakers” as a theme because I wanted to promote Quakers as more than pacifists given to quiet contemplation and simplicity.”

Quakers have been highly active advocates of non-violence for centuries, from the abolitionist movement and the women’s rights movement to bringing aid to North Vietnam during the Vietnam War. The names and faces displayed are in his display are “assertive men and women who have courageously challenged prevailing dogma and practices, acted in defiance of unjust laws, endured public scorn and persecution and been assiduous movers and shakers in redressing social ills.”

Did you know that the generosity of the Will Sparks Memorial Fund has made possible numerous purchases of titles about Quakerism and pacifism? New titles for 2001-02 included: • George Fox & the Quakers • Growing into Goodness: Essays on Quaker Education • Truth of the Heart: An Anthology of George Fox • A Living Faith: An Historical and Comparative Study of Quaker Beliefs • Plain Living: A Quaker Path to Simplicity • To Try the Bloody Law: The Story of Mary Dyer • Teaching Conflict Resolution Through Children’s Literature • The Essential Writings of Mahatma Gandhi • I Have A Dream: Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Writings and Speeches That Changed the World • Against the Death Penalty: Christian and Secular Arguments Against Capital Punishment Visit the US library often to browse!