Prelude In the 1850s, Maysville was a town in slaveowning Kentucky, on the watery border with free state Ohio, just across the busy Ohio river. This border was hotly contested in those years: numerous abolitionists had settled nearby around Aberdeen and Ripley on the Ohio side. Many enslaved people made for the town, to attempt … Continue reading 3-D Quakerism, Lucretia Mott— Stirring Up Trouble?
Communists & Quakers The Redbaiter-In-Chief hasn’t said it yet, but he could: Quakers and Communists go together like kale and potlucks. It’s not a new story, or set of stories. Until this summer I wouldn’t have mentioned them other than for occasional nostalgia value. But then in June, # 47 yanked a rattling skeleton out … Continue reading Quakers & Communists– A Quick Dog Days History
ELIZABETH FRY Adapted from a presentation by Sue Fry, an attender at Spring Friends Meeting in Snow Camp, North Carolina, on July 12, 2026 Elizabeth Gurney Fry — born in 1780 in Norfolk, England, about 100 miles NE of London — was a pioneering English social reformer and Quaker minister whose spent her life … Continue reading Guest Post: Elizabeth Fry
So 2025 is a municipal election year in North Carolina, with seemingly little to catch wider public attention. A crowd of candidates with only local name recognition was running for council and mayoral seats in scores of small and medium-size towns — not the ones on those annoying clickbait lists of 20-best-places-to-retire-as-a-left-handed-nearsighted-single-cat-person pickle baller; such … Continue reading Hey, Big Political Media — You MISSED Tuesday’s NC Political Earthquake!
Milton Mayer was born on August 24, 1908. He was a journalist, scholar, moral philosopher, terrific writer — and a Quaker. A Jewish Quaker. A southerner Jewish Quaker. He wrote some of the most potent, challenging, memorable Quaker essays and books of the past century. He was also funny. He and his work deserve to … Continue reading Who?? Happy Birthday to One of the Most Important Quaker Writers Most of Us Never Heard of