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American Friends Service Committee
The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) is a Quaker-founded organization working for peace and social justice in the United States and around the world. AFSC was founded in 1917 as a combined effort by American members of the Religious Society of Friends to assist civilian victims of World War I. It continued to engage in relief action in Europe and the Soviet Union after the Armistice of 1918. By the mid-1920s, AFSC focused on improving racial relations, immigration policy, and labor conditions in the U.S., as well as exploring ways to prevent the outbreak of another conflict before and after World War II.
As the Cold War developed, the organization began to employ more professionals rather than Quaker volunteers. Over time, it broadened its appeal and began to respond more forcefully to racial injustice, international peacebuilding, migration and refugee issues, women's issues, and the demands of sexual minorities for equal treatment. Currently, the organization's three priorities include work on peacebuilding, a focus on just economies, and humane responses to the global migration crisis.
Quakers traditionally oppose violence in all of its forms and therefore many refuse to serve in the military, even when drafted. AFSC's original mission arose from the need to provide conscientious objectors (COs) with a constructive alternative to military service. In 1947, AFSC, along with its British counterpart, the Friends Service Council (now known as Quaker Peace and Social Witness), received the Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of all Quakers worldwide.
Established in 1917 by Friends from different branches of American Quakerism, AFSC is connected to the Religious Society of Friends through its official Corporation, which is established in the organization's bylaws: "The members of the Corporation shall be those persons, being members of the Religious Society of Friends, as may from time to time be appointed to membership in accordance with the provisions of these Bylaws." The members are a combination of "Yearly Meeting appointees" and "at-large members."
In April 1917, just days after the United States entered World War I by declaring war on Germany and its allies, a group of Quakers met in Philadelphia to discuss the impending military draft and its impact on members of peace churches such as Quakers, Mennonites, Brethren, and the Amish. They developed ideas for alternative services that could be performed directly in the battle zones of northern France.
They also developed plans for dealing with the United States Army, since it had been inconsistent in its dealing with religious objectors to previous wars. Although legally members of pacifist churches were exempt from the draft, individual state draft boards interpreted the law in a variety of ways. Many Quakers and other COs were ordered to report to army camps for military service. Some COs, unaware of the significance of reporting for duty, found that this was interpreted by the military as a willingness to fight. One of the AFSC's first tasks was to identify COs, find the camps where they were located, and then visit them to provide spiritual guidance and moral support. In areas where the pacifist churches were more well known (such as Pennsylvania), a number of draft boards were willing to assign COs to AFSC for alternative service.
In addition to organizing alternative service programs for COs, AFSC collected relief in the form of food, clothing, and other supplies for displaced persons in France. Quakers were encouraged to donate old and make new garments; grow fruits and vegetables, can them, and send them to AFSC headquarters in Philadelphia. The AFSC then shipped these materials to France for distribution. Young men and women were sent to work in France alongside British Quakers, providing relief and medical care to refugees, repairing and rebuilding homes, assisting farmers in replanting fields damaged by the war, and founding a maternity hospital.
After World War I ended in 1918, AFSC expanded its work to Russia, Serbia, and Poland, assisting orphans and victims of famine and disease. In Germany and Austria, they established kitchens to feed hungry children. Eventually, AFSC was chartered by President Herbert Hoover to provide United States-sponsored relief to Germans.
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American Friends Service Committee
The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) is a Quaker-founded organization working for peace and social justice in the United States and around the world. AFSC was founded in 1917 as a combined effort by American members of the Religious Society of Friends to assist civilian victims of World War I. It continued to engage in relief action in Europe and the Soviet Union after the Armistice of 1918. By the mid-1920s, AFSC focused on improving racial relations, immigration policy, and labor conditions in the U.S., as well as exploring ways to prevent the outbreak of another conflict before and after World War II.
As the Cold War developed, the organization began to employ more professionals rather than Quaker volunteers. Over time, it broadened its appeal and began to respond more forcefully to racial injustice, international peacebuilding, migration and refugee issues, women's issues, and the demands of sexual minorities for equal treatment. Currently, the organization's three priorities include work on peacebuilding, a focus on just economies, and humane responses to the global migration crisis.
Quakers traditionally oppose violence in all of its forms and therefore many refuse to serve in the military, even when drafted. AFSC's original mission arose from the need to provide conscientious objectors (COs) with a constructive alternative to military service. In 1947, AFSC, along with its British counterpart, the Friends Service Council (now known as Quaker Peace and Social Witness), received the Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of all Quakers worldwide.
Established in 1917 by Friends from different branches of American Quakerism, AFSC is connected to the Religious Society of Friends through its official Corporation, which is established in the organization's bylaws: "The members of the Corporation shall be those persons, being members of the Religious Society of Friends, as may from time to time be appointed to membership in accordance with the provisions of these Bylaws." The members are a combination of "Yearly Meeting appointees" and "at-large members."
In April 1917, just days after the United States entered World War I by declaring war on Germany and its allies, a group of Quakers met in Philadelphia to discuss the impending military draft and its impact on members of peace churches such as Quakers, Mennonites, Brethren, and the Amish. They developed ideas for alternative services that could be performed directly in the battle zones of northern France.
They also developed plans for dealing with the United States Army, since it had been inconsistent in its dealing with religious objectors to previous wars. Although legally members of pacifist churches were exempt from the draft, individual state draft boards interpreted the law in a variety of ways. Many Quakers and other COs were ordered to report to army camps for military service. Some COs, unaware of the significance of reporting for duty, found that this was interpreted by the military as a willingness to fight. One of the AFSC's first tasks was to identify COs, find the camps where they were located, and then visit them to provide spiritual guidance and moral support. In areas where the pacifist churches were more well known (such as Pennsylvania), a number of draft boards were willing to assign COs to AFSC for alternative service.
In addition to organizing alternative service programs for COs, AFSC collected relief in the form of food, clothing, and other supplies for displaced persons in France. Quakers were encouraged to donate old and make new garments; grow fruits and vegetables, can them, and send them to AFSC headquarters in Philadelphia. The AFSC then shipped these materials to France for distribution. Young men and women were sent to work in France alongside British Quakers, providing relief and medical care to refugees, repairing and rebuilding homes, assisting farmers in replanting fields damaged by the war, and founding a maternity hospital.
After World War I ended in 1918, AFSC expanded its work to Russia, Serbia, and Poland, assisting orphans and victims of famine and disease. In Germany and Austria, they established kitchens to feed hungry children. Eventually, AFSC was chartered by President Herbert Hoover to provide United States-sponsored relief to Germans.