The Quaker testimony regarding justice, equality and community is based on a belief in the uniqueness and preciousness of every human being. This testimony sees Quakers working to help and support prisoners, refugees and asylum seekers. Quakers have a long history of opposing injustice, whether that of the international slave trade, or the economic injustice of an unequal society.
The Quaker testimony regarding justice, equality and community is based on a belief in the uniqueness and preciousness of every human being. This testimony sees Quakers working to help and support prisoners, refugees and asylum seekers. Quakers have a long history of opposing injustice, whether that of the international slave trade, or the economic injustice of an unequal society. Several examples illustrate this point.
Elizabeth Fry and Prison Reform
Elizabeth Gurney (1780 - 1845) was born in Norwich into a prominent Quaker family. When she was 18 years of age she was moved by the preaching of an American Quaker, William Savery, to take an interest in poor people (for whom she collected old clothes), sick people in her neighbourhood (who she visited), the need for children to be able to read (for whom she set up a Sunday School), and people who were in prison. When she was 20 she married Joseph Fry, and they moved to London where the family remained until her final illness. She gave birth to eleven children.
Elizabeth Fry was invited to visit Newgate prison for women. (To be continued ...)
William Tuke and the human treatment of people with compromised mental health
(To be continued ...)
Quaker Settlers in North America and Indigenous Peoples
(To be continued ...)