Live in the Philadelphia area? Interested in Quaker, Philadelphia, or library history? I’ll be at Darby Friends Meeting House at 10 a.m. on Sunday, May 1, with others celebrating a new federal grant made to the Darby Free Library. Darby Free Library is the oldest library in continuous use in the U.S., founded by Darby Friends in 1743. Come tour the Darby Friends burial ground, join in Meeting for Worship, and learn more about Darby Friends and abolition. I’m not organizing this event, but lmk if you have questions.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darby_Free_Library
10: – 10: 45: Meet for a walking tour of the Darby Friends Burial Ground
11:00 – 11:45: Participate in Meeting for Worship at the Meetinghouse
Attend at your preference, or spend more time at DFBG. They are 2 blocks apart.
12:00 – 12:50: Lunch + meet & greet
1:00 – 1:30: Press event, with Congresswoman Scanlon
1:45 – 3:45: Presentation: The Darby Quakers, the first 200 years.
Chiefly, this is about abolition. When Quakers came in 1682, 70% were slaveholders — but the Darby Quakers were not. As early as 1693 they began to work to convince their brethren of the error of their ways. It took 92 years for the Quakers to ban slavery amongst Friends. they then broadened and expanded their efforts to end slavery in our country.