Barefoot Friends

I was born and raised among Friends and attended both programmed and unprogrammed meeting for worship during childhood. My paternal family roots reach to England and Ireland in Valentine Hollingsworth’s line. This post includes the beginning of a poem about walking together and a brief on the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) with further references.

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If I were barefoot and you were barefoot

and we had walked a long way together….

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Quakers - also know as Religious Society of Friends or Friends of Truth or simply Friends

Quakerism is a Christian faith founded by George Fox mid-17th century. Fox called those who gathered around him to know Christ as “no dim and distant figure”, but a Friend “whose living witness shone in their inmost hearts.” Quaker faith in practice, thus, turns one inward for knowing Truth.

In traditional worship, Friends gather in silence with no intermediate between the individual and divine wisdom. When led, Friends speak with the understanding that what they’ve received in silence is meant for all to hear. For a brief introduction to the Religious Society of Friends, please read About Quakers at Friends General Conference.

For an in-depth look at racial discrimination and first-person African American experience among Friends, please read Fit For Freedom, Not For Friendship—Quakers, African Americans, and the Myth of Racial Justice by Donna McDaniel and Vanessa Julye and Black Fire—African American Quakers on Spirituality and Human Rights edited by H.D. Weaver Jr., P. Kriese, and S.W. Angell (FGC QuakerBooks).

For current work on genocide, colonization, and forced assimilation of Native peoples, please see F(f)riend Paula Palmer’s work Toward Right Relationship with Native Peoples via Friends Peace Teams. Paula speaks about the Lasting trauma of Quaker Indigenous boarding schools in a 2023 Quaker Speak interview.

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