Tag Archives: conscientious objection

Celebrating 75 years of the Center on Conscience and War

Swarthmore College McCabe Library Exhibit celebrating 75 years of work in defense of conscience and objection to war from The Center on Conscience and War.

Open to the public
July 9-27, 2015

Reception and opening event for the exhibit:
July 16, 2015,
11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
McCabe Library, Lobby
Refreshments served

For 75 Years the Center on Conscience and War has been working to assist those whose conscience leads them to object to war, as conscientious objectors. Hear from past and current conscientious objectors, including:

Bill Galvin, CCW’s Counseling Coordinator and Vietnam-era CO
Bill Yolton, CCW’s former Director
former Senior Airman Jarrod Grammel, whose CO application was approved earlier this year

Learn about the current legal climate for rights of conscience in the U.S. from Peter Goldberger, a local lawyer, from Ardmore, PA, who has practiced CO law for some three decades.

Contact Wendy Chmielewski (wchmiel1@swarthmore.edu) for more information.

100th anniversary of the start of World War I

Recognition of the 100th anniversary of the start of World War I-the Great War

Swarthmore College Peace Collection

Anti-conscription demonstration 1916

Wendy Chmielewski, Curator of the Peace Collection attended the “Resistance to War” conference at the University of Hull (UK), September 7-9, 2014 . The conference included presentations historians and other scholars from the UK and other countries focused on resistance to war from the mid nineteenth century through World War I. Chmielewski presented a paper on the role of women in fundraising efforts that financed the peace movement in Great Britain in the 1850s.

On September 30th, Anne Yoder, Peace Collection Archivist, spoke on World War I conscientious objection at the Kate Furness Public Library in Wallingford, Pennsylvania. This presentation was part of the Furness Library’s program recognizing the centenary of the Great War.

Yoder and Chmielewski will both be attending the “World War I: Dissent, Activism, and Transformation” conference at Georgian Court University (NJ), and co-sponsored by the Peace History Society, in mid October. Yoder will be speaking about WWI conscientious objectors, David and Julius Eichel. Chmielewski will present on the war and anti-rhetoric in the suffrage speeches and writings of movement leaders Carrie Chapman Catt and Jane Addams. Both papers will use resources housed in the Peace Collection.

Peace Collection staff have contributed articles on resistance to World War I as part of the new web site “Home Before the Leaves Fall, Digital Resources in the Delaware Valley on the Great War”. The web site <http://wwionline.org/> contains information about resources in the Peace Collection and Friends Historical Library on peace congresses leading up to the war, women efforts for peace from 1914 onward, conscientious objectors, the varieties of opposition to the war, and the work of British and American Quaker relief organizations.

Gratitude for Ann Yasuhara

We have learned that one of our Swarthmore alums, Ann Yasuhara, passed away on June 11,2014. Ann, a Quaker, had become a strong influence in the direct action organization, Earth Quaker Action Team (EQAT), working to end mountaintop removal coal mining in Appalachia. Friends lovingly referred to her as their “Mountain Woman”. EQAT recently honored Ann as one of their Elders at a special ceremony at the Friends Center on Cherry Street in Philadelphia.

Others gathered for a memorial service and outdoor reception in Princeton:

We encourage you to read all of the obituary published in Princeton’s Town Topics, but we offer a few excerpts here:

A logician and computer scientist, she was known for combining her Quaker faith with action focused on peace, social justice, racial equality, and the environment. Her life balanced her love for the sacredness of all life, the compassionate concerns of a Quaker activist for the world and the local community, her delight in music, gardening, and art, and her generosity to friends and family. Ann Yasuhara belonged to the living tradition of Quaker spirit-led peace and justice activists. Unflagging in her resistance to war and violence, she studied the philosophy and methods of non-violent resolution of conflict with George Lakey, the noted Quaker peace activist. In turn, she led training groups for inner city children.

Most recently she enthusiastically supported — and went on protests with — the nonviolent direct action group, Earth Quaker Action Team (EQAT), which works to end mountaintop removal coal mining. On her 79th birthday she protested on a strenuous mountain climb in West Virginia mining country. In January, just before she was diagnosed with cancer, the Philadelphia-based group honored her as one of its outstanding “wise elders.”

“Ann was a leader in the Quaker faith and an inspiration to all of us. She set the bar very high and gave us confidence to fight for a better world,” says Janet Gardner, a documentary film maker at the Gardner Group and a member of Princeton Friends Meeting.

We appreciate Ann for her profound influence on so many pursuing peace and justice.

Conscientious Objectors Serving the Mentally Ill During World War II

Behind the Gates: Conscientious Objectors Serving the Mentally Ill During World War II

Friday, October 4, 2:30 pm

McCabe’s Popular Reading Room, Main Floor

Swarthmore College

Open to the Public. Directions to campus.

Wendy Chmielewski, Curator of the Peace Collection, [and a member of the Peace and Conflict Studies Program steering committee] will talk about how WW II conscientious objectors were directly responsible for exposing shameful conditions in US mental hospitals , changing forever how the mentally ill were created. Original photographs, drawings, pamphlets, documents, and other resources will be available.

With Hannah K. Jones, author of Byberry, from Arcadia Books, 2013. Jones will talk abut her experience in using resources from the Peace Collection to write her recent book on the Pennsylvania State Hospital (known as Byberry), located near Philadelphia.

Visit the online collection of resources on conscientious object in the Swarthmore College Peace Collection.

Michael Doyle to speak on Pacifist Bookseller Roy Kepler

“Radical Chapters: How Pacifist Roy Kepler Changed the World”

Popular Reading Room, McCabe Library, 7:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m., Thursday, October 25, 2012

Maps and directions to campus

Kepler’s Bookstore in Menlo Park, CA was long the hub of literary bohemians, counterculture musicians, and those in search of a good read. It was one of the most influential, independent bookstores in the history of America, and created a community space which particularly fed the minds of young beatniks like Jerry Garcia, Robert Hunter, and Willie Legate. The store’s owner, Roy Kepler, was a radical pacifist, World War II conscientious objector, anti-nuclear activist, influential member of the War Resisters League, protester against the war in Vietnam, and a pioneer in promoting the “paperback revolution” in the middle of the twentieth century.

Speaker Michael Doyle is the author of Radical Chapters: Pacifist Bookseller Roy Kepler and the Paperback Revolution. Using resources from the Swarthmore College Peace Collection and other sources he will speak about Kepler and his decades-long fight for social justice, the independent bookstore movement, and creating a vibrant community. Doyle is a reporter in the Washington, DC, bureau of the McClatchy newspaper chain. He holds a master’s degree in government from Johns Hopkins University and a master of studies in law from Yale Law School, where he was a Knight Journalism Fellow.

Reception to follow talk.

Open to the public