Quakers and the AFSC: Opposing Japanese American Internment

Introduction: The AFSC and Its Quaker Roots

The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1947, was established in Philadelphia by members of the Religious Society of Friends — commonly known as the Quakers — in the spring of 1917. The link between the AFSC and the Religious Society of Friends was always somewhat tenuous, as the activism of the organization was universal enough that many non-Quakers around the world could celebrate it, while the actual tenets of Quakerism were not nearly as widely embraced as the peace movement the Religious Society of Friends participated in. Initially, the committee's goals were limited; however, over the course of the twentieth century, the AFSC embraced pacifism and began taking an active role in the fight for peace (Ingle, 2016). The AFSC essentially supported and came to the aid of victims of war, whether they were Jewish, Russian, European, African, or otherwise (Frost, 1992).

This paper discusses the background of the organization and argues that the Nobel Committee awarded the AFSC the Peace Prize because, at a time when nations were bombing one another into oblivion, the Quaker-led organization reminded the world that humanity is a value worth more than any material wealth. The basic support the AFSC provided — such as shelter and food — to people impacted by war, along with its opposition to the detention of Japanese Americans in internment camps in the United States following the bombing of Pearl Harbor, demonstrated that the organization was indifferent to the prejudices and biases motivating other groups to fight and kill one another. The Quaker-led AFSC was a reminder to the world that it could do better — and that is why it was honored by the Nobel Committee.

The AFSC is a global social justice organization whose mission is rooted in the moral philosophy of Quaker religion. Its peace activism was grounded in religious beliefs that had been expressed in public life since William Penn founded Pennsylvania as a colony offering Quakers refuge. Like their British co-religionists, American Quakers sought to serve humanity through good deeds and the pursuit of God's love.

Early Relief Work and WWI Conscientious Objectors

Established after the United States entered World War I, the AFSC initially acted to support principled conscientious objectors by facilitating alternative service for young Quaker men who sincerely believed they could not serve in the military after being drafted under the Selective Service Act. These efforts ultimately helped more than 600 Quakers and other volunteer pacifists (Ingles, 1992). Having negotiated with the government to be permitted to perform humanitarian work as an alternative to military service, they were given the opportunity to assist in the rebuilding of France.

The AFSC supported relief and reconstruction activities that served poor, war-torn nations. For instance, it provided housing for displaced people along the Western Front in France under the sponsorship of the American Red Cross. The Quakers were especially active in providing aid to the sick and pregnant. They helped people establish provisional houses, arranged for livestock and seed corn, and organized significant relief projects in areas of Germany and the Soviet Union where suffering was widespread in the aftermath of war (The Nobel Prize, 2020).

In the late 1930s, the AFSC helped care for and support casualties of World War II even before the United States officially entered the conflict. It worked with members of other religious groups, such as the Mennonites and Brethren, to administer the Civilian Public Service (CPS) program — a system of government-established work camps for conscientious objectors (Ingles, 1992).

Opposition to Japanese American Internment in WWII

The AFSC also resettled European refugees in the United States and, by establishing a regional office in San Francisco, actively opposed the U.S. government's Japanese American internment policy. The organization relocated more than 4,000 Japanese Americans out of the internment camps (Ingles, 1992). In 1947, following another period of caring for war victims in Germany — and in recognition of the quality of its prewar relief programs in Russia and Spain — the AFSC was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, to the acclaim of Quakers and peace advocates around the world (Franklin, 2020).

The internment of Japanese Americans stands as one of the most troubling civil liberties violations in American history. Following Executive Order 9066, signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in February 1942, approximately 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry — the majority of them U.S. citizens — were forcibly removed from their homes and confined to internment camps. The AFSC's willingness to challenge this policy at a time of intense wartime nationalism demonstrated a moral consistency that set the organization apart from many of its contemporaries.

Conclusion: A Legacy of Peace and Compassion

What distinguishes the AFSC as a peacemaker is its constancy and consistency in commitment to the peace movement and its actions — qualities that were fully deserving of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1947. The organization showed heart, compassion, and dedication to its cause at a time when most nations were doing their best to destroy one another. There are many other ways in which the AFSC demonstrated its worthiness of the Prize — for instance, through its engagement with the peace movement beginning with the United States' entry into World War I.

The AFSC served the peace movement throughout the entire twentieth century. Its activities are a testament to the organization's commitment to helping the oppressed and the victims of war, regardless of whether they were Jewish, African, American, Slavic, or of any other background. The organization has evolved from being a specifically Quaker institution, though it continues to profess Quaker values; it is now far more pluralistic in terms of its leadership and operations. The work of the AFSC demonstrates that, despite the unrelenting wars it witnessed across the century, the organization's message endures — expressed most powerfully through the example of its deeds.

References

Franklin, S. (2020). American Friends Service Committee. Retrieved from https://www.mtsu.edu/first-amendment/article/1167/american-friends-service-committee

Frost, J. W. (1992). "Our Deeds Carry Our Message": The Early History of the American Friends Service Committee. Quaker History, 81(1), 1–51.

Ingle, H. L. (2016). "Truly Radical, Non-violent, Friendly Approaches": Challenges to the American Friends Service Committee. Quaker History, 105(1), 1–21. DOI:10.1353/qkh.2016.0004.

Mechling, E. W., & Mechling, J. (1992). Hot pacifism and cold war: The American Friends Service Committee's witness for peace in 1950s America. Quarterly Journal of Speech, 78(2), 173–196.

The Nobel Prize. (2020). American Friends Service Committee. Retrieved from https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/1947/friends-committee/facts/

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