Quakers in Civil Rights
Kara Newell, 6/99
Executive Director
American Friends Service CommitteeI can still see her face -- round, beaming with wise and twinkling eyes.
On April 28, the American Friends Service Committee lost a great friend, Mae Bertha Carter. She was one of the quiet heroes who believed in justice for all people and never faltered in her quest for equality.
When the 1964 Civil Rights Act ordered public school desegregation, Mae Bertha and her husband Matthew were the first black parents to enroll their children in the all-white schools of Sunflower County, Mississippi. Their action had severe repercussions. The Carters were sharecroppers on a cotton plantation. The owner threw them off the land, their credit was canceled at the plantation store, and their home was riddled with bullets in the middle of the night.
During this turbulent era, AFSC maintained a Family Aid Fund that helped nearly one hundred families withstand threats and reprisals, enabling them to keep their children in previously white schools and remain in their communities. The Carters found a new home with the help of the Service Committee.
Mae Bertha Carter greets a well-wisher at AFSC headquarters in Philadelphia.
Mae Bertha's legacy of courage lives on in her 13 children, 11 of whom graduated from college. It is reflected, too, in commitment of Philip Clark.
Phil is one of the many remarkable young people who have joined the AFSC to work, learn, and to devote their lives to justice, equality, and peace.
Several years ago at a conference for young leaders, Phil heard Mae Bertha Carter offer an unpretentious and sincere keynote address. Her closing gave him the "greatest compliment as an activist." Looking out over the sea of young faces, Mae Bertha observed, "It looks like we're going to be freed again."
Phil (seen at the right) views that freedom as the affirmation that all people have the right to equal opportunity. In his current assignment with our Youth and Militarism Program, he's developing better ways to communicate to youth the harsh realities of military life.
He wants them to know that, "The concept of 'service' should not be defined only as someone who carries a weapon."
Around the country there are many other young people like Phil who have joined the Service Committee's peace and justice programs. Here are just some of the ways they are involved:
- the Rising Stars troupe in Baltimore uses drama to highlight the dilemmas facing young people and to help find solutions;
- mentors in Newark, N.J., give guidance and personal attention to at-risk teenagers; Help-Increase-the-Peace (H.I.P) programs in more than 16 states use participatory work- shops to promote alternatives to violence in situations of conflict;
- hundreds of students across the country compiled material assistance kits to aid refugees from Kosovo and to help Central Americans recover from Hurricane Mitch.
We value the lessons taught by Mae Bertha Carter and the new generation of young people like Phil who have taken up the challenge to make the world a better place.
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