Abstract
This article is part of a larger project by the author to record St. Clair Drake’s contribution to the black radical tradition. Here he examines Drake’s involvement with the Quakers in the early years of the Depression. Drawing on writings in African American and Popular Front periodicals of the time, it considers how a Quaker community shaped Drake’s identity as an intellectual activist and how his encounter suggests the ways in which black intellectuals engaged with non-violence as a philosophy and strategy for social change before he civil rights movement. Drake’s participation in non-violent campaigns for workers’ rights, world peace and an end to racial discrimination and violence reflects the Quakers’ sustained interest in African American affairs well beyond the anti-slavery movement. His eventual break with the Quakers underscores Drake’s practice of constantly pushing boundaries in his search for the most effective means to transform society at the grassroots, as he journeyed across the Atlantic world.
Disciplines
African American Studies | Arts and Humanities | Civic and Community Engagement | History | Politics and Social Change | Race and Ethnicity | Race, Ethnicity and Post-Colonial Studies | Social and Behavioral Sciences | Social History | United States History
Recommended Citation
Rosa, Andrew. To Make a Better World Tomorrow: St. Clair Drake and the Quakers of Pendle Hill, Race and Class, Vol. 54, No. 1, 2012.
Included in
African American Studies Commons, Civic and Community Engagement Commons, Politics and Social Change Commons, Race and Ethnicity Commons, Social History Commons, United States History Commons