By Gary Gunderson
“To those who judge by outward appearance, nothing is more difficult of explanation than the strength of moral influence often exerted by obscure and uneventful lives. Some great reform which lifts the world to a higher level, some mighty change for which the ages have waited in anxious expectancy, takes place before our eyes, and, in seeking to trace it back to its origin, we are often surprised to find the initial link in the chain of causes to be some comparatively obscure individual, the divine commission and significance of whose life were scarcely understood by his contemporaries, and perhaps not even by himself.”
– John Greenleaf Whittier*
We are exactly one month since the inauguration with shock, awe, and wonderment on all sides. Constitutional norms, basic law, and it seems entire religions have been emptied out as the layoffs of thousands of health professionals has begun, including 1,300 from the CDC on one day. The rest of the collapse seems unstoppable to many. Not to me.
Amid the anxiety-ridden urgency I picked up a 1900 copy of the Journal of John Woolman for 4 pounds from a used bookstore not far from where he died in England. In the early 1700s he galvanized the Quakers to reject slavery with relentless kind-hearted witness. He died in 1772 decades before slavery was eliminated, speaking to the English Quakers about their involvement in the slavery economy of tobacco and cotton on which vast English wealth was based.
Woolman and his Quakers gives hope when we feel so overwhelmed by the super-rich. And then he reminds me of my complicity in fear, greed, and denial of respect for the poor.
Quakers are known for their opposition to slavery, but they didn’t start that way. Driven from England because of their religious “non-conformity” some fled to the Caribbean where their diligence turned into agricultural success. They ended up with large number of slaves because, well, everyone did that. A visitor found them “….sitting at meat with hats on, and pausing ever and anon with suspended mouthfuls to hear a brother’s or sister’s exhortation, and sandwiching prayers between courses, where waited upon by negro slaves.” (Whittier, p5) Quaker leader George Fox expressed “concern” about this in 1671 but nothing like the moral clarity of Woolman’s first essay in 1754 that went sort of viral. Only four years later in Philadelphia “one of the most important religious convocations in the history of the Christian Church” clarified that no Quaker could deal in or hold slaves. This was profound because many Philadelphia Quakers attending the meeting owned slaves. And, without Facebook, Woolman walked thousands of miles helping his fellow Quakers find integrity at a time when every single thread of cloth could be traced back to human bondage for gain. (He walked, rather than travel by coach because of animal cruelty, but that’s another blog.)
You can read his story for yourself and find many resources that teach his way.
Woolman was a radical in a tiny minority sect.
We are not even radical. We are the conservatives in 2025, seeking to protect the Constitution and democracy, the rule of law and telling the obvious truth about things that matter most.
Here’s how it happens: you’ll soon be deluged with news about DEI Boycott Day started by “the one called Jai.” (Here on USA Today). For one day buy nothing from any company who is stepping back from their DEI policies. Why? Because race still matters even when powerful people wish it did not. So don’t buy anything that day. Woolman would want more, but he’d like Jai.
It took the Quakers a century to discern slavery and another century for that to become obvious to all. And race still marks many aspects of our society. Dehumanizing somebody else to serve economic interests remains a constant thread in American life, especially when acerbated by blaming economic vulnerabilities on people of color.
But we don’t need a new revolution. We do want to conserve the one we already had. And then complete the work so that its benefits extend to all, including those likely to be excluded by race.
In the most recent century American democracy evolved to extend the revolutionary fruits of the health sciences broadly to all citizens. That’s why we need the CDC, HHS, and National Academies of Sciences free to discern and tell us the truth about race, health, disparities, and the pathways to equity. I understand why this evolution of basic human rights is difficult for some. Quaker discernment about slavery was, too.
Woolman is annoying with his loving-kindness and trust in persuasion. Isn’t this a time to fight? He ate with slaveholding Quakers and gently spoke the truth, assuming they had the same basic moral capacities and commitments as did he. He didn’t “win;” he warmed hearts, souls, and eventually minds. It took decades. We can do this, too!
Let’s not exaggerate our moral task. The hardest part of the American experiment was done many decades ago. But we need to do our part now. Discern, speak, act with humble-loving kindness. Repeat.
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* Introduction to the Journal of John Woolman, 1871 “New Century Edition, Headley Brothers, 1900 (London)
