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Dr. Harold (Hal) Weaver Dr. Harold (Hal) D. Weaver is the Founder and Director of the BlackQuaker Project (BQP). Hal was introduced to the Religious Society of Friends and Quakerism at Westtown School and Haverford College, which has impacted his entire life. As a result of his Quaker education, Hal became a conscientious objector while a draftee in the US Army in 1958. He combined his faith and political activism into the BQP, through which Hal has produced several publications important to Quakers: the Beacon Hill Friends House pamphlet of Hal’s 2008 Weed Lecture, “Facing Unbearable Truths,”; Black Fire: African American Quakers on Spirituality and Human Rights (2011) through FGC Press; and his most recent publication, the Pendle Hill pamphlet, Race, Systemic Violence, and Retrospective Justice: An African American Quaker Scholar-Activist Challenges Conventional Narratives , in Oct. 2020. Hal is active locally, regionally, nationally, and internationally among Quakers and has served in governance roles with the Quaker United Nations Office, the American Friends Service Committee, Pendle Hill, Cambridge Friends School, and the Friends World Committee for Consultation. He is also an Associate at Harvard University’s Hutchins Center for African and African American Research, and the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies. A pioneer in Africana studies, Hal founded and chaired the Africana Studies Department at Rutgers, through which he was able to focus attention on the neglected legacy of the great Rutgers Alumnus, actor, singer, and political activist, Paul Robeson. For the past 50 years, Hal has worked to restore Robeson’s legacy to its rightful place in history, through publications, lectures, presentations, films, and symposiums. In learning about Paul Robeson’s legacy, Hal realized the importance of using film to teach about Robeson’s life as well as how African Americans have been represented in film. Through the BlackFilm Project, Hal screened many of Robeson’s feature films throughout the world, as well as other films created by or about Black people. In 2022, Hal was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Alumni Award from Haverford College, honoring the work of the BQP. He lives in Newton, Massachusetts, with his life partner, Anne Steere Nash, and attends Wellesley Friends Meeting.

COLLABORATION AND ADVOCACY Promoting greater USA Quaker cooperation and collaboration with African and Cuban Quakers, including a major effort to collaborate with Kenyan Quakers in dealing with systemic economic violence and other manifestations of systemic violence often not recognized as violence: poverty, youth unemployment, racism, sexism, homophobia, ageism, and classism. Participating in the governance of a variety of regional, national, and international Quaker organizations and facilitating the participation of people of color in Quaker governance and staff.

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Judith Weller Harvey Quaker Scholar at Guilford College | October 2019 1/3

Current Activities Retrospective Justice in Healing Historical Injustice and Ills: Reparations Defined as “an attempt to administer justice years after the commission of a severe injustice or series of injustices,” we advocate that Quakerism adopt Retrospective Justice as a model for healing historical injustice. Our ministry is providing education on this call to action through e-newsletters, publications, and collaborative lecture-presentations with Friend Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge, a leader in South Africa’s anti-apartheid movement, the African National Congress, and transnational organizations. The Quakers of Color International Archive (QCIA) As a study-and-research collection, our archive documents the oral histories of Quakers of Color worldwide through videotaped interviews and transcriptions. Established in 2019, the QCIA is a partnership with UMass Amherst, Haverford College, and Swarthmore College, currently housed in the W.E.B. Du Bois Library of UMass Amherst. For access to these videotaped interviews and transcriptions of Friends of African, Asian, Middle Eastern, and Latinx descent, please click here . Reforming Quakerism: Developing New Narratives & Models The BlackQuaker Project calls on Friends to take the following steps: Address the inadequacies of the acronym SPICES, which neglects the testimony of justice and constrains our vision of what Quakerism is and what it might be. Move the justice testimony to the front-burner in the Religious Society of Friends. Focus on structural violence–not just direct, visible violence–as we confront today’s domestic and international conflicts. Adopt a model of Retrospective Justice for healing historical injustice. The Black Quaker Lives Matter Film Festival & Forum Since 2021 we have been programming annual virtual screenings and fora to celebrate the lives and contributions of Quakers of African descent. Held over Zoom webinar, these events are free and open to the public with recordings of past installments available to view on our website. Click on the following text if you wish to watch recordings of our 2022 and 2023 events. Publications We remain committed to releasing e-newsletters, pamphlets, and books that give voice to Quakers of Color, both past and present. To subscribe to receive our e-newsletter, click here. To view a full record of all our past e-newsletters click here . To view a selected list of our other publications, click here . Advocacy: Paul Robeson & Bayard Rustin We work to restore Friend Bayard Rustin and Quaker-descendant Paul Robeson–who has been the focus of over 50 years of advocacy and research by Harold D. Weaver, Jr.– to their rightful places in world history. To view Dr. Weaver’s 1973 vintage video-lecture on Robeson, click here . To view our 2024 event, the Bayard Rustin Legacy Forum, click here . Harold D. Weaver & Anne Steere Nash at Guilford College Harold D. Weaver, Jr and Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge deliver a joint orientation on Retrospetive Justice to QUNO-Geneva Staff Collaboration with Quaker Organizations and Beyond We continue to partner with key Quaker and non-Quaker organizations and initiatives, including the American Friends Service Committee, Haverford College, New England Yearly Meeting of Friends (Quakers), the Friends World Committee for Consultation, and the Independent Working Group for the extended United Nations’ International Decade for People of African Descent (2015-2024). Click here to see a full list of our collaborators.

The Quakers of Color International Archive For Quaker Schools, Educators, Students, and Scholars Interviews Lauren Brownlee African American, Bethesda Friends Meeting Interviewed by Cooper Vaughn on 7 May 2025 Watch & Read Online at HC Library Oskar Castro Puerto Rican, Central Philadelphia Monthly Meeting. Interviewed by Cooper Vaughn on 2 April 2025 Watch & Read Online at HC Library Brian Corr African American, Friends Meeting at Cambridge. Interviewed by Harold D. Weaver Jr. on 11 November 2022 Watch & Read Online at DuBois Library Joan Countryman African American, Germantown Friends Meeting. Interviewed by Emma Lapsansky-Werner on 29 June 2019 Watch & Read Online at DuBois Library Emma Condori Mamani Aymaran, Santidad Amigos Yearly Meeting. Interviewed by Harold D. Weaver Jr. on 6 August 2019 Watch & Read Online at DuBois Library Rashid Darden African American, Friends Meeting of Washington. Interviewed by Cooper Vaughn on 27 May 2025 Watch & Read Online at HC Library Debby Flack Caribbean British, Godalming Quaker Meeting, UK. Interviewed by Cooper Vaughn on 28 July 2025 Dancan Sabwa Kenyan, East Africa Yearly Meeting North. Interviewed by Harold D. Weaver Jr. on 6 August 2019 Watch & Read Online at DuBois Library Emma Condori Mamani, African American, Friends Meeting at Cambridge. Interviewed by Harold D. Weaver Jr. on 11 November 2022 Watch & Read Online at HC Library Joan Countryman African American, Germantown Friends Meeting. Interviewed by Emma Lapsansky-Werner on 29 June 2019 Watch & Read Online at DuBois Library Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge Indigenous South African, Cape Western Monthly Meeting. Interviewed by Harold D. Weaver Jr. on 18 June 2020-25 June 2020 Watch & Read Online at DuBois Library Harold D. Weaver Jr. African American, Wellesley Friends Meeting Interviewed by Robert F. Cox on 26 August 2019 Watch & Read Online at DuBois Library James Varner African American, Orono Monthly Meeting. Interviewed by Harold D. Weaver Jr. on 26 August 2019 Watch & Read Online at DuBois Library Kenneth A. Oye Japanese American, Wellesley Friends Meeting. Interviewed by Harold D. Weaver Jr. on 9 December 2020 Watch & Read Online at DuBois Library Lawrence M. Jordan African American, West Falmouth Friends Meeting. Interviewed by Harold D. Weaver Jr. on 14 January 2021 Watch & Read Online at DuBois Library Carolyne Lamar Jordan African American, West Falmouth Friends Meeting. Interviewed by Harold D. Weaver Jr. on 19 January 2021 Watch & Read Online at HC Library Jean Mikhail Zaru Palestinian, Ramallah Friends Meeting. Interviewed in Ramallah, Palestine, by Max Carter on 29 June 2019 Watch & Read Online at HC Library Jean Mikhail Zaru Palestinian, Ramallah Friends Meeting. Interviewed in Ramallah, Palestine, by Max Carter on 29 June 2019 Watch & Read Online at HC Library Jean Mikhail Zaru Palestinian, Ramallah Friends Meeting. Interviewed in Ramallah, Palestine, by Max Carter on 29 June 2019 Watch & Read Online at HC Library Jean Mikhail Zaru Palestinian, Ramallah Friends Meeting. Interviewed in Ramallah, Palestine, by Max Carter on 29 June 2019 Watch & Read Online at HC Library Jean Mikhail Zaru Palestinian, Ramallah Friends Meeting. Interviewed in Ramallah, Palestine, by Max Carter on 29 June 2019 Watch & Read Online at HC Library Jean Mikhail Zaru Palestinian, Ramallah Friends Meeting. Interviewed in Ramallah, Palestine, by Max Carter on 29 June 2019 Watch & Read Online at HC Library Jean Mikhail Zaru Palestinian, Ramallah Friends Meeting. Interviewed in Ramallah, Palestine, by Max Carter on 29 June 2019 Watch & Read Online at HC Library Jean Mikhail Zaru Palestinian, Ramallah Friends Meeting. Interviewed in Ramallah, Palestine, by Max Carter on 29 June 2019 Watch & Read Online at HC Library Jean Mikhail Zaru Palestinian, Ramallah Friends Meeting. Interviewed in Ramallah, Palestine, by Max Carter on 29 June 2019 Watch & Read Online at HC Library Jean Mikhail Zaru Palestinian, Ramallah Friends Meeting. Interviewed in Ramallah, Palestine, by Max Carter on 29 June 2019 Watch & Read Online at HC Library Jean Mikhail Zaru Palestinian, Ramallah Friends Meeting. Interviewed in Ramallah, Palestine, by Max Carter on 29 June 2019 Watch & Read Online at HC Library Jean Mikhail Zaru Palestinian, Ramallah Friends Meeting. Interviewed in Ramallah, Palestine, by Max Carter on 29 June 2019 Watch & Read Online at HC Library Jean Mikhail Zaru Palestinian, Ramallah Friends Meeting. Interviewed in Ramallah, Palestine, by Max Carter on 29 June 2019 Watch & Read Online at HC Library Lawrence M. Jordan Our Clients

Race, Systemic Violence, and Retrospective Justice: An African American Quaker Scholar-Activist Challenges Conventional Narratives By Harold D. Weaver, Jr. We are extremely excited to announce our new Pendle Hill pamphlet, “Race, Systemic Violence, and Retrospective Justice: An African American Quaker Scholar-Activist Challenges Conventional Narratives." This pamphlet is now available online at the Pendle Hill Bookstore! Click Here to Order our Pamphlet at Pendle Hill! Our unjust world is maintained by misinformation and disinformation in the media, formal education, scholarship, and political discourse. Dr. Weaver lays out steps and queries to guide Friends and others to begin confronting these concerns in the wider world. This pamphlet addresses the following topics: Understanding the difference between individual racism and institutional or systemic racism. Using active anti-violence to confront systemic violence, rather than passive non-violence. Implementing a plan of retrospective justice to address the legacy of chattel slavery in the Religious Society of Friends and the United States; and calling for a robust justice testimony to begin this process. Forms of Structural Violence MID SEASON SALE SAVE UP TO 50% SHOP NOW Inspired by the work of Palestinian Friend, Quaker Leader, and Human Rights Activist Jean Zaru. Occupied with Nonviolence: A Palestinian Woman Speaks by Jean Zaru (2008)

Havana, Cuba | March 2017 Returning to Cuba for the first time since 1988, Hal was in Havana to discuss collaboration between his Quaker ministry, The BlackQuaker Project, and both the Cuban Quaker Peace Center and the Martin Luther King, Jr., Center, both in Havana. The first: to draw upon Quaker testimonies of Truth, Equality, Peace, and Justice to offer workshops to Cubans on the lives of Afro-Cubans, including the impact of slavery in colonial Cuba and on contemporary Cuba and the second: to discuss translating and publishing in Spanish our collective anthology, BLACK FIRE: AFRICAN AMERICAN QUAKERS ON SPIRITUALITY AND HUMAN RIGHTS (edited with Paul Kriese, Steve Angell, and Anne Steere Nash.) We are still hoping to reach an agreement with both organizations. Hal did not know what to expect in a Havana he had not experienced in 28 years, previously there in roles as transnational actor using film and tourism to aid international understanding and peace. Fidel, who had hosted a reception that Hal attended with other guests at the 1985 New Latin American Cinema Festival, was no longer there. However, Hal was happy to find that several of the major ideals and accomplishments of the Revolution seemed to be still functioning: the most comprehensive, free universal health-care system--and purportedly the best-- in the Americas; the Cuban Film Institute, which pioneered, in the 1970’s, the international truth-telling movement in films about the nature of chattel slavery in the Americas, in contrast to Hollywood’s romanticizing this exploitative phenomenon; and a free education system that has produced the highest literacy rate in the Americas. Disappointing: witnessing in the tourism industry, in particular, the return of the color bias prominent before 1960. Reuniting with Afro-Cubans in film and scholarship was a highlight of this 10-day sojourn, complementing the meetings exploring collaboration, allowing a slightly better understanding of Cuba, domestically and internationally. A big surprise: encountering at the Quaker Meeting in Havana students and administrators visiting from Westtown School, our Alma Mater.

The 2024 Black Quaker Lives Matter Film Festival & Forum "The Bayard Rustin Legacy Forum"

EDUCATION Educating Quakers and non-Quakers about the contributions of Kenyan and other African and Afro-descendant Quakers Organizing transnational research-and-publications projects aimed at drawing upon Quaker testimonies to facilitate international peace and understanding, long distorted by media and scholarly misinformation and disinformation: The China-Africa-Russia Project and The BlackFilm Project. Visiting Quaker Meetings and ecumenical conferences to share our book, Black Fire: American Quakers on Spirituality and Human Rights . The NEYM Racial, Social, and Economic Justice Committee is distributing copies to all Meetings in New England. Please contact us to schedule a presentation at your Meeting or conference. CORNELL UNIVERSITY SUMMER INSTITUTE FOR EDUCATORS | 1969 In 1969, Hal helped conceive and served as director of a multi-disciplinary team of educators at Cornell University of an innovative summer institute, funded by the US Office of Education, that recruited racially mixed, mostly African American teams of teachers, school administrators, and school board members. We felt that bringing that group together, rather than taking individuals, would be the most effective way of implementing what they had learned, so they could go back as a team and reinforce what each had learned, at different levels of the instructional organization. These educators were from major urban areas to learn about and then teach, in innovative ways, especially using film, the relationship between Africa and African America. Our inter-disciplinary leadership team was especially interested in recruiting and impacting those school districts which were transitioning--or attempting to transition--to Black community control of the schools, including ridding the schools of Euro-centric curricula, and the desire to have learning and teaching in the hands of members of the Afro-descendent community. PAUL ROBESON VIDEO LECTURE, RUTGERS UNIVERSITY | 1972 Produced by Rutgers University ITV, Professor Weaver wrote and appeared in this video lecture about Paul Robeson as a synthesis in the semester-long introductory course.

Haverford Alumni Award | May 2022 New England Yearly Meeting | August 2020 Judith Weller Harvey Quaker Scholar at Guilford College | October 2019 Workshop/Roundtable Discussion at New England Yearly Meeting | August 2018 Moscow | October 2017 Havana, Cuba | March 2017 Paris | Musee Quai Branly | Spring 2016 Jordan Center at NYU | November 2020 Wellesley Friends Meeting | July 2020 Pendle Hill Quaker Center | May 2018 Istanbul | November 2017 Preston, UK | October 2017 United Nations | September 2014 Finland | September 2008

OUR CURRENT PROJECTS Education Collaboration and Advocacy SELECTED PAST PROJECTS Presentations celebrating the 100th anniversary of Bayard Rustin's birth and initiating action to restore Bayard's name -- removed in the McCarty era -- to the important ASFC publication on which he played an important role: Speak Truth to Power . Weed Lecture and publication: Facing Unbearable Truths (2009) Film-lecture programs and reports at Monthly and Yearly meeting sessions, and international gathering of Quakers and non-Quakers: the United Nations, Asia, Europe, Africa, and the Americas. Courses at Pendle Hill: "Lift Every Voice and Sing: Paul Robeson and Bayard Rustin" and "Black Fire: African American Quakers on Spirituality and Human Rights"