Black Freedom & Quaker Anti-Slavery: 1770s & Now

Centering lives of Quaker-adjacent Black freedom seekers and fighters—Pompey in North Carolina, Dinah Nevil, Titus Cornelius, William Boen, young Paul Cuffe and others—this workshop opens a window into revolutionary change in the 1770s. Guided by their call to “Do Justice Without Delay,” we open doors to continuing freedom work today. Friends are invited into the…

Workshop Description

Centering lives of Quaker-adjacent Black freedom seekers and fighters—Pompey in North Carolina, Dinah Nevil, Titus Cornelius, William Boen, young Paul Cuffe and others—this workshop opens a window into revolutionary change in the 1770s. Guided by their call to “Do Justice Without Delay,” we open doors to continuing freedom work today.

Friends are invited into the crucible of the 1770s, a decade when calls for liberty resounded across the colonies even as human enslavement persisted. In the context of the U.S. War of Independence, both people of African descent and Quakers made divergent choices—neutrality, patriot, or loyalist—each shaped by circumstance, survival, and conscience. Black resistance and Quaker witness collided and overlapped, opening painful contradictions as well as surprising possibilities.

On Day 1, we set the stage with an overview of the Revolutionary era, placing Black and Quaker struggles on a shared map of eastern North America, from New Hampshire to North Carolina. Participants will work with transcriptions, short biographies and timelines to see how lives and choices were bound together in both mutuality and conflict.

On Day 2, we turn to Black responses to the 1772 Somerset decision and to the Revolutionary War itself, including a few free Black Friends such as William & Dido Boen, Caesar & Sarah Sankey, and young Paul Cuffe. Through stories of petitioners, refugees, and soldiers, participants will explore how agency, survival, and a spectrum of resistance were expressed in escape, testimony, combat, and exile.

On Day 3, attention shifts to Quakers—stubborn enslavers, hesitant manumitters, and bold antislavery voices such as David Ferris, Thomas Nicholson, Sarah Lynch Terrill, and Sarah & Thomas Harrison. Using meeting records, petitions, and dramatized dialogues, we will explore Friends’ uneven, conflicted, and faithful responses to Black resistance and to God’s call to justice.

On Day 4, participants will create prayers, queries, and visual “windows and doors” that link the struggles of the past to the freedom struggles of our own time. We will close with worship, holding together both history and contemporary callings.

Trayce will be primary facilitator on the 1st & 4th days, Jim on the 2nd & 3rd days. Trayce will focus on discussion, and activities. Jim on historical lectures & handouts. Both will co-lead worship.

Goals: Participants will leave with deeperknowledge of Black struggle for justice and Quaker effort to end enslavement in the 1770s, greater awareness of tensions within Quaker history, and a sense of continuing revelation: the invitation to walk through doors opened by past witnesses into justice work today.

Leader Experience

Jim Fussell has facilitated workshops in Quaker and academic settings on Quaker testimony and continuing revelation, Kingian nonviolence, and LGBTQ Quaker history. He has presented historical research to wide audiences and makes complex archival material accessible and engaging. He brings decades of experience as an advocate for international human rights and genocide prevention and serves on the boards of School of the Spirit, Friends United Meeting, and soon Friends Journal. Trayce Peterson has served as an elder in youth and young adult gatherings, including the 2025 FGC Gathering in Michigan, where she supported worship, group process, and cross-generational listening. She has facilitated workshops within her yearly meeting on prayer, community, and truth-telling. A lifelong Friend, community advocate, and documentary producer rooted in the U.S.–Mexico borderlands, Trayce served at Earlham for 16 years in multiple roles Campus Minister, Director of Multicultural Affairs. She recently co-clerked the FGC YAY Intergenerational Gathering. She currently serves on the boards of FCNL and Thee Quaker Project and is passionate about nurturing emerging leaders, deep listening, and co-creating spaces of justice and belonging. Together, we design workshops that balance historical grounding with experiential engagement—inviting shared reflection through worship, queries, and collaborative activities. Our aim is to create a participatory environment where Friends of all ages feel seen, valued, and integral to the learning.