Quakers and Colonization

Abstract

Although the Religious Society ofFriends (Quakers) is widely known for its historic opposition to slavery, its members were never united on how slavery should be brought to an end, or what was to follow. While some of the early abolitionists believed that through education and moral training African-Americans could achieve equality with whites, and be integrated into the larger society, others feared that this might never be the case, and it would therefore be better to resettle people of color on their own land; either in the west of the United States, on islands in the Caribbean, or in colonies in Africa.1 Complicating the issue for Friends was the fact that African-American leaders were by no means united on the question of resettlement. Many blacks believed that there was little hope of obtaining equal status in a society permeated by prejudice, and that only through separate development, obtained by removing themselves from white society, could they achieve their goals. Others argued that they had helped to build this nation, andwere entitled to full equality and the end ofracial prejudice. W. E. B. Du Bois explained their point of view in The Souls ofBlack Folk: