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Baltimore PeaceBuilders invite you to a lecture/discussion with George Lakey. George is a queer, Quaker activist and master storyteller who will share about his lifetime involvement in nonviolent struggles for peace, civil rights, LGBTQ rights, labor justice, and the environment. He will emphasize lessons from his life that apply to us during these challenging times, finding hope in even the darkest of times through strategic joyful activism.
| Consider joining us beforehand for the monthly
Baltimore Black Lives Matter Interfaith Coalition Rally from 1:30 – 2:30 PM in front of Homewood Friends Meeting (with refreshments in-between events). |
George Lakey is the author of the memoir, “Dancing with History: A Life for Peace and Justice, and the book, “How We Win: A Guide to Nonviolent Direct Action Campaigning. This event follows a prescient webinar Baltimore PeaceBuilders sponsored in September 2020 featuring George Lakey discussing: “What to do if there is a Coup?: Nonviolent Civil Resistance.”
From his first arrest in the Civil Rights era to his most recent during a climate justice march at the age of 83, George Lakey has committed his life to a mission of building a better world through nonviolent movements for justice. Lakey draws us into the center of history-making events, telling often serious stories with playfulness and intimacy. In his memoir, “Dancing with History”, he describes the personal, political, and theoretical—coming out as bisexual to his Quaker community while known as a church leader and family man, protesting against the war in Vietnam by delivering medical supplies through the naval blockade in the South China Sea, and applying his academic study of nonviolent resistance to creative tactics in direct action campaigns.
George Lakey was born into a white working-class family in a small town in rural Pennsylvania and has been active in direct action campaigns for seven decades. Recently retired from Swarthmore College, where he was the Eugene M. Lang Visiting Professor for Issues of Social Change, Lakey was first arrested at a civil rights demonstration in March 1963, and his most recent arrest was in June 2021, during a climate justice march. A Quaker, he has been named Peace Educator of the Year and was given the Paul Robeson Social Justice Award and the Martin Luther King Peace Award. His previous books include Viking Economics: How the Scandinavians Got It Right—and How We Can Too, and How We Win: A Guide to Nonviolent Direct Action Campaigning. He lives in Philadelphia.
Organizers
The Baltimore PeaceBuilders (a project of the Central Maryland Ecumenical Council
Co-Sponsors
- Homewood Friends Meeting (Quaker)
- Hinenu: The Baltimore Justice Shtiebl
- Stony Run Friends Meeting
- Black Lives Matter Interfaith Coalition
- Lillie Carroll Jackson Civil Rights Museum
- Gwynn Oak United Methodist Church
- Arlington-Lewin United Methodist Church
- Elderslie – St Andrews United Methodist Church
- St. Paul Praise and Worship Center UMC