Info on Benjamin Lay
Please scroll down for information
on recent activity at Abington Friends Meeting and beyond recognizing the
message of Benjamin Lay. It
is important to note that all of the celebration of Friend Benjamin’s life
would be meaningless without acknowledging that when we honor Friend Benjamin,
we also honor the enslaved Africans for whom he spoke. They had no voice.
Benjamin spoke for them, and he reminded us, during his lifetime and today,
that it’s the ongoing responsibility of those of us with privilege to speak for
those who have no voice. Abington Friends Meeting has a bronze
plaque near the entrance to our historic graveyard that acknowledges the
unmarked graves of early Quaker settlers, people of African descent, and other
persons whose race, creed and identity are unknown to us today. Our graveyard
holds the remains of people whose history has been lost. Those are some of the
people that Friend Benjamin spoke for, because he recognized their humanity and
their suffering. We must remember them when we remember Friend Benjamin.
On November 12, 2017, Abington
Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends approved this minute into
record:
Abington Monthly Meeting
of the Religious Society of Friends recognizes Benjamin Lay’s dedication to
equality, and his willingness to repeatedly speak his messages of Truth to a
society that was in denial about the evils of slavery. We acknowledge that
Benjamin Lay used radical activism in his attempts to teach his peers to recognize
the equality before God of all people, regardless of race or gender. He lived
his life with integrity according to his Quaker beliefs, and he called others,
especially slave-owners, to accountability.
Benjamin Lay was written
out of membership at Abington Monthly Meeting on the thirtieth day, eleventh
month, 1737 (which by the Quaker calendar, while the Julian calendar was in
use, would have been January 30, 1738), because his zealous actions were considered
disruptive. It is now known that at least two of the Friends who led the
discernment about writing Benjamin Lay out of membership in the Society of
Friends were slave-owners and were likely targeted by Benjamin Lay’s
anti-slavery activism. Benjamin Lay was disowned decades before Quakers were
disowned for being slave-owners.
We now recognize the
truth behind Benjamin Lay’s abolitionist efforts. Although we may not reinstate
membership for someone who is deceased, we recognize Benjamin Lay as a Friend
of the Truth and as being in unity with the spirit of our Abington Monthly Meeting.
The above minute of unity was
Endorsed by Abington Quarterly Meeting on February 4, 2018
Philadelphia Yearly Meeting on July 14, 2018:
“Benjamin Lay: After communicating further with Abington Monthly Meeting
regarding their minute, Quaker Life Council endorses Abington Monthly Meeting’s
minute on Benjamin Lay. QLC recognizes Benjamin Lay as a Friend of the Truth
and being in unity with the spirit of our Philadelphia Yearly
Meeting.” Philadelphia Yearly Meeting read the minute into record on July
27,2018.
Below is a radio interview from Your
Voice with Solomon Jones on PhillyPraise
107.9 FM, October 1, 2018, when Loretta Fox was interviewed about Benjamin Lay:
Audio Player
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increase or decrease volume.
On Saturday, September 22, 2018, a
state Historical Marker was unveiled along Meetinghouse Road, in front
of our meetinghouse, in honor of Benjamin Lay. The application and
payment for the marker was generously made by M. Kelly Tillery, a Philadelphia
attorney who has a great interest in Benjamin Lay. The application was
granted by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission.
Click Here for Washington Post, May 14, 2018 article on
Benjamin Lay
On Saturday, April 21, 2018,
Abington Monthly Meeting unveiled a Grave Marker for Sarah & Benjamin Lay
in our historic graveyard. The unveiling was followed by gathering in the
meetinghouse in the manner of a Friends Memorial Meeting, with a dramatic
reading of Benjamin Lay’s writing, presented by theater artist Benjamin Lloyd,
and a panel discussion about what social concerns we need to see more clearly
today, if we are to follow Benjamin Lay’s example of activism. Some
photos from the event:
Click Here
for video excerpts from the April 21, 2018 event
Click Here for April 19, 2018 article in Philly News
Click Here for Philadelphia Yearly Meeting article
This drawing of Benjamin Lay hangs
in our John Barnes Room. 
Distinguished professor and author Marcus
Rediker presented two lectures at Abington Meeting, the first in February
2016 and the second in October 2017, on his book The Fearless Benjamin
Lay. To view the October lecture, click here. Please note that there is a time-coded list below each
video so viewers can scan the topics Rediker covered to see the order
and where to find each topic in the video. Marcus Rediker has also
written articles on Benjamin Lay for the New York Times and The Smithsonian
Magazine. An interview with Marcus Rediker can be viewed here.
For those who may be interested in
Benjamin Lay’s cave, please contact the Meeting office for some
information. Our Meeting elders believe that the cave in this photo was
the cave in which Benjamin Lay lived. 
In the UK, the North London Area
Meeting minute, Agreed on 18 November 2017 reads as follows:
“Quakers are proud of the times in
history we have been ahead of our time on progressive social issues – but
preceding those moments, there have often been long periods when we have not
walked the path we would later understand to be the just one. At a time when
racism seems as present and ugly as ever – both globally and nationally – and
the structures of white supremacy are being defended and strengthened by
powerful forces in our societies, this seems a timely moment for North London
Area Meeting to reflect on its involvement in the struggle for racial justice.
North London Area Meeting recognises Benjamin Lay’s dedication to equality – and his
willingness to repeatedly speak his messages of Truth. We also recognise Benjamin Lay as being a Friend of the Truth – and
as being in unity with the spirit of our Area Meeting. We ask our Clerking team
to write to Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, Abington Monthly Meeting and Southern
East Anglia Area Meeting (successor to Colchester & Coggeshall Monthly
Meeting) to clarify that Lay is in good standing with North London Area Meeting
(successor to Devonshire House Monthly Meeting).”
The North London decision was
supported by a letter from Tim Gee of Peckham Meeting (close to the now defunct
Deptford Meeting where Lay attended as a Young Adult Friend), outlining how the
decision would be a manifestation of three 21st century
Quaker principles.
“Firstly it is a timely reminder of the Advice to ‘listen for the spirit, even
if it is expressed in ways unfamiliar to you’.
Secondly it is a reiteration of the
insight that every person ‘has a measure of the light’ with a recognition that
then as now, our interpretation of the spirit can be distorted by privilege and
hierarchy
Thirdly, it builds on the statement
against racism made by Meeting for Sufferings in February 2017, by showing that
for a long as racism exists – whether in society or in the Society of Friends –
‘without justice there can be no peace”.
A recent BBC article explains
further: Link to BBC Article about recent happenings in North London
Meeting
In November 2018, Southern East
Anglia Area Meeting in the UK embraced Benjamin Lay, as the final step in
Quakers recognizing the Truth of Friend Benjamin’s message: Link to BBC Article about recent happenings at Southern East
Anglia Area Meeting
http://www.abingtonmeeting.org/info-on-benjamin-lay/