War is NOT the Answer: Developing a Culture of Peace in the 21st Century
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War is NOT the Answer: Developing a Culture of Peace in the 21st Century
October 26, 2014 @ 2:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Chuck Fager is an American activist, author, editor and publisher. As an outspoken and prominent member of the Religious Society of Friends or Quakers he is known for his work in both the 1960s Civil Rights Movement and in the Peace movement. His written works include religious and political essays, humor, adult fiction, and juvenile fiction, and he is best known for Selma 1965: The March That Changed the South, his in-depth history of the 1965 Selma Voting Rights Movement, a movement which led to the passage of the Voting Rights Act.
Fager spent his childhood living on Air Force Bases. In 1964 he moved south and became active in the civil rights movement. That December, he joined the staff of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) in Atlanta, and was later sent by the SCLC to Selma, Alabama where he took part in the 1965 Selma Voting Rights Movement. During that time Fager was arrested three times and spent one night in a jail cell with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Fager left Selma in early 1966. His experience with Dr. King’s nonviolence led him to jettison the pro-war outlook he had inherited from a youth spent on military bases, and in late1965 he successfully applied for status as a conscientious objector (or CO) to the military draft. As a result, he was required to perform two years of alternative service. This service was performed first at Friends World Institute, laterFriends World College based in Long Island, New York. He then completed his service at the New York City Department of Social Services.
He later participated in several peaceful protests against the Vietnam War.
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