QuakerSpeak, December 2024

Benjamin Lay was born in 1682, a third-generation Quaker when three generations of Quakers was all there was. “He was a much more ardent and more radical Quaker than either his grandparents or his parents,” says Lay’s biographer, Marcus Rediker.

In this video, Marcus recounts Lay’s provocative, at times theatrically dramatic ministry against slavery, which got him kicked out of four different Quaker meetings. We also hear from members of Abington (Pa.) Meeting, where stories about Lay survive to this day. As Abington’s George Schaefer says, “The legacy of Benjamin Lay . . . keeps us on our toes regarding our own complicity and our own complacency [about] what’s going on in the world around us now.”


Transcript and Discussion Questions Available Here

Produced by Christopher Cuthrell

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