In October 2016, the governing body of Friends General Conference approved an institutional assessment on systemic racism to identify and address structural oppression within FGC as an institution and among FGC-affiliated Monthly Meetings and Yearly Meetings. This page was created to assemble all of the resources, updates, reports about the Institutional Assessment and the Anti-Racism Implementation Group that have been distributed to Friends and meetings united in the important work of confronting racism and white supremacy.

Friends are also encouraged to explore FGC’s Help Your Meeting Challenge Racism webpage, which houses resources and event opportunities for Friends of Color and Friends engaged in anti-racism work.

The items below are organized in chronological order.

FGC Gathering 2016 and the beginning of the assessment – August 2016 to February 2017

Updates about the Institutional Assessment on Systemic Racism – February 2017 to April 2019

Updates and Resources by the Institutional Assessment Implementation Committee – May 2019 to Present


*Update (12/6/2019): In the original report, Cape May was incorrectly identified as a “sundowner town.” We were recently made aware by a Friend that Cape May was not a sundowner town, but did support and enforce racist policies while the Gathering was held there betwwen 1916 and 1968. We are in the process of updating the report and executive summary with this corrected paragraph:

1916-1968: Between 1916 and 1968, the Gathering returned to Cape May, New Jersey a total of 23 times. As in many communities in the northern United States, the town of Cape May engaged in both de facto and overt racism. During much of this time Cape May supported segregation in housing, in schools (1928 – 1948) and until, at least, 1956 with “white only” and “colored” beaches.

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