One Hundred Years of Nonviolent Resistance to War
October 19, 2023 marked the hundredth anniversary of the founding of the War Resisters League. We have an active WRL 100th History Committee working on a number of projects and we invite your participation.
WRL's 100th Anniversary Traveling Exhibit – Traveling set of banners featuring highlights of WRL’s history. There is also a book that reproduces all of the exhibit. Let us know if you are interested in hosting an exhibit and we will send more information.
Upcoming exhibits:
Swarthmore College Peace Collection & Library, Swarthmore, PA, November 1 - December 15, 2024
American History Association conference, Exhibit Hall at New York Hilton Midtown, Manhattan, January 3 - 6, 2025
Timeline: One Hundred Years of War Resisters League
Timeline: One Hundred Years of War Resisters League
Centennial History Book
WRL's Centennial History Blog – Regular posts of stories, images, etc from the archives and peoples' personal recollections
Oral History interviews – We are inviting members and friends to record your WRL stories through the practice of oral histories. We are organizing a number of oral history training opportunities, so let us know if you are interested in recording your own story and interviewing others.
Upcoming and Past Events
Current Events
WRL: 100 Years of Resistance at Swarthmore’s McCabe Library uses WRL’s Centennial Exhibit to introduce some of the remarkable activists who shaped the War Resisters League (WRL). Founded in 1923, WRL is the oldest secular pacifist organization in the United States, and Swarthmore’s Peace Collection has been the repository for the War Resisters League Records since 1947. The two organizations collaborated to create this traveling exhibition in acknowledgment of WRL's 100th Anniversary. The exhibition is open to the public during regular library hours and may be viewed in McCabe Library’s Atrium through Sunday, December 15. Library hours available at https://www.swarthmore.edu/libraries
To learn more about the Peace Collection: https://www.swarthmore.edu/peace-collection
McCabe Library
Swarthmore College
500 College Avenue
Swarthmore, PA 19081
Past Events
- Radical Nonviolence:100 Years of the War Resisters League (exhibit in NYC) - War Resisters League (WRL) and Interference Archive present a collection of material from the archive and WRL celebrating 100 years of the oldest secular pacifist organization in the United States.WRL produced street literature, posters, study guides, brochures, organizing manuals, books, and periodicals that focused on direct action, divestment, tax and draft resistance and ending the nuclear arms race. Exhibition Dates May 16, 2024 - September 13, 2024. More information: interferencearchive.org/exhibition/radical-nonviolence100-years-of-the-war-resisters-league
- December 10, 2023: WRL members Ruth Benn and Ed Hedemann spoke at the Unitarian Church of Staten Island and shared WRL's Traveling Exhibit.
- October 26-28, 2023: WRL was represented at the Peace History Society Conference held at Gwynedd Mercy University in Pennsylvania. The conference featured WRL’s Traveling Exhibit and the program included “War Resisters League, 1923-2023: A Century of Revolutionary Non-violent Activism for Peace & Justice” presented by WRL members Scott Bennett (moderator), Mandy Carter, Ed Hedemann, Matt Meyer, and Joanne Sheehan and “War Tax Resistance Beyond Thoreau” presented by WRL members Ed Hedemann (chair), Ruth Benn, Betsy Corner, & Randy Kehler.
- April 28, 2023 Conversation about war resistance past, present, and future at Judson Church in NYC with Vietnam Veteran Greg Payton, 1980's Draft Resister Edward Hasbrouck, Southern Organizer Mandy Carter and audience participants, moderated by International Peace Research Association (IPRA) student activist Habiba Choudhury and Matt Meyer, former National Chair of War Resisters League
- New England WRL hosted a visit of the Golden Rule, the boat that attempted to sail to nuclear test zones in the 1950s with support from WRL. Veterans for Peace is sailing it again for a nuclear-free world. For more info email joanne [at] warresisters.org (subject: Golden%20Rule) .
- "Mandy Carter: Scientist of Activism” The impressive work of Mandy Carter and her time on the staffs of War Resisters League/West, San Francisco (1969-1977), WRL/Los Angeles (1978-1980), and WRL/Southeast, Durham, NC (1982-1988) on exhibit at the Sallie Bingham Center for Women’s History and Culture at Duke University in Durham June 12-December 31, 2023.
Regional Events
- Plans are being made by folks who have been involved in the regional offices at WRL West, Southeast, and New England.
- If you are in the metropolitan area, join our anniversary planning group in New York City; for more information send an email to nycwrl [at] nycwarresisters.org (subject: 100th%20Anniversary%20planning) .
Other Projects
• Centenary artwork - new poster now available on our store!
• Direct Action - in the long and storied tradition of WRL, folks in NYC are discussing a possible nonviolent action in 2024 and we encourage others around the country to do the same.
• Compiling a bibliography of WRL histories and creating short biographies to highlight the people whose stories have gone untold.
