KURC and HADLEY present a FREE lecture by Dr. Bradley Skelcher

For Quakers, education was important for people to conduct their daily lives. And providing education to all was a vital expression of their belief in human equality. This led many Quakers to challenge slavery. As Quakers came to accept that slavery was wrong, more came to believe in the importance of education for African Americans once they were free. To be sure, education was important to Quakers, but not for religious instruction or conversion. Education was seen in a more pragmatic light. Quakers believed in education as restitution for the years of unpaid services, especially because no one could lose an education or have it taken away, unlike land or money or, for that matter, freedom itself.

Dr. Bradley Skelcher is Professor Emeritus at Delaware State University, where he served as founding dean of the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences and director of the Graduate
Program in Historic Preservation. He served as a Ford Fellow in African Studies at Howard University in 1996 and at the Carter G. Woodson Institute at the University of Virginia in 1997 and 2000. Dr. Skelcher has published on historic preservation and African American history of education in Delaware. He has been recognized by the Delaware House of Representatives and the Governor of Maryland for his work on African American history.

The Kennett Underground Railroad Center (KURC) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit whose mission is to mission is to preserve the heritage and engage the public about the historic abolitionists and freedom-seekers of this area and beyond.
PO Box 202 Kennett Square, PA 19348 • 484-544-5070
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