Facing Truth in BFS History

1928-1936 BFS Lower School Scrapbook,
news clipping of the first May Day, 1928
"Emulating the May Day Celebration of the Early Settlers..."

Sometimes history reveals a past that is not always what we want it to be, even at BFS. A few months back, I wrote about our school's path to enrolling students of color, particularly to enrolling African American students. Honesty in researching, interpreting and presenting history frees us from the fallacy of unintentional reinvention while it gives us greater understanding of ourselves. My historical work at BFS often reminds me of the West African Akan word "Sankofa" which means, "We must go back and reclaim our past so we can move forward; so we understand why and how we came to be who we are today." I first came to know and appreciate the concept behind Sankofa when I worked as a historical researcher for the African Burial Ground Office of Public Information and Interpretation many years ago.

Bayard Rustin Honored & New York Quakers Apologize to Afro-Descendants

Bayard Rustin

Following up to my Gatekeeper No More post of November 7. That post shared the known history of our school's winding path to integration which helped Brooklyn Friends School become the racially and ethnically diverse school it is known to be today. A few related and important events occurred last month.

Gatekeeper No More

1940, BFS Principal Douglas Grafflin's Address to the
Trustees of the Schools of New York Monthly Meeting 
proposing the enrollment of African American students at BFS. 
Please click to read Grafflin's entire address

This week, I'm unexpectedly switching gears thanks to a courageous conversation focused on the experiences of students of color in independent schools, a conversation that occurred at the BFS Alumni/ae Facebook group thanks to Bernard Dory '88, who shared the October, 2012 New York Times article, "Admitted, But Left Out." When it comes to our school's history, I wind up being a "gatekeeper," a word I despise and first reluctantly applied to myself in 2007 while attending an Undoing Racism workshop with other BFS employees. All institutions are imperfect and our school is no different. As it did in the past, our school tries, learns and grows today - such is the nature of Quakerism's continuing revelation.