Race Street Friends Meetinghouse

Infobox_nrhp | name =Race Street Friends Meetinghouse
nrhp_type = nhl


caption =
location= 1515 Cherry St.
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
lat_degrees = 39
lat_minutes = 57
lat_seconds = 20
lat_direction = N
long_degrees = 75
long_minutes = 9
long_seconds = 55
long_direction = W
locmapin = Pennsylvania
area =
built =1864
architect= Multiple
architecture= Other
added = November 04, 1993
governing_body = Private
refnum=93001610cite web|url=http://www.nr.nps.gov/|title=National Register Information System|date=2007-01-23|work=National Register of Historic Places|publisher=National Park Service] The Race Street Friends Meetinghouse is a historic and still active Quaker meetinghouse.Friends Center Corp., [http://www.friendscentercorp.org/about/history.php History of Friends Center] . Accessed 27 November 2007.] ]

The meetinghouse, at 1515 Cherry Street, served as the site of the Yearly Meeting of the Hicksite sect of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) from 1857 to 1955. Built in 1856 by the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting and the Central Philadelphia Monthly Meeting, it was at the forefront of women's involvement both in Quaker religion and in American political activism. Many leaders in the Women's Movement were associated with this meetinghouse; these included abolitionist and women's rights activist Lucretia Mott, peace activist Hannah Clothier Hull, and suffrage leader and Equal Rights Amendment author Alice Paul. [National Park Service, National Historic Landmarks Program, [http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=2167&ResourceType=Building Race Street Meetinghouse] . Accessed 26 November, 2007.]

The meetinghouse was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1993 for its role in the abolition of slavery, women's suffrage, and the civil rights movement.

The Meetinghouse is part of the Friends Center campus, which includes the National Office of the American Friends Service Committee, Friends World Committee for Consultation, Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, the Greater Philadelphia Chapter of the United Nations Association. It is the site of a copy of Sylvia Shaw Judson's statue of Mary Dyer, the 17th century Quaker martyr. [Friends Center Corp., [http://www.friendscentercorp.org/about/aboutFriendsCenter.php?Section=About About Friends Center] . Accessed 27 November 2007.] [Friends Center Corp., [http://www.friendscentercorp.org/about/directory.php?Section=About Directory of Tenant Organizations] . Accessed 27 November 2007.] [Friends Center Corp., [http://www.friendscentercorp.org/about/maryDyer.php?Section=About Mary Dyer Sculpture - A Witness to Quaker Testimonies] . Accessed 27 November 2007.]

References

Further reading

* Frances Williams Browin, "A Century of Race Street Meeting House 1856-1956", Philadelphia PA: Central Philadelphia Monthly Meeting of Friends, 1956.

External links

* [http://www.pym.org/philadelphia-qm/central-phila/ Official website]