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Schools

NAACP Recognizes Friends School as "Foot Soldier For Justice"

The 136-year-old Friends School was honored for its historic commitment to equality and justice.

The Media Unit of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) recently awarded Media-Providence Friends School a “Foot Soldier for Justice” award at its Annual Freedom Fund Luncheon, in recognition the school's historic commitment to equality and justice.

MPFS, a 136-year-old Quaker day school, was the first area independent school to integrate in the 1930s. That decision, a MPFS press release states, "resulted in the subsequent departure of nearly half of its school families," but the school board stood by the decision nonetheless.

Today, the MPFS student body, which comes from 21 different school districts, remains vibrantly diverse. 

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Accepting the award on behalf of the school’s past and present faculty, board members, parents and students, Head of School Earl Sissell remarked, “For more than 13 decades, MPFS has provided a safe and nurturing environment for students from different backgrounds and faiths to interact, learn and grow up together. The intentionally rich diversity within our school community is central to our mission… it exposes children to a variety of perspectives and develops in them a deep respect for the differences of others that remains with them for the rest of their lives. We know this because we have seen the influence of our graduates extend outward, helping to construct a more tolerant, just and peaceful world.”

This press release was provided by the .

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