Ernest Bromley (March 14, 1912 – December 17, 1997) was an American minister,

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally, others referred to them as Quakers ...

and civil rights and peace activist. A founding member of the

Freedom Riders Freedom Riders were civil rights activists who rode interstate buses into the Racial segregation in the United States, segregated Southern United States, Southern United States in 1961 and subsequent years to challenge the non-enforcement of t ...

, he played an active role in protests of

racial segregation Racial segregation is the separation of people into race (human classification), racial or other Ethnicity, ethnic groups in daily life. Segregation can involve the spatial separation of the races, and mandatory use of different institutions, ...

in the Southern United States. He also organized rallies in Cincinnati which protested the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...

and segregation. Bromley was also a pioneer of the modern American

tax resistance Tax resistance is the refusal to pay tax because of opposition to the government that is imposing the tax, or to government policy, or as opposition to taxation in itself. Tax resistance is a form of direct action and, if in violation of the ta ...

movement. In 1942 he refused to display a "defense tax stamp" on his car. He redirected the $7.09 cost of the stamp that would have gone to the war effort and gave it instead to Methodist overseas relief. He was jailed for 60 days and lost his position as minister. He married Marion Bromley in 1948. He produced and edited a local newsletter called ''Peacemaker'' for many years. Peacemakers was the name of an organization that he and his wife Marion helped found that encouraged pacifism and resistance to war taxes and the draft. Peacemakers developed a fund for families of people imprisoned for acts of conscience. In the 1970s the

Internal Revenue Service The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the revenue service for the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government, which is responsible for collecting Taxation in the United States, U.S. federal taxes and administerin ...

tried and failed to seize their home for non-payment of taxes. In 1977 the

War Resisters League The War Resisters League (WRL) is the oldest secular pacifist organization in the United States, having been founded in 1923. History Founded in 1923 by men and women who had opposed World War I, it is a section of the London-based War Resisters' ...

gave the Bromleys its annual Peace Award. His activism informed and was informed by his faith as a member of the

Religious Society of Friends Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally, others referred to them as Quakers ...

, specifically Cincinnati Community Friends monthly meeting. The

testimonies of peace and equality were values for which he lived.

References

External links

* 1912 births 1997 deaths American civil rights activists American tax resisters American anti-war activists Freedom Riders {{civil-rights-movement-stub