Ethics In Action
A History of the New York Society for Ethical Culture
The New York Society for Ethical Culture was founded by Dr. Felix Adler, who was both visionary and revolutionary.
A New Religious Movement
In 1876, he proposed a new religious movement which would work toward the advancement of social justice for all. He suggested that the movement should further the principles of ethics among adults and children through education and that members of the Society should express their religious consciences in moral and humane actions. These ideas remain the cornerstones of the philosophy of the New York Society for Ethical Culture, which was incorporated on February 21, 1877.
In adhering to its social and moral imperatives, the Society quickly initiated two major projects in 1877. First was the establishment of the District Nursing Service, a precursor of the Visiting Nurse Service, which is still active today. The second project was the founding of a free kindergarten for the children of working people, and in 1880 the Workingman's School was chartered. In 1895, the School was reorganized, becoming The Ethical Culture Schools. An upper school, The Fieldston School, was added in 1928.
Under Dr. Adler's direction, the Society worked to improve conditions in tenement houses, created the Mothers' Society to Study Child Nature, and helped to found the Visiting and Teaching Guild for Crippled Children in 1889.
During the next generation, Stanton Coit and members of the Society played prominent roles in the Settlement House movement in New York. In 1901, Camp Felicia, which offered children of the city's slums a taste of country life, was founded by the Down-Town Ethical Society. Also during the early 1900s, members of the Society staffed clubs, libraries, gymnasiums, job training programs, a kindergarten, a mothers' club, educational classes, and two employment bureaus. The independent organization that became Hudson Guild grew out of some of these activities.
Anna Garlin Spencer
Society members also contributed in the area of individual rights. Although women had been excluded initially from membership in the Society and relegated to a Ladies Auxiliary, in 1903 the Society hired a woman, Anna Garlin Spencer, as Associate Leader.
While still under the leadership of Dr. Adler, the Society provided several prominent Americans with a platform to speak out about civil rights. In 1909, Leaders of the Society for Ethical Culture signed a petition calling for the creation of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
John Lovejoy Elliott
Later, John Lovejoy Elliott, who served as a Leader until his death in 1942, along with Norman Thomas, Roger Baldwin, and John Haynes Holmes, helped to found the National Civil Liberties Bureau, forerunner of the American Civil Liberties Union. Elliott also created programs for juvenile delinquents. Time and again, Adler and those who followed him, showed the capacity to recognize the most urgent social issues of the time and to lead others to take up the challenges these posed.
In 1910, the Society, which had been meeting in Carnegie Hall and at other venues, erected a Meeting House on Central Park West. The auditorium of this landmark building features hand-carved oak paneling, and beautiful stained glass windows. Today the auditorium and other spaces within the building are made available for social, political, cultural and other uses consistent with the Ethical Culture message.
When Adler died in 1933, he left behind a Society of committed members and Leaders. In the 1940s, Society Leaders Jerome Nathanson and Algernon D. Black struck a balance between social activism and intellectual pursuits. Black worked actively against discrimination in housing, chaired the Civilian Police Review Board, and participated in the Committee for a Sane Nuclear Policy.
In 1959, the Society's Women's Conference was a major participant in developing the Planned Parenthood Clinic on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The Society's Social Service Board sponsored numerous community service activities, including a tutorial program begun in 1965, which led to Public School Partnerships. An ongoing year-round program for older members was begun in the 1970s.
In the 1980s, in response to the emerging problem of homelessness, the Social Service Board helped organize a Homeless Artists and Writers Workshop, and began co-sponsoring a homeless shelter in the meeting house. The SSB also founded the Supervised Visitation Project which allows parents who have been separated from their children to visit with them in a safe and supportive environment.
Other Activities
Other recent projects for the Society include actively working for the repeal of the death penalty with New Yorkers Against the Death Penalty and hosting panel discussions with speakers who have included David Kaczynski, as well as Peter and Russell Neufeld. The Society has also worked toward repeal of the Rockefeller Drug Laws by marching on Albany, picketing in New York City, generating petitions, and hosting panels with such speakers as William Bratton, Robert Gangi, and Ricki Kleiman.
In conjunction with The Innocence Project, the Society has raised money for DNA Testing of wrongfully accused prisoners. To date, one prisoner has been exonerated as the direct result of Ethical Culture's support.
In the area of civil liberties, Ethical Culture has formed partnerships with The Nation Institute, The Economist, WNYC, and WBAI to host forums and present debates on divergent points of view. In the past year, Naomi Klein, Sameena Ahmad, Gore Vidal, Katrina vanden Heuvel, Bill Emmott, U.S. Rep. Maurice Hinchey, Norman Siegel, Randolph Jonakait, James B. Comey, and Ryan Sager participated in discussions and debates on civil liberties at the Society.
Finally, as long standing champions of women's rights, members of the Society continue to march on Washington, and conduct letter-writing and call-in campaigns to legislators to effect positive change.
It's certainly clear that the founding mandates of the visionary, Dr. Felix Adler, are alive and well today.
