“I would say unequivocally that the emphasis on nonviolent direct action in the civil rights movement is due more to A. J. than to anyone else in the country.” Martin Luther King, Jr., to Nat Hentoff

A. J. Muste: Radical for Peace/Finding True North from David B. Schock, Ph.D.

This is the first film (in a series of four) about the life of A. J. Muste. In it we follow Muste from his childhood through his early 50s, from an ordained minister in the Reformed Church in America tradition to his brief time as a Trotskyist. We end with his return to the church.

A. J. Muste: Radical for Peace/”The No. 1 U.S. Pacifist”

This second film follows Muste through his career from the late 1930s though the mid-1950s as he led the Fellowship for Reconciliation. Of special note is his role in the formation of C.O.R.E. and his work with WWII pacifists.

A. J. Muste: Radical for Peace/Welcoming the New Left

The third film highlights A. J.’s efforts at race reconciliation and demilitarization. The film follows A. J.’s history through the support of Students for A Democratic Society.

The fourth and final installment includes several of the efforts by A. J. and his associates to work for peace: the 1963 Birmingham action with The Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., the March on Washington, and a deep dive into one of the efforts by A. J. Muste and his adherents as we tell the story of their their walk from Quebec to Washington, D.C., and then Miami, trying desperately to get to Guantanamo. Beyond that are efforts A. J. undertook to stop the war in Vietnam, including his trips to Saigon and Hanoi.

The physical voice of A. J. Muste was silenced in death in 1967. But his words carry through…in all he has written and said, and predominantly in the influence he shared with those who have been called to witness for justice and peace. Welcome to this site intended to share films and other documents about A. J.

We share it willingly with the world in hope that A. J.’s message will resonate. There is a DONATE button below it. With the limited exception of initial funding from the A. J. Muste Memorial Institute in New York City and little Hope College in Holland, Michigan (A. J.’s 1905 alma mater), most of this project has come out of the filmmakers’ pockets. Drs. Kathleen Verduin and David Schock have put it all on the line.

If you contribute, the charge on your PayPal will be to penULTIMATE, Ltd. That’s our corporation. It was intended as a for-profit enterprise. But you know how things go.

We have no institutional affiliation; nor are we a 501 (c)(3). To contact me for information, ways you can help, requests for regional showings, or just because you are curious: schock@charter.net.

And we had the great honor of receiving at State History Award from the Michigan Historical Society in the fall of 2019 for the first film. We are both humbled and grateful.