The Washington Peace Center is in its 5th decade of working towards true global social justice and a world at peace.

Our History

The Peace Center has played a significant role in the development of peace and justice initiatives in the D.C. metropolitan area.

In 1959, to protest the development and testing of biological and chemical weapons at Ft. Detrick in Frederick, Maryland, a group of activists led by Quaker Larry Scott began a vigil at Fort Detrick.  In 1961 the group moved into D.C. with a mission to expand their work to include peace education through film showings, discussions, and the publication of a local newspaper. With the acquisition of office space at the Friends Meeting of Washington, the group formally organized in 1963 as the nonprofit Washington Peace Center.

The Peace Center was active in the anti-nuclear movements of the 1970s and  a key player in the Central America and Middle East solidarity movements of the 1980s. In the 1990s, the Peace Center played a critical role in organizing regional opposition to U.S. militarism in Iraq. Meanwhile the organization's leadership was working to further build the Peace Center's domestic agenda, addressing race and class issues within the organization and across the metropolitan area.

The local/global connection continues to shape the Peace Center's work. Early work with the Anti-Racism/Anti-Oppression Education Network, the D.C. Statehood Party and the D.C. Citizen Action Network (D.C. CAN), revealed a path toward addressing the concerns of residents and organizers in D.C.  Work with the Anti-Sanctions and Fair Trade movements also traces a path toward addressing the concerns of a global economy.  In all, the Center's primary goal remains to strategically link local organizing for economic and social justice to national and international struggles toward establishing structures and relationships that are nonviolent, non-hierarchical, humane and just.

Our Work

Since its charter in 1963, the Washington Peace Center has worked to engender a more peace-filled world.  We actively train our constituency against all forms of oppression and the inherent violence in them, whether based on race, religion, gender, nationality, sexual orientation, style or class.  We reveal through our work that all people, including those with whom we disagree, are entitled to respect and basic human rights.  We maintain a steadfast opposition to acts of violence, domestic or foreign, in the home or on a battlefield.  Most of all we continue to affirm our belief in the power of people, united, to foster positive and progressive change in our neighborhoods, our countries and the world.

Specifically, the Washington Peace Center:

Our Board 

We want the Peace Center to become a larger, stronger and more representative organization in the coming year, and with your help it will become so. Annual membership is just $25.

We invite members to actively participate in Peace Center activities and decisions.  Members receive a subscription to the quarterly Washington Peace Letter.  Members may also attend Coordinating Board meetings and vote on non-fiduciary matters.  Contact us for more information: 202-234-2000 or wpc@igc.org.

Please help us continue working for social change. Checks made to the Washington Peace Center can be mailed to: