One Woman and Her Circle of FRIENDS
The legacy of FRIENDS stretches back over a century.
Because one woman saw a need and imagined what was possible, FRIENDS opened its doors as Friends Asylum for Colored Orphans in 1871 following the Civil War.
FRIENDS was founded by former Richmond slave, Lucy Goode Brooks.
Having lost one of her own children to the slave trade, Lucy Goode Brooks was especially concerned for the plight of black children left orphaned and abandoned by former owners.
Lucy convinced the Ladies Sewing Circle for Charitable Works, of which she was leader, that a home for orphans was a worthy project. They asked the Richmond-based Quaker Society of Friends for help, recognizing their humanitarian interest in the less fortunate and oppressed.
The Quakers agreed to sponsor the orphanage project and raised money in Virginia and the Northern states.
The FRIENDS Family Center & Administrative Offices are located on the same North Jackson Ward site in Richmond where the original orphanage once stood.
The land was deeded by Richmond City Council in 1867. The building was completed in 1871.
The orphanage was torn down in 1969 to make room for the FRIENDS Family Center at 1004 Saint John Street.
Lucy Goode Brooks was honored in February 2007 by the LOV during African American History Month.
Click here to read all about it!
Lucy Goode Brooks was featured in the 2006 Richmond Times-Dispatch Virginia Black History Profiles!