Ernest Bromley
Encyclopedia
Ernest Bromley was an American minister and civil rights and peace activist. A founding member of the Freedom Riders, he played an active role in protests of racial segregation
in the Southern United States. He also organized rallies in Cincinnati which protested the Vietnam War
and segregation.
Bromley was also a pioneer of the modern American tax resistance
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
tried and failed to seize their home for non-payment of taxes. In 1977 the War Resisters League
gave the Bromleys its annual Peace Award.
Racial segregation
Racial segregation is the separation of humans into racial groups in daily life. It may apply to activities such as eating in a restaurant, drinking from a water fountain, using a public toilet, attending school, going to the movies, or in the rental or purchase of a home...
in the Southern United States. He also organized rallies in Cincinnati which protested the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
and segregation.
Bromley was also a pioneer of the modern American tax resistance
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.Tax resistance is a form of civil disobedience and direct action...
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
Marion Bromley
Marion Bromley nee Coddington was a pioneer of the modern American tax resistance movement and a civil rights activist. She married Ernest Bromley in 1948....
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
Internal Revenue Service
The Internal Revenue Service is the revenue service of the United States federal government. The agency is a bureau of the Department of the Treasury, and is under the immediate direction of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue...
tried and failed to seize their home for non-payment of taxes. In 1977 the War Resisters League
War Resisters League
The War Resisters League was formed in 1923 by men and women who had opposed World War I. It is a section of the London-based War Resisters' International.Many of the founders had been jailed during World War I for refusing military service...
gave the Bromleys its annual Peace Award.