Biography
Lee Donald Stern was an American Quaker pacifist imprisoned during World War II after refusing to report for Civilian Public Service. He was convicted in northern Ohio in December 1942 and held at the federal prison in Milan, Michigan, from December 1942 through January 1946. In prison he challenged racial segregation by eating with Black prisoners. He later taught nonviolence and conflict resolution, worked with the Fellowship of Reconciliation, and helped found Alternatives to Violence and Peace Brigades International. His draft-law conviction was pardoned in December 1947.
Elizabeth Cattell’s Friends Journal profile of Lee Stern reports that, while imprisoned at Milan, he pressed for racial desegregation and helped obtain an accessible library and vocational and academic courses. It also reports twenty-eight days in isolation. These events belong to his existing imprisonment and are not added to his custody total. October 1, 1971 profile, printed p. 494.
