These photographs and letters relating to the Moral Re-Armament Assembly of Nations on Mackinac Island, Michigan, were compiled by Frances Albrier during the 1950s. Moral Re-Armament (MRA) was a moral and spiritual movement that began in 1938 and was led by Dr. Frank N. D. Buchman. In the 1950s, the MRA began holding conferences on Mackinac Island where many political and spiritual leaders, especially those in many of the African and Asian countries moving toward independence from colonial rule, came together on multi-faith initiatives and contributed to bringing unity to groups in conflict with each other.
Frances M. Albrier (1898-1987) was a civil and equal rights activist and leader. The granddaughter of a former slave, Frances Albrier moved from Alabama to California as a young woman in 1920 and began nearly six decades of civil rights activism from her Berkeley home. She worked as a nurse, maid and union organizer on Pullman trains. In 1939, Albrier ran for City Council as Berkeley's first African American woman candidate. In 1940, she formed the Citizens Employment Council to fight for jobs and fair employment practices for African Americans. During WWII, Albrier was the first black welder at the Richmond shipyards and integrated Berkeley's league of Women Voters and the Red Cross. She taught Red Cross first aid classes to local youth for many years. In the 1950s, she created the first Negro History Week displays in Oakland which were displayed in department store windows. She was prominent in the National Council of Negro Women and in the Citizenship Education Project, which focused on voter registration. In later life, she was a peace and disarmament activist and also a pioneer of rights for seniors and disabled people.