K. Brooke Anderson was Executive Secretary of the Brown Christian Association from 1928 until 1957, a position in which he had a profound impact on the lives of many in the Brown community, students, faculty and staff alike. Mr. Anderson had served for two years in World War I with the French Army Ambulance Service, receiving the Silver Star citation from General Pershing and decorated by France for his work. Still, the experience left him deeply disillusioned, and a lifelong commitment to pacifism began. He worked with prisoners of war in Syria, Egypt, and Jerusalem from 1919-1921, and later, after World War II, with Arab refugees in the Gaza Strip. He remained an active advocate for peace for the rest of his life.

After his death in 1975 at the age of 83, his family established the K. Brooke Anderson Memorial Fund, shared by the Department of Religious Studies and the Office of the Chaplains of Brown University, to support annual lectures for the University and community with a focus on areas of interfaith relations (especially Christian, Muslim, and Jewish relations), race relations, and world peace. Topics have included hunger, poverty, refugees, disarmament, and the religious and moral grounds for pacifism.

Past presenters have included poet Amir Sulaiman (2018), Pulitzer Prize winning author Marilynne, Robinson '66 (2017), David Carrasco, Harvard Divinity School (2014); Eddie S. Glaude, Princeton University (2013); Dr. Rami Nashashibia, Director of the Inner-city Muslim Action Network (IMAN) in Chicago (2012); and Amy Hollywood, Harvard University (2011). We are deeply indebted to the Anderson family who have made this lecture series possible.