Laurie Anderson born Glen Ellyn, IL June 5, 1947. Antiwar musician and performance artist. Opposed Iran-Contra Affair, Gulf War, Iraq War.
When love is gone, there's always justice,
And when justice is gone, there's always force.
And when force is gone, there's always Mom.
Hi, Mom!
("O Superman" 1981)
Marian Anderson born Philadelphia, PA February 17, 1902 (d. 1993). African-American singer. American Goodwill Ambassador, 1957; US delegate to UN Human Rights Commission, 1958; awarded UN Peace Prize, 1977.
Mary B. Anderson born Kentucky March 31, 1939. American economist, specializing in international aid; peace researcher. Founded Local Capacities for Peace Project, 1995. Published Do No Harm: How Aid Can Support Peace—Or War, 1997.
“Normal people living normal lives have the option to avoid war.” (Opting Out of War, with Marshall Wallace, 2012; photo bistandstorgeet.no)
Fannie Fern Andrews born Margaretville, Canada September 25, 1867 (d. 1950). American pioneer in peace education; internationalist teacher and pacifist; author, lecturer, and organizer; founded American School Peace League 1908; co-founded Women’s Peace Party 1915; WILPF founder; started Central Organization for Durable Peace 1915 Hague; created League for Permanent Peace 1918; began International Bureau of Education 1926; planned first international education conference 1914; Delegate of US Bureau of Education at Versailles Peace Conference 1919.
"All that has been accomplished in the international peace movement has been done through the process of education. . . If law is to be substituted for war it must be chiefly through the children of the present generation." (Baltimore, May 5, 1911; photo Wikipedia)
Maya Angelou (née Marguerite Johnson) born St. Louis, MO April 4, 1928. Poet, civil rights leader.
Yet it is only love
which sets us free.
("A Brave and Startling Truth" poem on 50th anniversary of United Nations)
"The honorary duty of a human being is to love."
"We cannot change the past, but we can change our attitude toward it. Uproot guilt and plant forgiveness. Tear out arrogance and seed humility. Exchange love for hate—thereby, making the present comfortable and the future promising." (allforthegreatergood.com/constitution.html; photo academy of achievement)
Susan B. Anthony born Adams, MA February 15, 1820 (d. 1906). "Mother of us all" (G. Stein). Quaker abolitionist; founded International Council for Women 1899, International Women's Suffrage Alliance 1904. Opposed Civil War; opposed US imperialism of Spanish American War. Active in Universal Peace Union.
Anna Mae Aquash (née Pictou) born Nova Scotia, Canada March 27, 1945 (d. 1975). Canadian First Nations leader; member of Micmac tribe; teacher with American Indian Movement. Led Trail of Broken Treaties March, 1972; occupied Bureau of Indian Affairs. Took part in armed occupation protests of Kenora and Gresham, 1974-75. A murder victim, her body was found in South Dakota, 1976.
Louise Arbour born Montreal, Canada February 10, 1946. Chief Prosecutor of Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, 1996-99; Canadian Supreme Court Justice, 1999-2004; UN Commissioner for Human Rights, 2004-08; Nobel Peace Prize nominee, 2005.
"Human rights are not a utopian ideal. They embody an international consensus on the minimum conditions for a life of dignity." (Jan. 14, 2005, Geneva; photo http://bit.ly/IKyTmb)
Lourdes Arizpe Schlosser born Mexico City, Mexico October 4, 1943. Pioneering Mexican anthropologist and professor. Deputy Director, UNESCO, 1994-98. General Secretary, World Commission on Culture, UN and Development.
“[I]t is the heightened degree of interdependence in the world that has transformed any 'threat' into a 'global threat' that knows no boundaries. What the recent tragedies in New York and in Afghanistan have demonstrated is that violence has acquired a new global rank. However, so has the collective will for peace, development and sustainability as witnessed by so many thousands of local social or cultural movements which have this aim in mind. Perhaps never in history has this collective will against violence been so evident and so global in its manifestations. This, I believe, is the movement we must act upon through concerted international programs and actions.” (“Culture and globalization”, Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics, c. 2002; Photo ala UNAM)
Suzanne Arms born Camden, NJ April 26, 1945. Expert on childbirth; helped organize West Coast Spring Mobilization against Vietnam War 1967; draft counselor with Friends Service Committee.
“My nonviolent roots came from the Quakers I worked with and from being a draft counselor. That war provoked many of us to take to the streets and to improvise ways to awaken society and make it better.” (Jour. Perinatal Ed., Fall 2002; photo wikicommons)
Anne Legendre Armstrong born New Orleans, LA December 27, 1927 (d. 2008). American politician and diplomat; first female ambassador to UK, 1976. (photo legacy.com)
Katherine Arnett (née McCollin) born February 5, 1894 (d. 1984). Associate Secretary of American WILPF, 1964; treasurer of Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors opposing Korean War, 1968. (photo Swarthmore Peace Col., WILPF)
Jessie Ashley born New York, NY August 6, 1861 (d. 1919). Pioneering woman lawyer; Socialist; suffragist; opposed World War I: co-founder and treasurer Bureau of Legal Advice 1917 aiding conscientious objectors; co-founded National Birth Control League 1915, editor Birth Control Review; arrested for distributing birth control info Carnegie Hall 1916; friend of Emma Goldman, whom she bailed out; supported Lawrence Mill Strike 1912.
“War should not even be suggested as a means of social progress.” (Intercollegiate Socialist, April 1917, p. 9; photo Library of Congress)
Anne Ashmore-Hudson born Atlanta, GA June 23, 1942. Psychologist; early member of Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee; jailed four days 1960 for first sit-in against segregation Atlanta City Hall.
On her first night in jail: "[We] sang, prayed, danced, played games, told jokes. . . " (Harry Lefever, Undaunted by the Fight, p. 68, 2005; photo thehistorymakers.com)
Barbara Avedon (née Hammer) born New York, NY June 14, 1925 (d. 1994). American TV writer. Initiated Another Mother for Peace movement opposing Vietnam War, 1967.
“[F]ifteen friends met at our house to discuss ‘doing something’ about the war in Vietnam. We wanted to do something that would communicate our horror and disgust to our elected representatives in one concerted action.” (Feb. 8, 1967, in “War is Not Healthy”, Age of Reason, Feb. 28, 2008; photo donnareed.org)
Rachel Foster Avery born Pittsburgh, PA December 30, 1858 (d. 1919). Quaker pacifist; suffragist, right hand to Susan B. Anthony; founded International Council of Women, 1888; co-founded International Women's Suffrage Alliance, 1904; national speaker on peace, 1907.
"International Congress of Women, composed of delegates of all civilized countries. . . considering all questions between nations, throwing the influence of a united womanhood in favor of better conditions for humanity, better educational opportunities for the world's children, and in favor of that equality between man and woman which shall give to man the high privilege of living, not with his social and political inferiors, but with his social and political equals, which shall lend its influence toward peace and the healing of the nations." (conclusion of World's Congress, May 22, 1893, in Sewall II: 926; 1890 photo wikicommons pd)
Women in Peace
is dedicated to highlighting the achievements of extraordinary, peacemaking women from around the world.
