April 21

Women peacemakers born today

  • 1830 Clémence Auguste Royer born Nantes, France (d. 1902). French philosopher and scientific genius; feminist; pacifist. Active in International League of Peace & Freedom, 1867. Wrote against conscription and standing armies in feminist journal La Fronde.

  • 1830 Mary Ann Woodbridge (née Brayton) born Nantucket, MA (d. 1894). Quaker mother; American temperance leader. WCTU Peace Lecturer promoting arbitration; spent 17 years as WCTU Secretary. Delegate to Peace & Arbitration Conference Rome, 1891.

  • 1859 Belle Case La Follette born Summit, WI (d. 1931). Progressive lawyer; suffragist and journalist. WILPF founding member. Co-founded Women's Peace Party, 1917; Women's Committee for World Disarmament, 1921; National Council for Prevention of War, 1921.

  • 1891 Georgia Harkness born Harkness, NY (d. 1978). Ecumenical pacifist theologian and professor.

  • 1929 Carol Urner. Quaker international aid worker; WILPF leader and representative at UN disarmament meetings. Taught nonviolence in Philippines.

  • 1939 Helen Prejean born Baton Rouge, LA. Catholic nun. Signed call for removal of President Bush for Iraq War and torture. Received Pacem in Terris award, 1993.

  • 1972 Narges Mohammadi born Zanjan, Iran. Iranian physicist; human rights advocate. Chairwoman of the National Peace Council. Arrested 5 times; sentenced to 11-year prison term for advocacy efforts, charged with “acting against the national security.” Received Alexander Langer Award, 2009.

Women's peacemaking on this day

  • 1922 Pan American Association of Women founded, Baltimore; charter members included Berta Lutz.

  • 1928 Senator Lynn Frazier of North Dakota made his maiden speech opposing war in support of Women's Peace Union legislation to abolish war.

  • 2012 The Global Network of Women Peacebuilders held discussion on militarism, violence & conflict, Istanbul.

  • 2015 WILPF Peace Train arrived at The Hague from Istanbul to celebrate 100th anniversary.

April 22

Women peacemakers born today

  • 1766 Germaine de Stael born Paris, France (d. 1817). Liberal Swiss philosopher and author; exiled opponent of Napoleon, 1804; early advocate of abolition of slave trade, 1813.

  • 1858 Ethel Smyth born Sidcup, Kent, England (d. 1944). British musical composer of operas, songs, chamber music, piano and organ music. Wrote suffragist anthem "March of the Women", 1911.

  • 1904 María Zambrano Alarcón born Vélez-Málaga, Andalusia, Spain (d. 1991). Leading 20th century Spanish philosopher. Exiled by civil war, 1939-84.

  • 1909 Rita Levi-Montalcini  born Turin, Italy (d. 2012) Italian-American neurologist. Advocated education for peace in her autobiography In Praise of Imperfection, 1988. Awarded Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, 1986.

  • 1955 Ann Marie Janson Lang born Sweden. Swedish doctor at Karolynska Institute led WHO case against nuclear weapons at World Court 1996.

  • 1980 Erica Chenoweth born Ohio. American professor of international relations; expert on civil resistance. Co-authored Why Civil Resistance Works: The Strategic Logic of Nonviolent Conflict, 2011.

Women's peacemaking on this day

  • 1868 First publication of Gualberta Alaide Beccari's Italian feminist journal La Donna.

  • 1963 Mothers for Peace pleaded with Pope John XXIII to condemn nuclear war and promote nonviolent resistance.

  • 1984 Easter Plowshares protest by Christin Schmidt and Anne Montgomery damaged Pershing missile at Martin Marietta plant Orlando; 3 years in prison; banner: “Violence Ends Where Love Begins.”

  • 1999 Earth Day: Joan Baez and Bonnie Raitt climbed redwood tree to join Butterfly Hill in protest.

  • 1996 Ursuline Sister Diana Ortiz began fast for release of documents about Guatemalan atrocities.

  • 2010 Maltese peacemaker Bianca Zammit shot by Israeli army, Gaza.

  • 2011 Women for Bahrain launched campaign against sectarian hatred.

  • 2011 In Asheville, NC, organizers held a Slut Walk against sexual violence, one of the first in the US.

  • 2011 Eleven women arrested for chain-locking gate at Vermont Yankee nuclear plant.

  • 2015 Opening of WILPF Centennial Congress, “Women’s Power to Stop War,” at Peace Palace, The Hague.

April 23

Women peacemakers born today

  • 1858 Bella Guerin born Williamstown, Victoria, Australia (d. 1923) Australian anti-war activist; feminist; suffragist; socialist. First woman graduate of Australian university, 1883.

  • 1928 Shirley Temple Black born Santa Monica, CA (d. 2014). Child movie star; Republican diplomat. Delegate to UN, 1969. US Ambassador to Ghana, 1974-76; Czechoslovakia, 1968, 1989-92. First woman Chief of Diplomatic Protocol, 1976.

  • 1940 Ita Ford born Brooklyn, NY (d. 1980). Maryknoll nun active in Bolivia, Chile and El Salvador. Tortured, raped, and murdered by National Guard soldiers, El Salvador, 1980.

  • 1950 Heisoo Shin born Gyeonggi Province, Republic of Korea. South Korean professor of sociology. Leader in exposing of sexual slavery by the Japanese military during World War II; spearheaded international campaign against violence to women in war. Nobel Peace Prize nominee, 2005.

  • 1951 Carolyn Hayman born England. Development expert. Co-founded Peace Direct to help communities to recover from war through local efforts, 2004; Peace Direct UK Executive Director, 2004-present.

  • 1951 Darlene Keju born Ebeye, Kwajalein, Marshall Islands (d. 1996). Pioneering anti-nuclear activist. Exposed widespread aftereffects of atomic testing on people of Marshall Islands.

  • 1951 Allison Krause born Pittsburgh, PA (d. 1970). 19-year-old Kent State University freshman killed by Ohio National Guard in protest against Cambodian invasion, 1970.

Women's peacemaking on this day

  • 1702 Quaker founding Mother Margaret Fox died, aged 87. Final words: "I am in peace."

  • 1926 Women's Peace Union constitutional amendment to abolish war introduced by Sen. Frazier. "War for any purpose shall be illegal."

  • 1951 Civil Rights Movement began with 16-year-old Barbara Johns student strike at R.R. Moton High School, Farmville, VA.

  • 2009 Farah Pandith appointed first US representative to Muslim countries.

  • 2011 Dallas Slut March against sexual violence organized by Liz Webb.

April 24

Women peacemakers born today

  • 1878 Marie Mayoux born Lesterps, Cherente, France (d. 1969). French Socialist internationalist and anarcho-syndicalist teacher's union organizer. Began first pacifist opposition to World War I; she and husband tried for inciting desertions, 1917, sentenced to 6 months prison, increased to two years on appeal.

  • 1918 Elisabeth Mann Borgese born Münich, Germany (d. 2002). American-Canadian maritime law expert. Promoted Pacem in Maribus ("Peace in the Sea") conferences, 1970, leading to UN Law of the Sea Convention, 1982.

  • 1942 Barbara Streisand born Brooklyn, NY. Singer; antiwar advocate.

  • 1946 Kamla Bhasin born Shaheedanwali, Punjab, India. Indian social scientist, feminist; song-writer and poet; 2003 co-founded 1000 Women for Nobel Peace Prize 2005; co-founder Peace Women Across the Globe (PWAG) Bern 2006; Freedom from Hunger campaign of UN Food & Agriculture Organization specialist 1979-2001; worked for Indian-Pakistani reconciliation.

  • 1957 Angelika Beer born Kiel, Germany. Co-founded Green Party, 1980; member of German parliament, 1987-90, 1994-2002. Coordinated international campaign against landmines, 1992-94; co-signed leaders' declaration against nuclear weapons, 1998.

  • 1986 Alexandra Shevchenko born Khmelnytskyi, Ukraine. Co-founded FEMEN ("Feminism’s shock troops"), 2008. Arrested five times for bare-breasted protests in Ukraine, Belarus, France, Italy, Germany. Confronted Vladimir Putin and Angela Merkel, Hamburg, 2013.

Women's peacemaking on this day

  • 1971 United Women's Contingent protested Vietnam War in DC. "It is directly in the interest of the feminist movement to demand an end to this war which consumes lives and resources that should be allocated to the needs of women and other oppressed sectors."

  • 1979 Australian women protest ANZAC Day. "Women do this because war is the belief that violence solves things."

  • 1985 Every Woman's Peace Camp at Vancouver BC. "The world simply cannot survive another major war."

  • 2001 UNIFEM Report of Effect of War on Women by Ellen SirleafElizabeth Rehn published.

  • 2015 Peacemaker Sabeen Mahmud assassinated in Karachi.

April 25

Women peacemakers born today

  • 1863 Lucy Gardner born Leeds, England (d. 1944). Quaker peace leader. Founding Secretary, Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR), 1914. Sponsored American Alice Paul for head of Charity Organization Society London, 1907; edited FOR magazine Reconciliation. Founded International Fellowship of Reconciliation (IFOR), 1919.

  • 1905 Martha Sharp (née Dickie) born Providence, RI (d. 1999). Unitarian refugee rescuer; co-founded Unitarian Service Committee; work in Prague 1939 relief program and escort of children to Holland; Lisbon 1940 assisted escape of Jews; honored by Yad Vashem Righteous Among Nations, 2005; founded “Children to Palestine” 1943; aided release of imprisoned Spanish refugees, 1944.

  • 1913 Francelia Butler born Cleveland, OH (d. 1998). Literature professor at Univ. of Connecticut; journalist and children's writer. Founded International Peace Games, 1990.

  • 1915 Hind al-Husseini born Jerusalem (d. 1994). Rescued 55 survivors, all under age 9, from Deir Yassin massacre, 1948; converted grandfather's home to orphanage, Arab Children's House. Founded Hind al-Husseini College for Women, 1982.

  • 1931 Adrienne van Melle-Hermans born The Hague, Netherlands (d. 2007). Dutch peacemaker; opposed racism against immigrants. Co-founded Dutch Women for Peace, 1979; opened clinic for children in Balkan War, 1994. Nobel Peace Prize nominee, 2005.

  • 1932 Frene Ginwala born Johannesburg, South Africa. African National Congress leader against apartheid. Lived in exile, 1960-91. Played key role in reestablishment of ANC Women’s League, 1990. First Speaker of South Africa Parliament, 1994-2004.

  • 1942 Ruby Doris Smith-Robinson born Atlanta, GA (d. 1967). Early leader of Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, 1960; original Freedom Rider, 1961. Only woman to serve as Executive Secretary of SNCC, 1966.

  • 1956 Vesna Pusić born Zagreb, Yugoslavia. Croatian Sociology Professor; official candidate for UN Secretary General 2016; the only feminist; endorsed by nonviolent party; Foreign Minister 2006-11; promoted European unity, chaired negotiations for Croatian membership in EU 2005-8; co-founder Erasmus Guild 1993 promoting postwar cultural democracy.

  • 1978 Malalai Joya born Farah, Afghanistan. "The bravest woman in Afghanistan." Opposed warlords, Taliban, Karzai and US occupation. Youngest member of parliament, 2005, from which she was dismissed for criticism.

  • 1979 Manal al-Sharif born Mecca, Saudi Arabia. Human rights activist. Arrested for driving on 30th birthday. Organized campaign to release Southeast Asian women jailed for minor offenses, 2011. Awarded Havel Prize for Creative Dissent, 2012.

Women's peacemaking on this day

  • 1899 May Wright Sewall's letter on behalf of 1.25 million women who supported Russian Tsar's appeal for peace.

  • 1906 Suffragists interrupted parliamentary debate to insist on hearing.

  • 1951 Little Rock Student Petition for Desegregation began the process that led to Brown v. Board of Education decision.

  • 1978 "Women Against Rape" banner of 20 women at ANZAC Day celebration, Canberra, Australia.

  • 1980 14 of 16 women protesters of ANZAC parade arrested, Canberra.

  • 1981 First western Eco-Feminist Conference held at Sonoma State Univ. organized by Susan Adler of CREATE.

  • 1981 300 Women marched beside ANZAC Parade Canberra with sign "In Memory of All Women of All Countries Raped in All Wars."

  • 1982 600 Women in Canberra, Australia laid a wreath for all women raped in wars.

  • 1983 175 Women arrested in Sydney and Melbourne in protest against rape in wars.

  • 2004 At the Fourth Inzá Women's Gathering, 2000 women met at Turminá, Tierradentro, Colombia to protest ongoing militarization of the region.

  • 2005 Foundation for Post Conflict Development (FPCD) founded by Claudia Abate.

  • 2015 Conclusion of WILPF Centennial Congress, “Women’s Power to Stop War,” at Peace Palace, The Hague.

April 26

Women peacemakers born today

  • 1928 Amélie Scheltema born Boston, MA. Marine biologist at Woods Hole Institute; draft counselor in Vietnam War; Quaker conflict resolution trainer.

  • 1936 Joan Chittister. Benedictine nun, author and lecturer; co-chair of Global Peace Initiative of Women, 2002. Partnered with UN in dialog with Iraqi women, 2006.

  • 1952 Anita Ušacka born Riga, Latvia. Professor of humanitarian law. Executive Director of UNICEF Latvia, 1994-96. First judge of Latvian constitutional court, 1996-2004. Judge of International Criminal Court, Appeals Division, 2003; President of Appeals Division, 2011-12.

Women's peacemaking on this day

  • 1962 Norma Becker led 3,000 people to the United Nations in Vietnam Peace Parade anti-nuclear protest.

  • 1932 Gandhi endorsed Maude Royden's idea of a Peace Army to end the Sino-Japanese War.

  • 1970 French feminists placed wreath on tomb of Unknown Soldier. "There is another unknown than this soldier, his wife."

  • 2002 First UN Ombudsman appointed: Patricia Durrant of Jamaica.

  • 2014 South Sudanese Women Civil Society Organizations met in Juba to propose peaceful resolution for violent conflicts in the region. “Who will wipe our tears?”

April 27

Women peacemakers born today

  • 1759 Mary Wollstonecraft born Spitalfields, London (d. 1797). British feminist pioneer; anarchist. Opposed all war and violence; author of radical Vindication of the Rights of Women, 1792.

  • 1874 Severine born Paris, France (d. 1929). French journalist; radical feminist, pacifist, anarchist, and human rights advocate. Worked for rights of Algerian women. "Queen of the Dreyfusards" against anti-Semitism.

  • 1907 Rachel Carson born Springdale, PA (d. 1964). Ecologist; biologist. Published Silent Spring, 1962.

  • 1908 Lilian Watford born Chicago, IL (d. 2004). Quaker peace activist; lobbyist.

  • 1916 Emilia Castro de Barish born San José, Costa Rica. Costa Rican diplomat and human rights advocate. Led creation of UN Human Rights Commission, 1946; UN University of Peace, 1980; Culture of Peace, 1999. Member of UN Security Council, 1971.

  • 1927 Coretta Scott King born Heiberger, AL (d. 2006). Singer; wife and companion of Martin Luther King, Jr. Founding member of the Committee for a Sane Nuclear Policy, 1957. Following the death of her husband, founded the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change, Atlanta, 1968.

Women's peacemaking on this day

  • 1915 Jane Addams and 41 American women arrived Rotterdam on SS Noordam for International peace conference, after 3 day delay by British off Dover.

  • 1978 VONS Committee for Defence of the Unjustly Persecuted founded Czechoslovakia by Olga Havlováand other dissidents.

  • 2001 Three Ploughshares women damaged military barge Loch Goil in anti-nuclear protest. Ulla Roder spray painted "useless" on sub at Faslane.

  • 2006 18 Raging Grannies acquitted of blocking military recruiting Times Square.

  • 2009 Two US Congresswomen arrested for Darfur protest at Sudanese Embassy, Washington DC: Rep. Lynn Woolsey and Rep. Donna Edwards.

  • 2010 Beatriz Cariño Trujilo, Mexican human rights activist was murdered, Oaxaca.

  • 2012 Bertha Bejarano led TIPNIS (Territorio Indígena y Parque Nacional Isiboro Secure) protest march from Trinidad, Bolivia to LaPaz.

  • 2015 Over 1,000 women attended WILPF Conference, The Hague.

April 28

Women peacemakers born today

  • 1884 Betty Boeke born Moseley, Birmingham, England (d. 1976). Quaker. Co-founded International Fellowship of Reconciliation Bilthoven, 1919. Imprisoned for tax resistance; gave birth to one child while in prison. Honored by Yad Vashem for saving Jews.

  • 1938 Sybil Oldfield born London, England. British professor; biographer of women peacemakers. Active in Committee for Nuclear Disarmament, 1968-present; member of WILPF, 1978-present.

  • 1954 Monica McWilliams born Ballymoney, Northern Ireland. Catholic professor, politician, and peacemaker. Worked in Colombia, Palestine, South Africa, Timor Leste, and Uganda on conflict-related issues; trained women of Afghanistan and Iraq.

  • 1966 Isabelle Alexandrine Bourgeois born Washington DC. Swiss journalist and Chief Editor of International Red Cross (IRC) journal Avenue of Peace. Delegate of IRC to Kosovo, 2000; Ethiopia, 2002; Iran, 2003; Iraq War, 2003; Libya, 2004-08. Took part in World March for Peace and Nonviolence, 2009.

  • 1968 Pauline Dempers born Aranos, Hardap, Namibia. Namibian human rights leader; anti-Apartheid protester; arrested as a spy and tortured by SWAPO in Angola exile 1986; national coordinator Breaking the Wall of Silence 1996 exposing SWAPO abuses and finding reconciliation.

  • 1974 Penélope Cruz born Madrid. Spanish film star. Founded Sabera Foundation for homeless Calcutta girls, 1999; partner of UN World Food Program, 2005.

  • 1988 Camila Vallejo Dowling born Santiago, Chile. Chilean Communist student leader in nonviolent protests for education, 2011.

Women's peacemaking on this day

  • 1915 Birth of Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) at Hague International Peace Conference, chaired by Jane Addams.

  • 1977 First Rally of Mothers of the Disappeared Plaza del Mayo, Buenos Aires.

  • 1987 Brundtland Report "Our Common Future" released, London. "Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs."

  • 2006 Representative Sheila Jackson-Lee arrested in Darfur protest at Sudanese Embassy, Washington.

  • 2006 In New York, ten members of Raging Grannies acquitted for blocking recruitment center in Oct. 2005.

  • 2012 First Drone Summit opposing drone warfare co-sponsored by Code Pink, Washington DC.

  • 2012 One-week sex strike by Kansas women against anti-abortion law.

April 29

Women peacemakers born today

  • 1863 Ada Wells (née Pike) born Shepherd’s Green, Oxfordshire, England (d. 1933). Pioneer New Zealand suffragist; peace advocate, spoke publicly against militarism, imperialism; opposed draft, aided conscientious objectors World War I.

  • 1872 Adele Schreiber born Vienna, Austria (d. 1957). German-Austrian feminist; economist; Socialist. Pacifist member of German parliament, 1920-24, 1928-33; exiled by Hitler.

  • 1880 Catherine E. Marshall born Harrow, England (d. 1961). British nonviolent feminist; suffragist. Secretary of No-Conscription Fellowship, 1916.

  • 1911 Erika von Brockdorff born Kolberg, Germany (d. 1943). German resistance leader. Offered her Berlin home as radio headquarters for resistance group. Executed by guillotine, May 1943.

  • 1940 Eva-Lee Baird born New York, NY. Grandmother for Peace; art teacher; photographer; arrested 2005 for protest at New York recruiting station; acquitted; Toys-R-us protest 2006; protested Obama wars 2009.

  • 1950 Rita Nakashima Brock born Fukuoka, Kyushu, Japan. American theologian. First Asian-American woman doctor of theology. Presided over Truth Commission on Conscience in War, 2010; founding co-director of Soul Repair Center at Brite Divinity School dealing with trauma of war, 2012.

  • 1952 Cathy Hoffman. Peace educator and mediator. Director of city of Cambridge Peace Commission, 1987-2007.

  • 1977 Razan Zaitouneh. Syrian lawyer and human rights activist. Received Anna Politkovskaya Award, 2011; shared Sakharov Prize, 2011; received International Women of Courage Award, 2013.

Women's peacemaking on this day

  • 1915 Hague International Conference of Women leads to founding of WILPF with Jane Addams as president. "We women, in International Congress Assembled, protest against the madness and horror of war."

  • 1922 Children's Crusade for Amnesty for imprisoned war resisters arrived in Washington, D.C. led by Kate Richards O'Hare, picketed White House.

  • 1946 First Meeting of nuclear human rights commission of UN at Hunter College, under Eleanor Roosevelt.

  • 1957 Jessie Street launched petition for referendum on Australian aboriginal rights.

  • 1963 Picasso sketched Peace drawing for Women's Union of France.

  • 1968 Actress Vanessa Redgrave was arrested in Vietnam War protest, London.

  • 1969 Eileen Kreutz poured blood on draft files, Evanston, IL.

  • 1984 4,000 Japanese women protested against cruise missiles.

  • 2013 Iraq war resister Kimberly Rivera sentenced to 10-month prison term for desertion. Gave birth in prison; separated from newborn child to complete her sentence.

  • 2015 Grand Closing of WILPF Peacemakers conference. “We recognised that women do have power to stop war, and that indeed, the movement has started and we believe absolutely, that peace is possible.”

April 30

Women peacemakers born today

  • 1881 Heloise Brainerd born Wallingford, VT (d. 1969). Bilingual Latin American expert; semi-official envoy with Pan American Union, 1909-35.

  • 1899 Margaret Konantz (née Rogers) born Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada (d. 1967). Canadian internationalist politician. As delegate to UN General Assembly Third Committee on Social Affairs, worked on resolution against racism, 1963; UN Assembly, 1965. Liberal member of Parliament, 1963-65. Chair of UNICEF Canada, 1965-67.

  • 1909 Juliana of the Netherlands born The Hague (d. 2004). Queen, 1948-1980. As queen, ended war in Dutch East Indies and granted Indonesia independence.

  • 1944 Jill Clayburgh born Manhattan, NY (d. 2010). Actress; co-founder Performers and Artists for Nuclear Disarmament (PAND) New York 1982.

Women's peacemaking on this day

  • 1380 Death and traditional feast day of peacemaker St. Catherine of Siena.

  • 1899 In Chicago, Jane Addams delivered her first public antiwar speech, “Democracy and Militarism.”

  • 1915 Close of International Conference of Women at the Hague, with resolution to send women delegates to war leaders.

  • 1917 In Philadelphia, Anna Walton, Arabella Carter, and Lucy Biddle Lewis founded the American Friends Service Committee, with Rebecca Carter as first paid staff member.

  • 1945 Ravensbrűck Women's Concentration Camp liberated.

  • 1977 In Buenos Aires, the Mothers of the Plaza del Mayo began their first protest.

  • 1987 Led by Blanca Yàňez Berrias, 200 Chilean Woman stage a 10 minute relampago ("lightning action") sit-in against Pinochet Antofogasta.

  • 1998 Bougainville women had major role in Arawa Peace Agreement ending decade-long war.

  • 2003 Actress Alexandra Paul arrested in Los Angeles for second civil disobedience against Iraq War, bearing sign: "SHOCKing and AWEful."

  • 2008 1000 Peruvian women protested outside congress against high food prices.

  • 2009 Kenyan women declared 7-day sex strike against national violence.

  • 2012 Medea Benjamin removed from John Brennan’s speech on ethics of drone warfare at the Woodrow Wilson International Center in Washington DC, saying, “I love the rule of law and I love my country. You are making us less safe by killing so many innocent people. Shame on you, John Brennan.”

  • 2014 Several hundred Nigerian women marched in rain to the capital city of Abuja to protest abduction of 275 girls.