August 4

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Women peacemakers born today

  • 1868 Esther Roper born Lindow, Cheshire (d. 1938). British suffragist opposed World War I; aided conscientious objectors; lifelong partner of pacifist Eva Gore-Booth.

  • 1869 Evelyn Jane Sharp born Denmark Hill, London, England (d. 1955). British author and suffragist. Tax resister; pacifist against WWI. Twice imprisoned and force-fed, 1911, 1913. Barred from Hague Women's Peace Congress, 1915. Took part in postwar Quaker relief to Russia, 1920, and Germany, 1921.

  • 1920 Helen Thomas born Winchester, KY (d. 2013). American journalist and author; critic of Iraq War and Israeli occupation.

  • 1928 Betty Shiver Krawczyk born Salinas, CA. Canadian environmental activist; repeatedly arrested, jailed 1994, 1999, 2000 (twice), 2002, 2004, 2006, 2007 for nonviolent environmental protests.

  • 1938 Ellen Schrecker born Philadelphia, PA. "The dean of the anti-anti-Communist historians." Historian; anti-war activist.

Women's peacemaking on this day

  • 1914 First major women's rally against war, Kingsway Hall London organized by Helena Swanwick.

  • 1934 In Paris, Gabrielle Duchene organized the World Assembly of Women and chaired the World Committee of Women Against War and Fascism.

  • 1946 First postwar WILPF Congress "A New World Order" Luxembourg.

  • 1954 WILPF XIIth Congress Paris condemned US aid to French war in Vietnam.

  • 1966 While participating in a nonviolent march for racial equality led by Martin Luther King, Jr. in Chicago, Sister Mary Angelica injured by brick.

  • 1967 Chicago Manifesto "To the Women of the Left" started radical women's movement.

  • 1977 Frances Peavey led nonviolent protest against expulsion of Asian tenants from International Hotel, San Francisco.

  • 1983 Barbara Deming released from Waterloo, NY jail.

  • 1985 On the 40th anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing, Justine Merritt led thousands in wrapping 15-mile-long Peace Ribbon around the Pentagon.

  • 1990 Catholic nuns arrested for protest at Wurtsmith AFB, Osceola MI.

  • 1994 The Women in Black held 3rd international meeting of The Women United Against War Network, Novi Sad, Vojvodino, Serbia.

  • 1995 Neidonuo Angami presided over 3,000 Naga women for a Mourning Day of war, resolving "Shed No More Blood."