Juliet Bernstein

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Overview

Juliet Bernstein (née Relis) born Ferndale, NY July 2, 1913. Leader of Cape Cod FOR; National Women's Hall of Fame 1995. Created nuclear free zone for town of Chatham 1984; led campaign against land mines; annual peace poetry, poster and essay contest; NAACP "Unsung Hero" for racial equality; opposed wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Quotations

"[The defeat of the coup that led to the dissolution of the Soviet Union showed] the global spread of non-violence. In rising up to tyranny and oppression, people show that change can be achieved through the power of love and truth." (Cape Cod Times, Aug. 1991; photo Robert Winter)

Frida Berrigan

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Overview

Frida Berrigan born Baltimore, MD April 1, 1974. Second-generation woman peace activist, daughter of Elizabeth McAlister; opposed nuclear weapons, Iraq and Afghan wars.

Quotations

"The moment demands our attention, demands our outrage, demands our compassion, demands our vision, demands our work; and that is what peacemaking is about." (Dec. 10, 2010 to War Resisters League; photo War Resisters League)

Rosalie Bertell

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Overview

Rosalie Bertell born Buffalo, NY April 4, 1929 (d. 2012). Anti-nuclear scientist; mathematician; nun. Awarded Right Livelihood Award, 1986; received Sean MacBride Peace Prize, 2001.

Quotations

"War and money make the world go around. When you have money, you have to be prepared to go to war to protect it. . . The continuity of life, the call for making things better for the next and the next generations blots out all hesitation. . . We have to be part of something larger than ourselves, because our dreams are often bigger than our lifetimes." (Planet Earth; photo toequest)

Catherine Bertini

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Overview

Catherine Bertini born Syracuse, NY March 30, 1950. First woman to lead a UN agency as head of World Food Program, 1992-2002; noted for response to famines in North Korea and the Horn of Africa. Undersecretary of UN Office for Management, 2002.

Quotations

“We must help keep people alive, and we don't have the luxury of deciding whether or not we like what the government is doing.” (Lehrer Newshour, Jun. 9 2000)

“Men wage war—women and children suffer the consequences.” (speech to Red Cross, Nov. 1, 1999; photo Wikipedia)

Mary McLeod Bethune

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Overview

Mary McLeod Bethune born Mayesville, SC July 10, 1875 (d. 1955). Internationalist civil rights leader and government official. African-American woman college president of Bethune-Cookman School, 1923-42, 46-47. Only official African-American woman counselor present at founding of United Nations, San Francisco, 1945.

Quotations

"The world tomorrow must be a 'people's world'—if our civilization is to survive." (comment on UN, June 1945)

"I leave you love. I leave you hope. I leave you the challenge of developing confidence in one another. I leave you a thirst for education. I leave you a respect for the use of power. I leave you faith. I leave you racial dignity. I leave you a desire to live harmoniously with your fellow men. I leave you, finally, a responsibility to our young people." (last will and testament; photo wikimedia commons)

Barbara Bick

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Overview

Barbara Bick (née Lichtenstein) born Washington DC April 25, 1925 (d. 2009). Co-founder of Women Strike for Peace 1961; feminist promoter of Afghan women’s rights; socialist leader of Peoples Coalition for Peace and Justice (PCPJ) 1970.

Quotations

“There are two categories: revolutionaries, and those who make revolutions work.” (Center for Security Studies, May 3; photo feminist press)

Jessica Biel

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Overview

Jessica Biel born Ely, MN March 3, 1982. Actress. Climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro to publicize UN Foundation’s Girl Up program and its focus on the global water crisis, 2010; paired with Shanoah Washington against gang violence at TeenNick HALO Awards, 2011; supporter of UN refugee program.

Quotations

“We are all in this together.” (Kenya, Jan. 20, 2010; 2007 photo Wikipedia)

Jessie F. Binford

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Overview

Jessie Florence Binford born Marshalltown, IA January 20, 1876 (d. 1966). Chicago-based juvenile rights advocate; 61-year resident of Jane Addams's Hull House. Co-founded Jane Addams Peace Association, 1948; opposed Vietnam War.

Quotations

"We see all about us the devastating effects of war on youth." ("Don't Forget the Children," Rotarian, Feb. 1943; http://bit.ly/oG79Zy)

Regina Birchem

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Overview

Regina Birchem born Sisseton, SD December 20, 1938. American cell biologist; professor; author. International President of WILPF, 2004-07; undertook peace mission to Gaza, 2009.

Quotations

"For many around the world daily pressing concerns are for food, shelter, affordable clean water, freedom from threats of violence. Not much thought is given each day to the proliferation of nuclear weapons and the threat of nuclear attack. . . The stockpiling of weapons does nothing to provide for simple human needs. . . there is a connection between the seemingly futile negotiations to limit proliferation of nuclear weapons, not to mention the ultimate goal of eliminating them entirely, and the shocking disparity between the haves and the have-nots." (International Peace Update, January 1, 2005; photo The Arab-American)

Shirley Temple Black

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Overview

Shirley Temple Black born Santa Monica, CA April 23, 1928 (d. 2014). Child movie star; Republican diplomat. Delegate to UN, 1969; delegate to Stockholm Conference on the Environment, 1972; US Commission to UNESCO, 1973. US Ambassador to Ghana, 1974-76, and Czechoslovakia, 1968, 1989-92. First woman Chief of Diplomatic Protocol, 1976.

Quotations

"Ambassadors, if they do it right, work about 14-hour days. . . My favorite part of the job was working in the office and with the people of a country. My unfavorite part was the parties and the receptions." (Mail Tribune, July 27, 1997; 1990 photo Wikipedia)

Alice Stone Blackwell

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Overview

Alice Stone Blackwell born Orange, NJ September 14, 1857 (d. 1950). Suffragist journalist; second generation woman peacemaker, daughter of pacifist Lucy Stone; Socialist social reformer; active in American Peace Society, League of Women Voters, and NAACP; promoted human rights of Armenians; translated works of minorities.

Quotations

"Grave divines are horrified at the thought of admitting women to vote when they cannot fight, although not one in twenty of their own number is fit for military duty, if he volunteered. Of the editors who denounce woman suffrage, only about one in four could himself carry a musket; while, of the lawyers who fill Congress, the majority could not be defenders of their country, but could only be defended." ("Objectons Answered: Why Should Women Vote?" 1915; photo Wikipedia)

Unita Blackwell

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Overview

Unita Blackwell born Lula, MS March 18, 1933. Civil rights leader; SNCC organizer; president of US-Chinese Peoples Friendship Association, 1976-83. Co-founded Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, 1964; awarded MacArthur Genius grant, 1992.

Quotations

“The best teacher is to observe from other people and learn from other people.” (Mike Garvey interview, Apr. 21, 1977)

Anita Mccormick Blaine

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Overview

Anita Mccormick Blaine born Manchester, VT July 4, 1866 (d. 1954). Chicago philanthropist; internationalist promoter of League of Nations and UN; personally urged world leaders including Hitler and Mussolini to avoid war; founded World Citizens Association to create world unity 1939 Chicago; early promoter of a democratic UN and world federalism; published progressive newspaper Daily Compass 1949-52; financed Foundation for World Government 1950; founded New World Foundation 1954 for peace and progressive causes; progressive education reformer.

Quotations

On the founding of the UN: "[I]t matters greatly that this first chance for world agreement to prevent war. . . must not be lost to mankind." (Gilbert Harrison, A Timeless Affair, p. 215, 1979; photo ucls.uchicago.edu)

Katherine Devereux Blake

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Overview

Katherine Devereux Blake born Manhattan, NY July 10, 1858 (d. 1950). Pacifist educator, journalist and suffragist; Principal of Manhattan PS 6.; WILPF leader.

Quotations

O, say can you see
You who glory in war
All the wounded and dead
of the red battle's reaping?

(Her version of the national anthem sung by NY children, 1914-1917; Swarthmore WILPF)

Lillie Devereux Blake

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Overview

Lillie Devereux Blake born Raleigh, NC August 12, 1833 (d. 1913). Pacifist suffragist; author and orator; Civil War correspondent; opposed US imperialism and War with Spain; principal of New York Public School 6.

Quotations

"We women ought to stand by each other, care for each other." (Fettered for Life, 1874)

"Peace was honorable, and war was dishonorable." (Mary Arden Club, New York, March 31, 1898; sketch Wikipedia)

Ta'Kaiya Blaney

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Overview

Ta’kaiya Blaney born Sliammon, British Columbia, Canada January 31, 2001. First Nations environmentalist and singer. Began activism at age 10; protested Enbridge pipeline; addressed UN Summit Rio, 2012.

Quotations

"Sometimes you don’t have the luxury to be diplomatic when you are being oppressed, but it is still always important to show love whenever you can. . . By representing love and inclusivity other people will feel less threatened which makes it easier to find commonality." (Huffington Post, March 2, 2014; photo theagenda.tvo.org)

Harriot Stanton Blatch

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Overview

Harriot Stanton Blatch born Seneca Falls, NY January 20, 1856 (d. 1940). Unitarian suffragist; socialist. Began public protests for vote, 1907; organized Women's Peace Party Parade, 1914.

Quotations

"My opposition to war was not because of the horrors of war, not because war demands that the race offer up its very best in their full vigor, not because war means economic bankruptcy, domination of races by famine and disease, but because war is so completely ineffective, so stupid. It settles nothing." (A Woman's Point of View; photo Wikipedia)