Clara Barton

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Overview

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Clara Barton born Oxford, MA December 25, 1821 (d. 1912). Pioneering war nurse, providing what she called "war on war itself." Founded American Red Cross, 1881, and extension of relief to peacetime disasters; achieved US signature to Geneva Convention, 1882.

Quotations

"If we would do efficient work in alleviating the sufferings caused by the barbarisms of war. . . we should organize philanthropic efforts and be ready for whatever is necessary, to be on the field at the sound of the first gun." (The Red Cross, p. 26; 1866 Brady photo wikicommons pd)

Katharine Lee Bates

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Overview

Katharine Lee Bates born Falmouth, Cape Cod August 12, 1859 (d. 1929). Poet and song writer; Wellesley professor; author of "America the Beautiful" and pacifist poems "Fodder for Cannon."

Quotations

Oh may this war, this blasphemy that blots the globe with blood
Slay war forever, cleanse the earth in its own mighty flood.
("How Long?" 1916; photo CapeCodOnline)

Agnes Bauerlein

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Overview

Agnes Bauerlein (née Schretien) born Nijmegen, Netherlands February 12, 1928 (d. 2015). American war resister after family died in allied bombing 1944; social worker; influenced by Dorothy Day; welcomed Vietnamese refugees 1975; put up Berrigans during their trial 1982; arrested DC for nuclear protest; jailed 10 days for destroying nuclear weapons plans in AVCO plant 1983; month in Iraq desert with Gulf Peace Team 1991 trying to avert war. a week in prison for Iraq War protest 2001.

Quotations

“It is my fear that we in the U.S. are just as apathetic as the German population in the late 1930s. I certainly see apathy on the nuclear issue. The U.S. military complex is alive and well, and the prospect of its growth is very real unless we, the American people, let our democratic government know that we don’t need it.” (Satya, Sep. 2001; photo New York Times)

Melba Pattillo Beals

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Overview

Melba Pattillo Beals born Little Rock, AR December 7, 1941. One of Little Rock Nine who integrated Central High School nonviolently, 1955; later earned doctorate in education; journalist.

Quotations

"I was slapped by one girl. I turned and said 'Thank you' and continued on my journey to class." (Warriors Don't Cry, p. 88; photo Melba Beals.org)

Margaret Winonah Beamer-Myers

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Overview

Margaret Winonah Beamer-Myers born Cleveland, OH September 10, 1941. 19-year-old student Freedom Rider arrested and imprisoned 1961 Jackson MS; only Rider to serve full 6-month sentence in Parchman Prison.

Quotations

"[T]his was the punishment for the crime of sitting down in a waiting room next to a fellow student." (Bobbie O’Brien, station WUSF, April 11, 2011; photo Miss. Archives)

Helen Marston Beardsley

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Overview

Helen Marston Beardsley born San Diego, CA June 26, 1892 (d. 1982). Quaker peace leader and organizer. Took part in Friends relief, Vienna, 1921; founded WILPF San Diego chapter, 1924; co-founded San Diego Peace Center. Socialist work with Mexican immigrants and farm workers; opposed nuclear weapons; marched against Vietnam War at age 89; on Nixon's enemies list, 1971.

Quotations

"If justice can be gained without violence, it is up to us to prove it." (Joan Jensen, "When Women Worked", California History, p. 128, June 1988; 1941 photo aclusandiego.org)

Norma Becker

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Overview

Norma Becker born Bronx, NY February 18, 1930 (d. 2006). Teacher and protest leader. Founded the anti-Vietnam War protest group, the Fifth Avenue Peace Parade, 1965; founded the anti-nuclear organization Mobilization for Survival, 1977. Chairperson of War Resisters League, 1977-83.

Quotations

“The peace movement must be a mass movement embracing women with widely differing viewpoints on every conceivable issue. . . 'Unity in diversity' is not only possible, but desirable.” (WRL Calendar, 1986; photo http://bit.ly/J9X8Gf)

Sally Belfrage

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Overview

Sally Belfrage born Hollywood, CA October 4, 1936. Journalist; civil rights activist; wrote memoirs detailing nonviolent Freedom Summer and Greenham movement; war tax resister.

Quotations

"Few of them could explain what it was, in the middle of their generation's apathy, that had made them care, but the fact that they did seemed a phenomenon of as much hope for America as the Negro revolution they were about to join." (Freedom Summer, p. 5)

Ida Whipple Benham

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Overview

Ida Whipple Benham born Quakertown, CT January 8, 1849 (d. 1903). Quaker; peace poet; director of American Peace Society, 1897.

Quotations

"The coals of war come quickly to a glow;
And still the cannon crowd the parapets.
Ready and waiting—keen for sharp dispute!
Blind man, thou temptest sore the lightning stroke."

(The Armed Truce, Advocate of Peace, Aug. 1895, p. 173; photo http://bit.ly/AEZLsE)

Medea Benjamin

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Overview

Medea Benjamin born New York September 10, 1952. Founded anti-war Code Pink 2002; co-founded United for Peace & Justice 2004; began Global Exchange 1988; economist 10 years with FAO in Africa; Green Party candidate for Senate from California 2000.

Quotations

"We must insist that governments stop taking innocent lives in the name of seeking justice for the loss of other innocent lives." (Global Exchange, 2002; photo Code Pink)

Phyllis Bennis

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Overview

Phyllis Bennis born Los Angeles, CA January 19, 1951. American journalist and author; peace activist; opponent of Israeli occupation and Gaza war; began activism opposing Vietnam War, supporting Civil Rights movement, 1969. Head of New Internationalism Project at Institute for Policy Studies (IPS); founded U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, 2002; opposed US imperialism, esp. Iraq and Afghan Wars, Libya intervention, ISIS bombing.

Quotations

"You can't destroy an ideology—or even an organization—through bombing. . . A military strike might bring some immediate satisfaction, but we all know revenge is a bad basis for foreign policy, especially when it has such dangerous consequences." (Popular Resistance, September 12, 2014; photo World People's Blog)

Meta Berger

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Overview

Meta Berger (née Schlichting) born Milwaukee, WI February 23, 1873 (d. 1944). Democratic Socialist reformer; postwar national leader in WILPF. Opposed World War I; member of Milwaukee Emergency Peace Committee, opposing recruiting, 1917. Delegate to disarmament conference, Geneva, 1932.

Quotations

"I had never taken the absolutist pledge that I would never support a war. As a Socialist I had learned. . . that there may have to be a final conflict between those who work and those who exploit. . . [when] Hitler began his reign of terror. . . I was now determined to fight to abolish all the things that were in the way of peace in the world." (A Milwaukee Woman’s Life on the Left, 2001, pp. 159-60)

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)