Lucy Perkins Carner

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Overview

Lucy Perkins Carner born York, PA November 30, 1883 (d. 1989). Quaker social worker and pacifist leader. Active in Fellowship of Reconciliation, WILPF, War Resisters League, and American Friends Service Committee. Refused taxes for Vietnam War. Demonstrated against germ warfare, Fort Detrick, 1968.

Quotations

“That method leading to understanding and persistent good will across all barriers, and, underlying it, loyalty to one’s own conviction at whatever cost—these qualities are as much needed today as much as they were in the days of Jane Addams.” (“Incorrigible Jane Addams”, The Rotarian, Sept. 1965, p. 43; photo Swarthmore College Peace Collection)

Rosamond Carr

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Overview

Rosamond Carr (née Halsey) born South Orange, NJ August 28, 1913 (d. 2006). Humanitarian. Returned to Rwanda after evacuation to found Imbabzi ("a place where you will find all the love a mother would give.") orphanage for 300 children after Rwanda genocide 1994.

Quotations

Confronted with spear-bearing mob seeking an enemy: “You don’t mind killing old women. . . If you want to kill someone, here I am. Kill me.” (“Land of a Thousand Hills: My Life in Rwanda”, 1999; photo New York Times)

Rachel Carson

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Overview

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Rachel Carson born Springdale, PA May 27, 1907 (d. 1964). Ecologist and marine biologist; author of Silent Spring, 1962.

Quotations

“Until we have the courage to recognize cruelty for what it is—whether its victim is human or animal—we cannot expect things to be much better in this world. We cannot have peace among men whose hearts delight in killing any living creature. By every act that glorifies or even tolerates such moronic delight in killing, we set back the progress of humanity.” (to Fon Boardman, March 1, 1952, in Linda Lear; photo Wikipedia)

April Carter

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Overview

April Carter born November 22, 1937. British peace activist; leading scholar on nonviolent direct action; Secretary Direct Action Committee Against Nuclear War 1958; major organizer first CND protests; arrested for protest at Swatham nuclear base 1959; co-founded Committee of 100 for civil disobedience 1960; organized San Francisco to Moscow Peace Walk 1961; asst. editor Peace News, protested Russian occupation of Czechoslovakia 1968; scholar at SIPRI.

Quotations

“Belief in the need for non-violent action directed at weapons and bases designed for nuclear warfare, the ned for personal commitment, and reliance on popular protest rather than working through the established political process.” (Carter’s statement of DAC principles, in Kate Hudson, CND More Than Ever)

Janet Case

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Overview

Janet Case born Hampstead, London, England July 28, 1863 (d. 1937). Classical scholar and teacher at Girton College, Cambridge. Pacifist; joined antiwar Peace Pledge Union prior to WWII. Friend of Virginia Woolf, who called her “a rare humanist.” Related strong women like Antigone and Clystemnestra to contemporary politics of suffrage and war.

Quotations

“Aeschylus gives his women brains as well as hearts. He believes in women.” (“Women in the Plays of Aeschylus”, 1914; photo theamericanreader.com)

Therese Casgrain

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Overview

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Thérèse Casgrain (née Forget) born Ste. Irenne-des-Bains, Quebec, Canada July 10, 1896 (d. 1981). Canadian anti-nuclear leader, founder of Voice of Women (VOW) 1960; arrested Paris for anti-nuclear protest; opposed US war in Vietnam and conscription in WWII.

Quotations

"The only defence is peace." (quoted by Gordon Earle in Parliament, Oct. 7, 1998; photo collectionscanada.gc.ca)

Julieta Casimiro

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Overview

Julieta Casimiro born Huautla de Jiménez, Oaxaca, Mexico April 2, 1936. Mazatec leader. Member of International Council of 13 Indigenous Grandmothers.

Quotations

“All of us here want the same thing. We want to walk in peace, and we want no more war. We don't need war.” (nativevillage.org)

“[F]or all of us who believe that things in the world can be better, if we attempt at every moment. . . to teach children to live with respect, peace, and love. The mission of all human beings who achieve consciousness is to take care of themselves and Mother Earth.” (BOMB Magazine, Winter 2004; photo acervodesaberes.wordpress)

Amalia Gonzalez Caballero de Castillo Ledon

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Overview

Amalia González Caballero de Castillo Ledón born Santander, Tamaulipas, Mexico August 18, 1898 (d. 1986). Mexican stateswoman and women's rights leader; poet and playwright. First woman in presidential cabinet position. Mexican delegate to San Francisco Conference on founding of United Nations, where she insisted on equality for women, 1945. Signed Act of Chapultepec and Rio Treaty, forging closer relations among countries of the Americas, 1945. First Mexican delegate to UN Commission on Human Rights, 1946-50. Chairperson, InterAmerican Women’s Committee for Democracy, 1947.

Quotations

"I trust the ever-lively encouragement of women.” (photo IFE Instituto Federal Electoral)

Doris Castle

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Overview

Doris Jean Castle born Oakland, TN March 25, 1942 (d. 1948). Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) activist, 1959. One of the youngest Freedom Riders, 1960; persuaded James Farmer to join Freedom Riders, 1961. Arrested for picketing, spent five days in prison, 1960; one of eight women arrested for forming “freedom ring” at Loew's Theater, New Orleans, Good Friday, 1964. Imprisoned at notorious Parchman Prison.

Quotations

“We were scared to death. . . and you approach Montgomery, and you see all these blue shirts with sticks in their hands who are state troopers, and you don’t know what their orders are, you know? But nevertheless you don’t waver one way or the other, you just do it. . . We had to be out of our minds.” (Eva McMahan, Interactive Oral History, p. 39; photo Wikipedia)

Vivian Castleberry

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Overview

Vivian Anderson Castleberry born Lindale, TX April 8, 1922. Newspaper editor. Founded Peacemakers, 1987. Ran first International Women’s Peace Conference, 1988. Made citizen diplomat trips to Russia, 1984, 1986, 1987.

Quotations

“[M]y real concern that we do not impose our Western set of morality and our code of our living and our lifestyles on people who are from other cultures. That we learn to live in this world as sisters and brothers sharing the universe that was given to us without imposing how we ought to.” (Anne Kasper interview, p. 109; photo peacemakersincorporated.org)

Emilia Castro de Barish

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Overview

Emilia Castro de Barish born San José, Costa Rica April 27, 1916. Costa Rican diplomat and human rights advocate; led creation of UN Human Rights Commission 1946, UN University of Peace 1980, Culture of Peace 1999; on UN Security Council 1971.

Quotations

On peace: "It required a profound transformation of the mentality of the world. The culture of peace was a necessary precondition for achieving international peace and security." (UN Gen. Assembly, Nov. 10, 1998)

Anna Cataldi

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Overview

Anna Cataldi born Turin, Italy November 14, 1939. Italian humanitarian journalist and film producer; UN Messenger for Peace 1998-2006; Goodwill Ambassador World Health Organization to stop TB 2007-11; first humanitarian mission to drought in Somalia 1982; UNICEF missions to Sarajevo 1992-94, reporting on effect of war on children; Goodwill Ambassador for European Council on Refugees and Exiles (ECRE) 2011-2; co-founded Crimes of War Project 1999.

Quotations

“We would like to get the message to the world: Sarajevo is dying.” (New York Times, July 4, 1993; photo outreach.un.org)

“Children as young as eight years of age are being forcibly recruited, coerced and induced to become combatants. . . there are now some 300,000 children serving as soldiers in over 30 conflicts around the world—as many as one third of children pressed into service or recruited by armed groups are girls.  Often they are forced to act as sex slaves in addition to their other tasks.” (“Crimes of War—Child Soldiers")

Willa Cather

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Overview

Willa Cather (née Seibert) born Winchester, VA December 7, 1876 (d. 1947). Author; awarded Pulitzer Prize for antiwar novel One of Ours, 1922.

Quotations

"One by one the heroes of that war, the men of dazzling soldiership, leave prematurely the world they have come back to. . . one by one they quietly die by their own hand." (One of Ours, p. 459; photo Adelaide Univ.)