December 16

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Women peacemakers born today

  • 1844 Fanny Garrison Villard born Roxbury, Boston (d. 1928). Nonviolent founder of NAACP, Women's Peace Society, 1919.

  • 1867 Selma Anttila born Orimattila, Finland (d. 1942). Author and playwright; in 1920, founded Peace Union of Finland dedicated to nonviolence, international organization, disarmament and peace education.

  • 1873 Harriet Burton Laidlaw born Albany, NY (d. 1949). Suffragist; founded League of Nations Non-Partisan Association, 1922; Chair of Women's Pro-League Council, 1921; leader of American Association for the UN; promoter of Jeannette Rankin; great orator.

  • 1878 Gertrud Woker born Bern, Switzerland (d. 1968). Swiss biochemistry professor; opponent of chemical weapons; WILPF founder and benefactor.

  • 1901 Margaret Mead born Doylestown, PA (d. 1978). Anthropologist, Quaker.

  • 1918 Joan Bondurant born Great Bend, KS (d. 2006). Professor; pianist; linguist; leading scholar of nonviolence, authority on Gandhi; researcher for OSS during World War II.

  • 1928 Barbara Wiedner born Superior, WI (d. 2002). Catholic opponent of nuclear weapons; repeated arrests for nonviolent civil disobedience; founded Grandmothers for Peace, 1986.

  • 1939 Liv Ullmann born Tokyo, Japan. Norwegian actress and director; UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, 1980-2000; vice-president International Rescue Committee; co-founder Women's Refugee Commission, 1989; recipient of Hammarskjold Medal for contribution to UN, 1985.

  • 1948 Ines Monica Weinberg de Roca born Buenos Aires. International Judge on both Rwanda and Yugoslavia tribunals, 2003-08; UN Appeal tribunal.

  • 1953 Elisabeth Decrey Warner. Swiss peace advocate; president of Geneva cantonal Council 2000; co-founding director of Geneva Call 2000 protecting civilians in war; won Hesse Peace Prize 2012; International Society for Human Rights Prize 2006; PeaceWomen Across the Globe board.

Women's peacemaking on this day

  • 1873 Women's tax protest New York city on centennial of Boston Tea Party.

  • 1918 300 suffragists burn president's speeches in Lafayette Park.

  • 1939 Women's Peace Campaign, Central Hall, London.

  • 1940 Market women of Lagos, Nigeria shut down market in nonviolent protest against income tax.

  • 1965 13-year-old Mary Beth Tinker wore black armband vs. Vietnam War, expelled from school; led to Supreme Court decision in her favor, 1969.

  • 2005 Lydia Cacho arrested by Puebla police, threatened with rape and drowning.