Lisa Fithian

Overview

Lisa Fithian born April 16, 1961. Nonviolent peace trainer and organizer. Coordinator of Washington Peace Center for seven years in the 1980s. Arrested 80+ times in direct actions. Blocked CIA in protest against support of Latin American military, 1987. Jailed 5 days for failed Seattle WTO protest, 1999; part of Tahrir Square protest, 2011; trained and assisted in Occupy movement, 2012; organized Standing Rock protest, 2016; protested against Iraq and Afghan Wars and Gaza Flotilla.

Quotations

On nonviolent resistance: “For me, it’s simply a willingness not to do harm to other living things. It’s a philosophy, it’s a strategy, just like direct action is a philosophy, a strategy. For me, it’s a way of life. . . So, for me, it’s not doing harm, and really having an approach that’s rooted in respect and compassion, not just for humans, but for the planet itself and all the species on this planet.” (Democracy Now, Sept. 9, 2019; photo motherjones.com)

Cherri Foytlin

Overview

Cherri Foytlin born Louisiana September 30, 1972. Indigenous Dine-Cherokee-American activist. Arrested for reporting Bayou bridge pipeline protest, 2016, 2018.

Quotations

“These Big Banks just can’t seem to get it right—they say one thing but do another. When they keep pumping money into dirty fossil fuel companies and projects, it makes us all sick. Sick from the pollution, sick from the injustice, sick from an addiction that is killing us and our planet. We are done being a sacrifice zone, and we are done with your corporate lies. The people of Louisiana are gathering now to right your wrong.” (Indigenous Environmental, May 15, 2018)

“Militarism has been made a cultural thing where people think that it’s American, while it’s a part of toxic masculinity.” (Kairos interview; photo Medium)

Margaret Flowers

Overview

Margaret Flowers born Kansas City, MO November 8, 1962. Pediatrician; single-payer health care and peace advocate. Green party candidate; member of Veterans Peace Team. Arrested 4 times for nonviolent protests.

Quotations

“[Our mission is to] nonviolently confront, document, and thereby expose the inherent or actual violence of those institutions that would use violence to impose their will on others.” (quote and photo Writing for Peace, March 2018)

“It’s important for us to make it clear that the United States has a long history of militarism, and that it has been escalating under recent presidents. Obama was worse than Bush. Trump is trying to outdo Obama. It’s not a matter of who’s in the White House or which party has the majority in Congress. It’s that the United States is the largest empire in the world, and we have a very strong military machine that demands to be fed constantly.” (Black Agenda Report, Mar. 7, 2018)

Mari Fitzduff

Overview

Mari Fitzduff born Northern Ireland March 15, 1947. American-Irish professor of social psychology. Founded Northern Ireland Conflict & Mediation Association, 1987. Peace trainer and Director Northern Ireland Community Relations Council, 1990-97; leading to peace settlement, 1998. Director, UN/INCORE United Nations Ulster University Conflict Resolution Program, 1997-2003. Founding Director, Conflict and Coexistence Program, Brandeis University, 2003. Worked in Palestine.

Quotations

“However bloody it gets, you must talk.” (Times Higher Education, July 5, 2005; photo hellerbrandeis.edu)

Genevieve Fiore

Overview

Genevieve d’Amato Fiore born Sunrise, WY August 20, 1912 (d. 2002). Internationalist; peace activist. Founded first American UNESCO club, 1947. Delegate to Mexico City Women’s Conference, 1975. (photo cogreatwomen)

Ruth St. John Freeman

Overview

Ruth St. John Freeman born Hemlock, NY April 18, 1918 (d. 1988). Quaker pacifist; first woman professor at Cornell. National President, WILPF, 1953-55; fought charges of communist influence. Called for nuclear abolition; co-authored two pamphlets against conscription, 1945. Endowed internship at War Resisters League.

Quotations

“Since Quakers are devoted to ‘peace’ in the absolute, have issued many statements against war in any form, and early refused to profit from war or believe that war could accomplish any desired end, it could be expected that they would speak for peace even in the midst of war.” (“Quakers and Peace”, p. 57)

Joy First

Overview

Joy First born July 28, 1955. Peace protest organizer. National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance; placed cardboard tombstones in Senators offices protesting war deaths, 2007; White House protest Afghan War, 2009; sentenced 100 days probation for CIA protest, 2013; arrested for protesting drones at Volk AFB. Went on 90-mile Walk for Peace, 2015.

Quotations

“[I]t is more important than ever that we speak the truth about what is happening in the wars in Iraq, Pakistan, and Yemen, in the drone warfare program, and in looking at ways in which the climate crisis is exacerbated by the military. . . Mother Earth is Weeping: The US Military must stop environmental suicide.” (Wisconsin Network for Peace, Apr. 27, 2015; photo host.madison.com)

Mildred Osterhout Fahrni

Overview

Mildred Osterhout Fahrni born Rapid City, Canada January 2, 1900 (d. 1992). Gandhian; Socialist; absolute pacifist; friend of Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. Leader of FOR and WILPF; opposed World War II; worked with pacifist Dukhobors.

Quotations

"Love is the Basis of World Peace" (Dukhobor Inquirer, Nov. 1952; photo http://bit.ly/zmwMWb)

Martha Platt Falconer

Overview

Martha Platt Falconer born Delaware, OH March 17, 1862 (d. 1941). Quaker social worker; advocate for homeless girls. Delegate to Paris International Conference on Social Work, 1928.

Frances Farenthold

Overview

Frances “Sissy” Farenthold (née Tarlton) born Corpus Christi, TX October 2, 1926. Politician, lawyer, peace activist; opposed Vietnam War 1969, as only Texas legislator to reject commending Johnson; President Wells College 1976-80; active in aid to El Salvador 1982; leader of Third World Women’s Project; solidarity visits to women’s peace camps Greenham, Comiso, Seneca 1983; sponsored Peace Tent Nairobi 1985; arrested for trespass at South African consulate Houston for Apartheid protest 1985; co-founded Women for a Meaningful Summit 1986; member WILPF, winning its Jane Addams Award 2000; opposed Iraq War, torture.

Quotations

On Nixon’s war, 1973: “We cannot remain a free republic at home and an arrogant empire abroad.”

“Feminist logic expands the meaning of logic in that it involves persons and the human context in its knowing. It also honors such non-logical faculties as imagination, vision, and emotion. There is a woeful lack of imagination in U.S. foreign policy. Imagination invites one to envision possibilities other than the status quo. We have had the expansion of 'respectable thought' to include imagination and vision. Actually, they offer the world peace in the only place it can begin:  the heart, the mind, and the dream.” (“Women’s Search for Peace”, 1988, Univ. Iowa archives; photo law.utexas.edu)

Shirley Farlinger

Overview

Shirley Farlinger (née Tabb) born Toronto, Ontario, Canada January 24, 1930 (d. 2012). Canadian peace activist; poet and playwright; leader in Canadian Voice of Women (VOW), Pugwash Science for Peace; an editor Peace Magazine.

Quotations

“There are so many people of good will around the world and so many difficulties to be overcome that I think we will eventually see the end of war.” (McMaster Univ. presentation, Nov. 11, 2002; photo humphreymiles.com)

Marge Farmer

Overview

Marge Farmer (née Marjorie A. Squire) born September 29, 1928. Montessori teacher; founded Comité Hispano Montessori, Omaha, NE. Established Fundacion Corazon (Foundation with a Heart), Nicaragua; offered aid to Central American war refugees; participated in civil disobedience against SAC.

Quotations

"We have no children, but hope that our progeny will be peace, justice and love in the world." (War Resisters League 1991 Calendar, July 28; port. by husband, Bill, timmcmahan.com)

Mia Farrow

Overview

Mia Farrow born Los Angeles, CA February 9, 1945. American actress and humanitarian. As UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, active in campaign for African children’s welfare, 2000. Campaigned against Darfur war, 2007; offered herself in exchange for captive UN worker, 2007. Narrated documentary on reconciliation in Rwanda As We Forgive, 2009; undertook 12-day fast for Darfur, 2013.

Quotations

“I am therefore offering to take Mr Jamous's place, to exchange my freedom for his in the knowledge of his importance to the civilians of Darfur and in the conviction that he will apply his energies toward creating the just and lasting peace that the Sudanese people deserve and hope for.” (Aug. 6, 2007; photo Wikipedia)

Jennifer Fasulo

Overview

Jennifer Ann Fasulo born Schenectady, NY February 12, 1967 (d. 2010). Human rights activist; opposed wars in Middle East; supported women of Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan. Co-founded Solidarity with Organization of Women's Freedom in Iraq (SOWFI), 2004.

Quotations

"Where is the outrage at the crimes against women's humanity that are being promulgated all over the world and bolstered by U.S. aggression and occupation?" (letter to WBAI, April 24, 2004; photo Bataille Socialiste)

Crystal Bird Fauset

Overview

Crystal Bird Fauset born Princess Anne, MD June 27, 1893 (d. 1965). First female Black state legislator in US 1938; founded Africa House New York, c. 1955; co-founded UN Council of Philadelphia; headed American Friends Service Committee section of interracial section 1927.

Quotations

"[My purpose is] in having people of other racial groups understand the humanness of the Negro wherever he is found." (blackpast.org; photo Wikipedia)

Anne Feeney

Overview

Anne Feeney born Charleroi, PA July 1, 1951. American singer and activist lawyer; album Wild Wimmin for Peace: The Great Peace March, 1986; active protests against Vietnam War and Apartheid; arrested 1972 Miami protesting Nixon’s nomination; arrested 2017 Day Without a Woman.

Quotations

On the Iraq War: "[With] a lifelong commitment to issues of peace and social justice. I feel we're on the brink of global war." (post-dispatch.com, Oct. 2, 2002)

Was it Cesar Chavez? Maybe it was Dorothy Day?
Some will say Dr. King or Gandhi set them on their way
No matter who your mentors are it's pretty plain to see
That, if you've been to jail for justice, you're in good company
(“Have You Been to Jail for Justice?”, 1999; photo Sisterhood)

Marsha Feinland

Overview

Marsha Feinland born Far Rockaway, NY May 21, 1949. Peace and Freedom candidate for President 1996; teacher, union leader; won 243,407 votes for US Senate 2004 calling for withdrawal from Iraq and Middle East, abolishing nuclear weapons.

Quotations

“Over 1,000 U.S. soldiers have been killed in Iraq. Countless civilians have perished, adding to the toll from Afghanistan, Colombia, and other sites of endless war. Our government is not helping to establish democracy, but rather is fueling the battles with our unwanted presence. I say, 'Bring the troops home now!' . . .As a Jewish American, I chose to run for U.S. Senate partly as an act of conscience in support of the rights of Palestinians in Israel and the occupied territories. The wall which impedes people from conducting a normal life must come down. Israel should abandon the settlements and retreat to its pre-1967 borders. I do not condone any violence against civilians, and favor full rights for all people in any state.” (Peace & Freedom Party, 2004; photo peaceandfreedom 2012)

Millicent Fenwick

Overview

Millicent Hammond Fenwick born New York, NY February 25, 1910 (d. 1992). Politician; diplomat; described by Walter Cronkite as "the Conscience of Congress." US Representative, 1972-84; opposed Vietnam War, capital punishment and military spending. Helped establish the Commision on Security and Cooperation in Europe, which oversaw European human rights affairs, 1976. US Ambassador to UN Food & Agricultural Organization (FAO), 1983-87.

Quotations

"The only people who would be in power are those who care more about people than they do about power." (photo Wikipedia)

Edna Ferber

Overview

Edna Ferber born Kalamazoo, MI August 15, 1885 (d. 1968). Popular author and playwright who opposed World War I.

Quotations

On the example of World War II: "[It shows] the futility, the idiocy, the utter depravity of war." (A Kind of Magic, p. 202, 1963; photo fineartameerica.com)

Sara Bard Field

Overview

Sara Bard Field born Cincinnati, OH September 1, 1882 (d. 1974). Pacifist poet; suffragist leader; Christian Socialist who spent early years in Burma; opposed nuclear weapons.

Quotations

"To effectively banish War forever, we must destroy Industrial Slavery and build the Industrial Democracy." (Feb. 15, 1921 dedication of busts of Mott, Stanton & Anthony in Capitol rotunda)

"What is more fundamental than this problem of solving war before it's too late?" (Amelia Fry interview, July 12, 1962, University of California; photo Oregon History Project)