January 1

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Women peacemakers born today

  • 1888 Francesca Wilson born Newcastle-on-Tyne, England (d. 1981). Quaker relief worker; offered aid to Belgian children in England, 1914; France, 1916; Serbs in Corsica, 1917, and Tunisia, 1918; Serbia, 1919. Fed Austrian children, 1919; famine relief to Russia, 1922; children in Spanish Civil War, 1937-38; Spanish in France, 1939; Polish refugees in Hungary, 1940. Assisted UNRRA in postwar Germany.

  • 1890 Carmelita Hinton born Omaha, NE (d. 1983). American internationalist educator; led Jane Addams Centennial; Hull House associate; founded Putney School, 1935.

  • 1924 Dadi Prakashmani born Hyderabad, India (d. 2007). Spiritual leader of Brahma Kumaris. Awarded UN Peace Medal for Million Minutes for Peace, 1984.

  • 1933 Rosalie Sorrels born Boise, ID. Anti-Vietnam War folk singer; sang protest songs "Enola Gay," "I Will Not Obey," "Trooper's Lament," and "Killing Ground."

  • 1934 Bernadette Rebienot born Libreville, Gabon. Spiritual leader and healer. Honored by Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR) as one of International Council of 13 Indigenous Grandmothers with International Pfeffer Peace Prize, 2013.

  • 1954 Betty Oyella Bigombe born Acholi district, Uganda. World Bank expert in post-conflict problems. Minister of Water Resources, 2011. Two-time mediator in attempted peace with Lord’s Resistance Army, 1992, 2004-05.

  • 1960 Latifa ibn Ziaten born Tétuan, Morocco. After Muslim extremist murdered her son she took on mission of peace and reconciliation. Founded Imad Association for Youth and Peace, 2012. Received International Women of Courage Award, 2016.

Women's peacemaking on this day

  • 1908 Gandhi read speech of 20-year-old Sonia Schlesin at opening of Satyagraha campaign in a Johannesburg mosque.

  • 1911 Emma Goldman co-founded Modern School, New York.

  • 1916 The International Committee of Women for Permanent Peace published the first issue of its monthly newsletter, Internationaal.

  • 1919 First meeting of Fight the Famine Council opposing allied food blockade, organized by Dorothy Buxton and Eglantyne Jebb.

  • 1919 Edith Ainge led watchfire demonstration at White House for women's suffrage.

  • 1933 In Munich, Erika Mann opened cabaret Die Pfeffermühle (“The Peppermill”), which openly mocked fascist power.

  • 1953 Mildred Norman left Pasadena, CA to begin 25,000-mile peace pilgrimage.

  • 1973 Ginetta Sagan led Amnesty International’s Campaign for the Abolition of Torture.

  • 1975 International Women's Year began.

  • 1979 Mary Evelyn Jegen named first national coordinator of Pax Christi.

  • 1983 Greenham Common protesters stage a dance against installation of American cruise missiles.

  • 1991 Sue Frankel-Streit & Moana Cole, members of ANZUS Peace Force Ploughshares, damaged a B-52 bomber at Griffiss Air Force Base in civil disobedience. They were later sentenced to a one-year prison term.

  • 1992 Greenham women stage another dance in protest of American cruise missiles.

  • 1999 Doris Haddock began 3,200-mile cross-country peace walk, starting from Pasadena, CA.

  • 2000 Maria Otero named president and CEO of microfinance organization Acción.

  • 2000 82 Israeli women, Palestinian and Jewish, condemned the NATO bombing of Kosovo.

  • 2010 Women Say Free Gaza issued Cairo Declaration.

  • 2011 Nine women, aged 40 to 91, arrested for bringing solar panels to the Vermont Yankee nuclear reactor.