January 29

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Women peacemakers born today

  • 1835 Sarah Chauncey Woolsey born Cleveland, OH 1835 (d. 1905). Civil War nurse, poet, and writer of children's literature.

  • 1867 Gertrude Foster Brown born Morrison, IL (d. 1956). Concert pianist; suffragist; editor; active promoter of League of Nations; representative of Women's Action Committee for Victory and Lasting Peace at UN founding San Francisco, 1945.

  • 1884 Florence Wilson born Lancaster, PA (d. 1977). Internationalist; sole female member of WWI peace delegation, 1919; librarian of The Inquiry, 1917, and the League of Nations, 1919.

  • 1895 Muna Lee born Raymond, MS (d. 1965). “Poet of the Americas”; promoter of inter-american cultural ties; lyric poet, translator and mystery writer; international feminist; first woman to address Pan-American Congress 1928; co-founder the first international organization for women’s rights, Inter-American Commission of Women (CIM) 1928.

  • 1915 Lillian Willoughby born Iowa (d. 2009). Quaker peace leader; tax resister. Founded Movement for A New Society, 1971; spent one week in jail for blocking Philadelphia courthouse in anti-Iraq War protest, 2003.

  • 1938 Anne-Catherine Menétrey-Savary born Aigle, Vaud, Switzerland. Swiss antimilitarist politician; Green Party member National Council 1999-2007; author and psychologist; promoted abolition of army; supported conscientious objectors.

  • 1941 Robin Morgan born Lake Worth, FL. American feminist; active in CORE, Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee; anti-Vietnam War; founded Sisterhood Is Global 1984.

  • 1954 Oprah Winfrey born Kosciusko, MS. Television host; philanthropist. Questioned Iraq War: "Is War the Only Answer?", Sept. 2002; series of anti-war shows, Nov. 2002-March 2003. Endowed South African girl's school, 2004.

Women's peacemaking on this day

  • 1957 UN General Assembly adopted Convention on the Nationality of Married Women.

  • 1987 Stacey Lynn Merkt was imprisoned 18 months for giving sanctuary to illegal Central Americans.

  • 1996 Four Ploughshares Women damaged Indonesian Air Force Hawk plane at British aerospace factory.

  • 2003 Mary Kelly disabled US Navy troop transport Shannon with fire axe as protest against preparations for Iraq War.

  • 2010 Doctors Carol Paris and Margaret Flowers arrested at White House for attempting to deliver a letter on health care to President Obama.