July 18

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Women peacemakers born today

  • 1879 Rose Pastor Stokes born Augustów, Poland (d. 1933). American Socialist labor organizer, poet and journalist; opposed World War I; sentenced to 10 years in prison for opposition to draft.

  • 1902 Jessamyn West born Vernon, IN (d. 1984). Quaker writer, author of The Friendly Persuasion (1945) about Quaker life in Indiana during the Civil War; made into Oscar-winning movie with Gary Cooper, 1956.

  • 1908 Peace Pilgrim born Egg Harbor, NJ (d. 1981). Traveled over 25,000 miles with message of peace.

  • 1911 Henriette Bie Lorentzen (née Anna Henriette Wegner Haagaas) born Vestre Aker (now Oslo), Norway (d. 2001). Norwegian humanist; peace activist; founding teacher Nansen Academy 1937; arrested by Gestapo 1943, tortured while pregnant; survived Ravensbrück; founding editor publisher magazine Women and Time, 1945-55; active in Grandmothers Against Atom Weapons 1983.

  • 1928 Franca Rame born Parabiago, Lombardy, Italy (d.2013). Radical Italian actress and playwright; Senator; opposed Vietnam War, Iraq War; co-wrote and acted play on Cindy Sheehan's opposition to war.

  • 1929 Nafis Sadik born Jaunpur, Uttar Pradesh, India. Pakistani physician, Director of UN Population Fund 1987-2000; Secretary-General UN Population Conference, Cairo, 1994.

  • 1944 Jelena Šantić (née Jovanović) born Belgrade, Serbia, Yugoslavia (d. 2000). Prima ballerina and pacifist. Co-founded Group 484, welcoming Croat refugees. Received Pax Christi International Award, 1996.

  • 1957 Kaisha Atakhanova born Karaganda, Kazakhstan. Biologist; led successful campaign to prevent the commercial import of nuclear waste into Kazakhstan. Awarded Goldman Environmental Prize, 2005; Nobel Peace Prize nominee, 2005.

Women's peacemaking on this day

  • 1976 Close of historic Nonviolent Women's Conference, Les Circauds, France.

  • 2005 UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) issued a call for international powers to recognize and foster women's participation in conflict resolution and peacemaking.

  • 2012 Four Cuban Women in White arrested Havana for Literary Tea Party human rights protest.

  • 2015: Creators of Peace women at the International Peace-builders Forum workshop, Caux, Switzerland.