June 7

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Women peacemakers born today

  • 1873 Amelia Collins (d. 1962). American internationalist and promoter of UN. Pacifist Baha'i leader; International Vice President, 1951; one of nine Custodians of the Faith, 1957-63.

  • 1917 Gwendolyn Brooks born Topeka, KS (d. 2000). Poet; first African-American Pulitzer Prize winner. Her early antiwar poems followed World War II, linking war to racism.

  • 1943 Nikki Giovanni born Knoxville, TN. Poet; English professor; civil rights activist. Leader of Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.

  • 1945 Francoise Gaspard born Dreux, Normandy, France. French feminist sociologist. Socialist Deputy in Parliament, 1981-88; French representative to UN commission on women, 1998-2000.

  • 1966 Claudia Paz y Paz Bailey born Guatemala. Law professor and criminal and human rights lawyer. First Guatemalan woman Attorney General, 2010-14. Successfully prosecuted Rios Montt for genocide, 2013. Passed two laws against violence against women. Nobel Peace Prize nominee, 2013.

Women's peacemaking on this day

  • 1955 In Tokyo, the First Mother’s Congress convened in response to Bikini nuclear tests.

  • 1973 Pee-in at Harvard Yard led by Florynce Kennedy.

  • 1982 Die-in at London Stock Exchange by women against nuclear weapons.