Women peacemakers born today

1840 Ellen Robinson born Liverpool, England (d. 1912). Quaker schoolmistress; leading British peace activist. Opposed Boer War and British imperialism.
1843 Mariana W. Chapman born New York, NY (d. 1907). American pacifist leader; suffragist. Author of The Inherent Immorality of War, 1901.
1868 Emily Murphy born Cookstown, Ontario (d. 1933). Canadian jurist; lifelong pacifist; first woman judge in British empire. One of "Famous Five" women who won legal right of woman as a person, 1929.
1918 Zoia Horn born Odessa, Ukraine (d. 2014). American librarian jailed 21 days for refusing to divulge information about Harrisburg Seven antiwar protesters, 1972. Publicly opposed Patriot Act.
1946 Ivana Janů born Plazy, Czechoslovakia. International lawyer and judge. Convicted head of Bosnian Krajina region of war crimes, 1993; presided over Yugoslav War Crimes Tribunal (ICTY), 2001-04.
1951 Sharon A. Williams born Cardiff, Wales. Professor of international law; judge. Served as Canadian member of Permanent Court of Arbitration, 1991-97; presided over Yugoslav War Crimes Tribunal (ICTY), 2001-03.
1972 Irom Chanu Sharmila born Imphal, India. Nonviolent Gandhian disciple; human rights advocate; journalist; poet. Known as the "Iron Lady of Manipur." Began hunger strike to protest civilian deaths at the hands of the Indian military, 2000; due to hunger strike, has been repeatedly arrested for attempted suicide and force-fed via feeding tube.

Women's peacemaking on this day

1664 Margaret Fell, founder of the Quaker movement, was imprisoned for the first time, spending four years in Lancaster Castle. "We are a people that follow after those things that make for peace, love and unity."
1917 1,000 women picketed the White House calling for a constitutional amendment for women's suffrage.
1983 In El Salvador, Marianella Garcia-Villas was assassinated for her investigation of human rights violations.
2003 Cathy Hoffman was arrested for protesting the Iraq War at the Boston Federal Building.
2012 Judge Elizabeth Odio Benito convicted Thomas Lubanga Dyilo of the war crime of recruiting child soldiers.