Women peacemakers born today

1862 Martha Platt Falconer born Delaware, OH (d. 1941). Quaker social worker; advocate for homeless girls. Delegate to Paris International Conference on Social Work, 1928.

1873 Margaret Bondfield born Somerset, England (d. 1953). British suffragist and labor leader. One of the first women in Parliament, 1923; first woman in British Cabinet as Minister of Labor, 1929.

1884 Olive Pink born Hobart, Tasmania (d. 1975). Quaker; anthropologist; artist; defender of aboriginal rights.

1933 Myrlie Evers-Williams born Vicksburg, MS. Civil rights activist. Widow of civil rights leader Medgar Evers, slain in 1963; sought justice for his murder for over 30 years. Appointed first full-time chair of NAACP, 1995.

1955 Cynthia McKinney born Atlanta, GA. Six-term US Representative, 1993-2003, 2005-2007. Won 161,000 votes as Green Party presidential candidate, 2008.
1970 Jane Anyango born Nairobi, Kenya. “Woman of Peace”; Grassroots peacemaker; founded Kibera Women for Peace and Fairness 2007; member of Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Reference commission 2012; ran Peace Through Action and Advocacy in 2013 elections; named Peace Ambassador by International Women Peace Group 2015; Kroc Institute WomanPeacemaker 2016.

Women's peacemaking on this day

1936 Women’s Peace Union’s constitutional amendment outlawing war came to Senate and House judiciary committees.
1989 Sister Amparo Escobedo, treasurer of nonviolent Serpaj Peru organization, killed in the Andes.
1997 3,000 Ethiopian Women marched to improve working conditions.
2003 In New York, Nobel Prize winner Mairead Corrigan arrested in St. Patrick’s Day protest against the Iraq War.
2003 Ellen Barfield and 50 others were arrested for marching on the Capitol with signs and photos of Iraqi civilians endangered by the upcoming invasion.
2012 In New York, Cecily McMillan arrested during Occupy protest for elbowing policeman’s eye when he grabbed her breast; later sentenced to three months (served 58 days).