Women peacemakers born today

1879 Violet McNaughton born Borden, Kent, England (d. 1968). Canadian journalist; WILPF leader; farm women organizer.
1885 Anasuya Sarabhai. Feminist; Gandhian labor organizer. Founded Textile Labour Association, 1920.
1896 Shirley Graham Du Bois born Evansville, IN (d. 1977). African-American/Cherokee musician; playwright; biographer; peace activist; Communist; exiled to Ghana, 1961; promoted African unity.
1914 Daisy Bates born Huttig, AR. As head of Arkansas NAACP, leader of Little Rock desegregation, 1957.
1923 Edith Bell born Hamburg, Germany. Holocaust survivor; Raging Granny; WILPF leader illegally shadowed by FBI.
1930 Rose Marie Muraro born Rio de Janiero, Brazil (d. 2014). Leading Brazilian feminist; self-described “Impossible Woman.” Began work with Hélder Câmara’s Catholic Action, 1946; worked with Leonard Boff for 17 years. Developed “nonviolent communication.”
1978 Paula Marcela Moreno Zapata born Bogota, Colombia. Afro-Colombian management engineer. Minister of Culture, 2007-10; founding president of peace-building organization Visible Hands, 2010.
1985 Hanna Poddig born Osterladekop, Jorg, Lower Saxony, Germany. German anti-nuclear protester and “full-time activist.” Blocked uranium shipment Gronau, 2012; refused fine, jailed 110 days.

Women's peacemaking on this day

1838 Anne Weston proposed first nonviolent newspaper in Boston, MA.
1909 Authorities at Holloway Prison began force-feeding hunger striking suffragist Alice Paul.
1944 Marthe Dortel-Claudot proposed idea of Pax Christi.
1981 Watchfires for Liberty lit in Washington DC by Congressional Union.
1983 Australian Women for Survival organized peace camp at Pine Gap, Northern Territory.
1984 Helen Woodson arrested in Missouri missile silo protest, resulting in 17-year sentence for civil disobedience.
1984 28 Lebanese women hold a 3-day vigil at UN.
2014 Medea Benjamin and Code Pink ejected from the Concert for Valor at the National Mall for pro-peace demonstration.