November 1

Women peacemakers born today

• 1841 Minna Cauer born Freyenstein, Brandenburg (d. 1922). German journalist; pacifist; radical feminist; founding member of WILPF.

• 1861 Corinne True born Oldham County, Kentucky (d. 1961). Baha'i "Mother of the Temple." Internationalist; pacifist. Established equality of women, the link to universal peace.

• 1889 Hannah Höch born Gotha, Germany (d. 1978). Anti-war Dada artist and feminist.

• 1934 Miriam DeCosta-Willis born Florence, AL. African-American professor of Romance languages. Early civil rights leader; marched with Martin Luther King, Jr., 1968; jailed in Memphis protest.

• 1941 Nelsa Curbelo born Montevideo, Uruguay. Ecuadorean peacemaker; former nun. General coordinator, human rights organization SERPAJ. Founded Ser Paz ("Being Peace") with Guayaquil youth gangs, 1999. Nobel Peace Prize nominee, 2005.

• 1948 Marjorie Cohn born Pomona, CA. Professor of international human rights. Editor and author, United States and Torture, 2011.

Women's peacemaking on this day

• 1958 Delegation of London Women Against A-tests appealed to Test Ban Conference, Geneva.

• 1961 Women Strike for Peace national demonstration, largest women's peace action to date (12,000-50,000 participants).

• 1962 UN General Assembly adopted Convention on Consent to Marriage.

• 1967 Thich Ku Thong immolated in Vietnam War protest.

• 1983 400 women sat in silence at UNESCO office in Beirut's first women’s peace protest.

• 1989 Jennifer Hoffman and Honey Nestel acquitted on necessity of defense at Westboro protest, Worcester, MA.

• 1996 Louise Arbour appointed UN Prosecutor of Rwanda War Crimes.

November 2

Women peacemakers born today

• 1883 Jessie Daniel Ames born Palestine, TX (d. 1972). Anti-lynching suffragist; founded Southern Women's anti-lynching association, 1909.

• 1901 Magda Trocmé born Florence, Italy (d. 1997). French nonviolent activist who rescued 3,000 Jews.

• 1936 Rosemary Radford Ruether born St. Paul, MN. Catholic theologian; opponent of Vietnam War, US wars in Central America, Iraq; feminist.

• 1938 Ria Beckers born Driebergen, Netherlands (d. 2006). Dutch politician; environmentalist; classics teacher. First woman to head a Dutch political party, the environmental Political Party Radicals (PPR), 1977; later became head of GreenLeft Party, 1990-93. Opposed Gulf War, 1990, Iraq War, 2003.

• 1948 Mandy Carter born Albany, NY. African-American war resister; gay rights activist; organized Continental Walk for War Resisters League, 1976.

• 1961 Sigrid Kaag born Rijswick, Netherlands. Dutch diplomat, known as “The Iron Lady.” Served roles in UNICEF, UNWRRA, UNDP. Headed UN mission to destroy Syrian chemical weapons, 2013. UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon during Syria War, 2014. Awarded Carnegie-Wateler Peace Prize, 2016.

Women's peacemaking on this day

• 1883 Emma Lazarus wrote the poem "The New Colossus", later to be inscribed at the base of the Statue of Liberty.

• 1961 Hannah Newcombe and others founded the Canadian Peace Research Institute.

• 1979 Danish women occupied Danner House (palace) as women's shelter.

• 1989 Sister Diana Ortiz abducted and tortured in Guatemala.

• 2007 Eve Tetaz sentenced to 7 days for anti-Iraq War protest in Washington, DC; arrested 11 times, 2007.

• 2009 Sister Anne Montgomery (84), Susan Crane (67), and Lynne Greenwald (61) arrested for cutting wire at Tacoma nuclear sub base, later sentenced. "Trident Illegal and Immoral."

November 3

Women peacemakers born today

• 1889 Katharina Petersen born Kappeln, Hanover, Germany (d. 1979). German Quaker; professor fired by Hitler; stayed in Germany through World War II; opposed postwar rearmament.

• 1912 Marie-Claude Vaillant-Couturier (née Vogel) born Paris, France (d. 1996). French Communist politican; photojournalist; Resistance heroine; arrested 1942, survived Auschwitz, Ravenbrück; Secretary General pacifist Women’s International Democratic Federation (WIDF) 1946; opposed Vietnam War 1949, Algerian War, Korean War; witness at Nüremberg Trials.

• 1917 Annapurna Maharana born Cuttack, India (d. 2012). Gandhian disciple. Joined Gandhi's march through the state of Orissa, 1937; imprisoned on three occasions during independence movement, 1932, 1942, 1944. Joined Vinoba Bhave's Bhoodan marches, 1951; worked on famine relief efforts, 1966; aided refugees along India-Bangladesh border, 1970-71; undertook Chambal Valley padayatrato get outlaws to surrender, 1972-73; opened high school in Rayagod, Koraput, to educate tribal children, 1977. Nobel Peace Prize nominee, 2005.

• 1937 Lynn Woolsey born Seattle, WA. US Representative; introduced first resolution to bring Iraq troops home and first hearing on leaving Iraq, 2005; arrested for Darfur protest, 2009.

• 1952 Roseanne Barr born Salt Lake City, UT. Actress. Opposed wars in Iraq and Afghanistan; participant in "One Taxpayer's Mother" protest for Code Pink on National Mall, May 8, 2010.

• 1955 Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka born Claremont, Durban, South Africa. Member of Parliament, 1994-2008. First woman to serve as deputy president of South Africa, 2005-08. Executive Director of the UN Entity for Gender Equality and Empowerment of Women (UN Women), 2013.

• 1982 Rae Abileah born Freeport, NY. National Coordinator, Code Pink. Attempted citizen’s arrest of Karl Rove for war crimes, 2008. Beaten and arrested after interrupting Israeli PM Netanyahu's speech to Congress, 2011.

Women's peacemaking on this day

• 1935 Swedish Women's Mobilization for Peace national protest by WILPF.

• 1970 Jane Fonda falsely arrested for antiwar activity, charged with possession of drugs (vitamins) in Cleveland, OH.

• 1990 Gro Harlem Brundtland elected Norwegian prime minister for third time.

• 2011 Tibetan nun Palden Choetso immolated self in Ganzi Prefecture.

• 2015 International Catalan Institute for Peace sponsored Barcelona forum Women, Peace and Security.

November 4

Women peacemakers born today

• 1897 Agnes Sanford born Xuzhou, Jiangsu, China (d. 1982). American theologian preacher; famous founder of Inner Healing Movement; absolute pacifist.

• 1910 Agda Rossel born Gällivare, Sweden (d. 2001). Swedish diplomat; international head of Save the Children Federation during World War II; Swedish rep. to UN Human Rights Commission, 1951; first woman to head a UN delegation, Sweden, 1958.

• 1919 Simonne Monet-Chartrand born Montreal (d. 1993). Canadian peace leader; feminist; social reformer; opposed World War II, Korean War, Cold War, Vietnam War and Gulf War. Co-founded pacifist organization La Voix des Femmes, 1960; organized peace train, Ottawa, 1962; co-founded Movement for Nuclear Disarmament. Published Hope and the Challenge of Peace, 1988.

Women's peacemaking on this day

• 1854 Florence Nightingale arrived Crimea.

• 1965 Dickey Chapelle killed Chu Lai, Vietnam; first female reporter to die.

• 1978 First US Take Back the Night candlelight march, San Francisco.

• 1983 Melbourne women act, calling for women's peace camp at Pine Gap Nov. 11.

• 1995 Noa Nini concert at peace rally Tel Aviv drew 50,000.

• 2000 Irom Chanu Sharmila began fast against army massacre in Manipur.

November 5

Women peacemakers born today

• 1844 Eugenie Potonie-Pierre born L'Orient, Brittany (d. 1898). French feminist; radical pacifist; socialist. Journalist and editor. Claimed credit for coining the term “feminism”, 1896.

• 1850 Emma Wheeler Wilcox born Johnstown, WI (d. 1919). American peace poet.

• 1877 Cecilia Annie John born Hobart, Tasmania (d. 1953). Australian singer; founded Women's Peace Army, 1915.

• 1926 Victoria Gray Adams born Hattiesburg, MS (d. 2006). Field Secretary for Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, 1962; leader in King's SCLC; Freedom Summer organizer; Mississippi Freedom Dem. Party with Fannie Lou Hamer, 1964.

• 1940 Luisa Morgantini born Villadossola, Piedmont, Italy. Leader of Italian peace movement; trade union leader. Co-founded Italian Women in Black. Member of European United Left/Nordic Green Left in European Parliament, 1999-2009; Vice-President of European Parliament, 2007-09.

• 1952 Vandana Shiva born Dheradun, India. Nuclear physicist; nonviolent environmental advocate; Gandhian; ecofeminist; opposed Iraq War; awarded Alternate Nobel Prize, 1993; awarded Sydney Peace Prize, 2010.

Women's peacemaking on this day

• 1917 Alice Paul and Rose Winslow began 22-day hunger strike at Occoquan Prison.

• 1961 Pram-pushing mothers led CND march to USSR embassy, London.

• 1975 50 homeless women and children occupied Palm Court Hotel, Richmond.

• 2003: Women from war zones and post-conflict zones appealed to US Congress to end universal war on women and children.

November 6

Women peacemakers born today

• 1813 Mary di Rosa born Brescia, Italy (d. 1855). Nurse during Austrian war, 1848; stopped soldiers with nonviolence, 1854.

• 1879 Fanny Bixby Spencer born Long Beach, CA (d. 1930). Pacifist; poet, essayist, and playwright; wealthy socialite Socialist; blacklisted for opposing WWI.

• 1921 Yvonne Hostert Useldinger born Steinfort, Luxembourg (d. 2009). Communist resister to Nazis; Ravensbrück survivor; leader of Luxembourg women.

• 1935 Frances Alexander. English nurse and midwife; founded 5W (Women Welcome Women World Wide), 1984.

Women's peacemaking on this day

• 1928 Pacifist Ruth Bryan Owen elected to Congress; promoted international cooperation as member of Foreign Affairs Committee.

• 1976 Peace People mounted 21 rallies for peace in Northern Ireland.

• 1990 Saudi women drove main streets of Riyadh in protest, resulting in loss of government jobs and foreign travel.

• 2000 Irom Chanu Sharmila first arrested for attempted suicide in fast unto death against army massacre.

• 2011 Leila Soueif began fast for arrest of her son Alaa Seif for human rights protests.

• 2014 On the 20th anniversary of adoption of Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, Beijing+20 Regional Review Meeting held in Geneva.

November 7

Women peacemakers born today

• 1819 Elizabeth Neall Gay born Bucks County, PA (d. 1907). Quaker; pacifist; abolitionist. Delegate to first World's Anti-Slavery Convention, where women were denied a say, London, 1840.

• 1850 Johanna Waszklewicz-van Schilfgaarde born Netherlands (d. 1937). Dutch peace organizer; founded Alliance of Women for peace, 1899; opposed Boer War.

• 1878 Margaret E. Cousins born Boyle, Ireland (d. 1954). British feminist and radical suffragist leader; spent one month in prison, 1910; anti-imperialist; founded and led two Indian women's organizations; first female magistrate in India; arrested in India for civil disobedience, 1933.

• 1917 Helen Suzman born Germiston, Transvaal, South Africa (d. 2009). Apartheid opponent; recipient of UN Human Rights Prize, 1978; member of parliament, 1953-89.

• 1948 Mariclaire Acosta. Mexican human rights advocate. Representative, Amnesty International, Mexico section, 1977-84. Founding director, Mexican Academy of Human Rights, 1984-89. Director, Freedom House Mexico, 2011-present.

• 1949 Judi Bari born Baltimore, MD (d. 1997). Environmental activist; labor organizer; ecofeminist; leader of Earth First!, 1979; nearly killed by bomb in nonviolent Redwood Summer, 1990.

• 1989 Nadezhda Tolokonnikova born Norilsk, Krasnoyarsk, Russia. Member of punk protest collective Pussy Riot. Performed anti-Putin protest at Cathedral of Christ the Savior, Moscow, 2012; arrested and sentenced to 2-year prison term.

Women's peacemaking on this day

• 1916 Pacifist Jeannette Rankin elected to House of Representatives for the state of Montana, becoming the first woman elected to the US Congress.

• 1921 Kaji Yashima presented peace petition of 10,000 Japanese women to Pres. Harding for Washington disarmament conference. "Japanese women want education not battleships."

• 1925 Mirabehn joined Gandhi's Ashram.

• 2005 Breasts Not Bombs demonstration at Sacramento state capitol building; Sherry Glaser & Renee Love arrested.

• 2008: New York premiere of documentary Pray the Devil Back to Hell, chronicling women’s successful peacemaking efforts in Africa.

November 8

Women peacemakers born today

• 1342 Julian of Norwich. English altruist; mystic.

• 1897 Dorothy Day born Brooklyn, NY (d. 1980). Founder of nonviolent Catholic Workers, 1930.

• 1908 Martha Gellhorn born St. Louis, MO (d. 1998). Pacifist author; war correspondent; opposed war in Vietnam, Contra War, nuclear weapons.

• 1949 Bonnie Raitt born Burbank, CA. Quaker antiwar singer; performer at No Nukes Rally, 1979; participant in Earth Day protest, 1999; climbed redwood with Joan Baez.

• 1962 Isabelle F. Picco born Monaco. Monegasque diplomat; delegate to UN since Monaco’s accession 1993; Permanent Representative 2009; Vice President UN General Assembly 2013.

Women's peacemaking on this day

• 1837 Mt. Holyoke, first American women's college, opened.

• 1938 Crystal Bird Fauset elected first African-American in state legislature, Pennsylvania.

• 1967 Thich Ku Thuong immolated self in Vietnam War protest.

• 1983 Pine Gap Women's Peace Camp set up in Alice Springs, Australia.

• 1986 40 Finnish women protested nuclear plant Oikiluola.

• 1991 First Women's Conference for a Healthy Planet Miami, organized by Bella Abzug.

• 2000 Coalition of Women for a Just Peace founded, uniting 8 Israeli women’s peace groups.

• 2005 In Eugene, Oregon, Code Pink blocked ROTC classes, hanging a banner that read, “Outraged Women Say NO to War.”

• 2005 Zimbabwe authorities arrested Netsai Mushonga for organizing training session on nonviolent conflict resolution.

• 2006 Cindy Sheehan and three women arrested in Iraq War protest at White House.

• 2007 Breasts Not Bombs protest at White House.

• 2010 Ten-day fast at White House by 11 women of La Mujer Obrera in protest of poverty and violence on US-Mexican border.

• 2012 Praying for Peace in the Land of Buddha Kathmandu, Nepal 12th meeting of 13 indigenous Grandmothers.

November 9

Women peacemakers born today

• 1805 Harriot Kezia Hunt born Boston, MA (d. 1875). First American female doctor; abolitionist; sponsor and speaker at Womens Rights Convention, 1840; suffragist tax refuser for 25 years.

• 1865 Jessie Jack Hooper born Winneshiek, IA (d. 1935). Suffragist; peace orator; organized Conference on Cause and Cure of War, 1924; presented a million women's petition to disarmament conference, 1932.

• 1877 Helen Crawfurd born Glasgow, Scotland (d. 1954). Scottish peace leader against World War I; internationalist; Socialist/Communist; organized famine relief in Russia, Germany and Ireland, 1920; arrested four times for suffrage protests, 1912-14, released after hunger strikes; founding conference of WILPF Hague; founded Women's Peace Crusade, 1916; arrested three times for antiwar activity; Commonwealth peace conference participant, 1939.

• 1883 Te Puea Herangi born Whatiwhatihoe, North Island, New Zealand (d. 1952). Maori pacifist leader. Opposed Maori Wars.

• 1896 Freda Mary Cook born Alvescott, Oxford (d. 1990). New Zealand's leader against Vietnam War, Apartheid and imperialism; Socialist.

• 1905 Erika Mann born Munich, Bavaria, Germany (d. 1969). German actress and writer; pacifist organizer and speaker. Won lawsuit against Nazi newspaper for calling her “a flatfooted peace hyena.” Exiled, 1933; opposed drift to war, 1937.

• 1912 Mary Metlay Kaufman born Atlanta, GA (d. 1995). Nuremberg War Crimes prosecutor; opposed Vietnam War and Cold War; defended civil disobedience protesters.

• 1936 Mary Travers born Louisville, KY (d. 2009). Antiwar singer; member of Peter, Paul & Mary; marched with Martin Luther King, Jr.; arrested in Apartheid protest with her mother and daughter, 1984. Opposed US war in Central America.

• 1944 Elizabeth Dowdeswell (née Patton) born Belfast, Northern Ireland. Canadian stateswoman; first woman head UN Environmental Program as Under Secretary 1992-8; professor environmental studies; Lt. Governor Ontario 2014.

• 1947 Kate Clinton born Buffalo, NY. Comedienne; gay rights leader; antiwar voice.

• 1957 Jody Dodd. WILPF leader; War Resisters League.

• 1972 Corin Tucker born Eugene, OR. Antiwar singer-guitarist; formed alternative rock band Sleater-Kinney, 1994; protested Iraq War.

Women's peacemaking on this day

• 1892 Bertha von Suttner co-founded German Peace Society, Berlin. 

• 1909 Quaker suffragist Alice Paul interrupted Prime Minister Asquith at Guildhall, London, shouting, “What about votes for women?” Jailed one month in London's Holloway Prison; refusing to eat or dress, was force-fed after second day.

• 1915 Women’s Peace Party asked President Wilson to call meeting of neutrals to end war.

• 1983 Greenham women filed suit against President Reagan; 102 vigils held at US bases across UK.

• 2003 “War and Pieces” by musician Mimi Stern Wolfe performed New York protesting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

• 2005 Lana Jacobs fined $500 plus two years probation for digging graves at Missouri University ROTC to protest Iraq War.

November 10

Women peacemakers born today

• 1848 Hubertine Auclert born Tilly, Allier, France (d. 1914). French feminist; pacifist; tax refuser, 1880.

• 1878 Agnes Ryan born Stuart, IA (d. 1954). Feminist; editor; vegetarian; pacifist; WILPF speaker; proposed school of nonviolence, 1940.

• 1910 Pauli Murray born Baltimore, MD (d. 1985). African-American nonviolent civil rights leader; lawyer; teacher; poet; Episcopal priest.

Women's peacemaking on this day

• 1917 Large protest against the jailing & force-feeding of Alice Paul; 21 arrested, including Lucy Burns.

• 2003 Reta Kaur arrested in Melbourne for Iraq War protest.

• 2012 Bulawayo police arrested 79 members of Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) in peaceful protest for adequate drinking water.

• 2012 Four Saskatchewan women founded Idle No More in defense of First Nations rights, Saskatoon.

• 2015 Two American Jewish women, Ariel Gold and Ariel Vegosen flew banner “American Jews Support BDS” at prayer wall, Jerusalem.

• 2018 Three Femen women bared breasts at Arc de Triomphe, painting “Fake Peacemakers, Real Dictators” at Armistice Day parade of world leaders including Trump and Putin.

November 11

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.

November 12

Women peacemakers born today

• 1769 Amelia Opie born Norwich, England (d. 1853). Quaker; pacifist; Romantic poet and novelist; abolitionist.

• 1815 Elizabeth Cady Stanton born Johnstown, NY (d. 1902). Suffragist; abolitionist; co-founder of Seneca Falls Convention, 1848.

• 1877 Muriel Matters born Bowden, Adelaide, Australia (d. 1969). British militant suffragist; international speaker; actress and Montessori teacher. Distributed pamphlet “Votes for Women” via balloon, 1909. Spoke against WWI with her speech “The False Mysticism of War”, 1915.

• 1903 Bodil Begtrup born Nyborg, Denmark (d. 1987). Danish diplomat and feminist; delegate to League of Nations, 1938; founder and first chair of UN Commission on Women, 1947; led work on Declaration of Human Rights, 1948; first Danish female ambassador, 1949; led rescue of children from war.

• 1930 Molly Blackburn born Port Elizabeth, South Africa (d. 1985). Leader of Black Sash, women opposing Apartheid; active in exposing murder and torture of Africans.

• 1933 Diane Watson born Los Angeles, CA. Opposed Iraq War; US Ambassador to Micronesia, 1998-2001.

• 1943 Stefanie Powers born Hollywood, CA. Antiwar actress; international advocate for wildlife conservation.

• 1958 Faiza Jama Mohamed born Somalia. Active in Somali women’s movements of the 1990s. Africa Prize Laureate of Hunger Project, 2008.

• 1962 Naomi Wolf born San Francisco, CA. American Jewish author and social critic; third wave feminist; Rhodes scholar. Warned of fascism in The End of America, 2007; arrested in Occupy protest, 2011.

• 1971 Rutuparna Mohanty born Kapaleswar, Kendrapara district, Orissa, India. Indian human rights lawyer; “The Fighter Woman” of Gandhian heritage; founded Maa Ghara (Mothers Home) shelter, 2004; Joan Kroc Woman Peacemaker, 2013; began India Women Peacemakers Award, 2014.

• 1982 Anne Hathaway born Brooklyn, NY. Actress; supporter of UNICEF and Amnesty International campaign against child soldiers.

Women's peacemaking on this day

• 1916 Premiere of silent film War Brides, based on popular play written by Marion Craig Wentworth.

• 1983 111 "Karen Silkwoods" arrested at Pine Gap, Australia.

• 1987 25 Finnish women tried for nuclear plant protest.

• 1991 Women's Action Agenda 21 by World's Women Congress for a Healthy Planet, Miami.

• 2002 Donna Sheehan led 50 nude women in spelling out “PEACE” in Love field, Point Reyes, Marin.

• 2009 Charter for Compassion adopted, promoted by Karen Armstrong.

• 2013 Eight women formed blockade at the entrance to Vermont Yankee nuclear plant. A banner behind them read “Fuel Rods=Catastrophe.”

November 13

Women peacemakers born today

• 1866 Laura Hughes born Toronto, Ont. (d. 1966). Canadian-American pacifist; feminist; socialist; civic reformer; friend of Jane Addams. Publicly opposed World War I; attended Women's Peace Conference Hague, 1915. Co-founded Canadian Women's Peace Party (WPP), counterpart of WILPF, 1916; co-founded Canadian Labor Party, 1917; moved to US, marrying a conscientious objector, 1917.

• 1869 Helene Stocker born Elberfeld, Germany (d. 1943). German feminist; founder of War Resisters International 1923; founder of WILPF.

• 1920 Adele Faccio born Pontebba, Udine, Italy (d. 2007). Radical Italian reformer; partisan resister WWII. Parliamentary delegate of nonviolent Gandhian Radical Party, 1976-83, 1987-92. Co-founded anti-militarist League for Disarmament, 1978.

• 1931 Rev. Joan Brown Campbell born Youngstown, OH. Global Peace Initiative of Women, 2002; US director of World Council of Churches; peace missions to South Africa, Cuba, Serbia.

• 1950 Vonimbolana Rasoazanany born Tananarive, Madagascar. Judge of International Criminal Court for Yugoslavia, 2003-08.

• 1958 Barbara Bangura born Belfast, N. Ireland. Sierra Leone women's leader; trainer in nonviolence and peacebuilding.

• 1963 María Ángela Holguín Cuéllar born Bogotá, Colombia. Colombian Foreign Minister 2010-17; diplomat, including representative to UN; requested and got UN support for peace agreement 2016.

• 1980 Monique Coleman born Orangeburg, SC. African-American singer and actress; UN Youth Champion, 2010.

Women's peacemaking on this day

• 1967 First public manifesto of revived women's movement: "To the Women of the Left."

• 1974 Death of Karen Silkwood, whistleblower on plutonium coverup, near Crescent, OK.

• 1983 111 women arrested for "Boston Tea Party" held by Australian Women For Survival inside fence at Pine Gap.

• 1990 Women's Conference for Security & Cooperation in Europe.

• 2010 Aung San Suu Kyi released from long house arrest.

November 14

Women peacemakers born today

• 1904 Mary Pillsbury Lord born Minneapolis, MN (d. 1978). Organizer and chair of US Commission on UNICEF, 1947; US representative to UN Human Rights Commission, 1953; US representative to UN General Assembly, 1953-61; President, International Rescue Committee.

• 1907 Astrid Ericsson Lindgren born Vimmerly, Sweden (d. 2000). Swedish nonviolent author.

• 1939 Anna Cataldi born Turin, Italy. Italian humanitarian journalist and film producer; UN Messenger for Peace 1998-2006; Goodwill Ambassador World Health Organization to stop TB 2007-11; Goodwill Ambassador for European Council on Refugees and Exiles (ECRE) 2011-2; co-founded Crimes of War Project 1999.

• 1944 Karen Armstrong born Wildmoor, Worcestershire. British religious historian; promotes compassion and interfaith dialog.

• 1978 Sarah Turner born Beloit, WI. Pacifica Radio antiwar journalist; labor organizer; green advocate.

Women's peacemaking on this day

• 1946 Emily Greene Balch awarded Nobel Peace Prize.

• 1964 First official Freedom Concert by Coretta Scott King at New York City Town Hall. "One World - One Brotherhood"

• 1983 111 Australian women arrested for climbing fence at Pine Gap. "Women are no longer giving their silent consent to wars."

• 1982 Ploughshares activists Emily Grady, Marcia Timmel, and Jean Holladay damaged Trident missiles, New London.

• 1983 29 Canadian women arrested for protest at Litton arms plant, Rexdale.

• 1983 Three Greenpeace women arrested.

• 1990 Three Greenpeace women penetrated Nevada Test Site to protest British nuclear test.

November 15

Women peacemakers born today

• 1873 Sara Josephine Baker born Poughkeepsie, NY (d. 1945). Physician; first US woman to serve in League of Nations, as representative to Health Committee, 1922-24; pioneer in public health, esp. for immigrants.

• 1875 Eugenie Hamer born Louvain, Belgium. Belgian pacifist; journalist; from military family; co-founder of Belgian Alliance of Women for Peace through Education, 1906; founder of WILPF, 1915; inserted peace with justice into final resolution.

• 1887 Marianne Moore born Kirkwood, MO (d. 1972). Antiwar poet.

• 1916 Nita Barrow born Barbados (d. 1995). Nurse; educator; diplomat; organized UN Women's Conference Nairobi, 1985.

• 1928 Vinie Burrows born Harlem, NY. Actress and playwright. Activist promoting peace, justice, and reconciliation through theatre, focused on peace and disarmament, racial discrimination, women's issues, and economic/social development.

• 1975 Betty Amongi Ongom born Uganda. Ugandan cabinet minister in peace talks with Lord’s Resistance Army at Juba 2006; chair of Great Lakes Parliamentary Forum on Peace (AMANI) Uganda chapter

Women's peacemaking on this day

• 1917 "Night of Terror" at Occoquan Prison; suffragists tortured.

• 1972 Jeanne Cissé of Guinea elected first female president of UN Security Council.

• 1981 Second Women's Pentagon Action, with over 4,000 female participants.

• 1982 Eleven Greenham Women tried and found guilty; jailed at Holloway Prison.

• 1990 Conclusion of Women's Conference for Security & Cooperation, Berlin.

• 2000 Winnie Mandela voiced support of Bat Shalom's appeal for peace and an end to occupation.

• 2014 Off the coast of the Canary Islands, a Spanish navy vessel rammed a Greenpeace boat during an oil drilling protest, breaking the leg of activist Matilda Brunetti.

November 16

Women peacemakers born today

• 1528 Jeanne d’Albret, Queen of Navarre, born St. Germain-en-Laye (d. 1572). Daughter of peacemaker Queen Marguerite of Navarre. Ruler of Protestant kingdom during Wars of Religion, 1555-72.

• 1870 Lilian Stevenson born Dublin, Ireland (d. 1960). "The Grande Dame of Christian Pacifism." Founder of International Fellowship of Reconciliation, 1914; author of bibliography of peace books for children.

• 1915 Opal Brooten born (d. 1992). Artist; feminist; anti-nuclear activist of Coeur d'Alene, ID. Citizen diplomat on Soviet American Peace walk through Ukraine, 1988.

• 1930 Landon Pearson born Toronto. Canadian peace leader. Senator; wife of diplomat; human rights advocate, esp. children.

• 1955 Marie-Hélène Aubert born Nantes, Brittany, France. Literature professor and ecologist politician. Green Party deputy to National Assembly, 1997-2002; Assembly vice-president, 2001; Green Party member, European Parliament, 2002-08. Co-authored report on Polynesia nuclear tests, 1999; rapporteur on Kyoto Climate Protocol, 2000. Proposed nonviolent Civil Intervention for Peace.

Women's peacemaking on this day

• 1231 Feast and death Day of St. Elizabeth of Hungary (b. 1203). Altruist ruler of County of Thuringia; tertiary of nonviolent St. Francis.

• 1980 In Washington D.C., Ynestra King led the beginning of the Women's Pentagon Action.

• 2011 33 Chilean woman occupied “Devil’s Draft” abandoned mine at Lota and began fast for rights.

• 2013 Nina De Chiffre charged with sexual assault after kissing riot policeman’s visor at protest, Susa, Italy.

November 17

Women peacemakers born today

• 1874 Elsbeth Bruck born Ratibor, Silesia (d. 1970). German actress; opposed both World Wars; leader of German Peace Society; charged with high treason and spying; imprisoned 1916, 1918.

• 1878 Grace Abbott born Grand Island NB, Canada (d. 1939). Quaker; pacifist; internationalist; founder of WILPF; first US delegate to League of Nations, 1923; US representative to ILO, 1935, 1937; decade-long associate of Jane Addams's Hull House, 1908; organized Women's Peace Party Conference of Oppressed for Dependent Nationalities Washington DC, 1916.

• 1878 Berta Lask born Wadowice, Poland (d. 1967). German communist poet and dramatist. Feminist; pacifist. Wrote anti-war poems in World War I and novels in Weimar Germany.

• 1900 Padmaja Naidu born Hyderabad, India (d. 1975). Gandhian independence leader; daughter of Indian National Congress President Sarojini Naidu; arrested for civil disobedience, 1942; Governor of West Bengal, 1956.

• 1916 Winson Hudson born Harmony, MS (d. 2004). African-American pioneer of Mississippi voter registration, 1937; Freedom Summer activist, 1964.

• 1923 Ruth Bleier born New Kensington, PA (d. 1988). Neurologist. Feminist and peace activist. Chair of Maryland Committee for Peace, which called for end of Korean War and the draft, 1950-51. Due to her activism, blacklisted by Joseph McCarthy and lost her hospital privileges.

• 1933 Anne H. Ehrlich born Des Moines, IA. Environmental scientist. With her husband Paul, co-authored works on overpopulation and environment.

• 1939 Elizabeth McAlister born Orange, NJ. Leader of Vietnam War opposition; opposed all subsequent wars (Central America, Yugoslavia, Iraq, Afghanistan); 25 years Good Friday vigil at Pentagon; Catholic nun; wife of Philip Berrigan; co-founder of Jonah House Baltimore, 1973; activist, Plowshares nonviolent movement against nuclear weapons. Arrested many times; imprisoned for 3 years, 1983.

• 1964 Dekha Ibrahim Abdi born Wajir, Kenya (d. 2011). Kenyan peacemaker.

Women's peacemaking on this day

• 1915 Mrs. Barbour's Army of tens of thousands of women (with children) protested rent hikes in Glasgow.

• 1917 "Night of Terror," suffragist picketers at White House arrested.

• 1917 Occoquan Prison began force-feeding fasting suffragists Lucy Burns, Dora Lewis, and Elizabeth McShane.

• 1980 In Washington D.C., 2,200 women took part in Women's Pentagon Action DC; 140 arrested. "We fear for the life of this planet, our earth, and the life of our children."

• 1980 Women chained selves to Mormon temple for Equal Rights Amendment, Bellevue, WA.

• 1982 London prostitutes occupied Holy Cross church, London.

• 1997 1,500 women from La Ruta Pacifica de las Mujeres (“Women's Peaceful Road”) protested Colombia's ongoing civil conflict, southwest Antioquia.

• 2018 Gail Bradbrook led Extinction Rebellion sit-in blocking London’s five bridges.

November 18

Women peacemakers born today

• 1785 Henrietta Sargent born Gloucester, MA (d. 1871). Pioneering abolitionist; founder of Female Anti-Slavery Society, Boston; 1835 meeting mobbed.

• 1888 Sumako Fukao (d. 1974). Japanese poet. Repudiated her wartime militarism to become absolute pacifist.

• 1932 Melissa F. Wells born Tallin, Estonia. UN Undersecretary for Administration, 1992-3; 40-year career US diplomat; ambassador to ECOSOC, 1977; Cape Verde, 1977; Mozambique, 1987; Zaire, 1991; Estonia, 1998; Special Representative to Sudan, 1994.

• 1944 Jackie Goldberg born Los Angeles, CA. Student peace activist, teacher, and politician. Founded Campus Women for Peace at UC Berkeley, 1962. Protested atomic bomb shelters; arrested as leader in Free Speech movement. President, Los Angeles School Board. Member of California State Assembly, 2001-06.

• 1946 Naomi Chazan born Jerusalem. Israeli politician. Expert on African politics. Member of Knesset, 1992-2003. President, New Israel Fund, 2008-12.

• 1957 Susana Malcorra born Argentina. UN Undersecretary for Field Support of Peace and Humanitarian Operations, 2008; Deputy Director of World Food Program, 2004.

Women's peacemaking on this day

• 1872 Susan B. Anthony arrested for voting.

• 1910 "Black Friday" London police attacked suffragists' mass lobby of parliament.

• 1929 Nwanyereuwa began Igbo Women's Revolt in Nigeria.

• 1977 First National Women's Conference through 21st, Houston, TX.

• 1991 Betsy Corner and Randy Kehler served eviction notice for war tax refusal.

• 2006 Tegla Loroupe sponsored Peace Marathon Kapenguria, Kenya by 2000 warriors.

November 19

Women peacemakers born today

• 1813 Ann Terry Greene Phillips born Boston, MA (d. 1886). Nonviolent abolitionist; converted husband Wendell to cause of abolition, of which he became major orator and leader with Garrison; delegate to 1840 Anti-Slavery Convention, London.

• 1874 Elizabeth Washburn Wright born Minneapolis, MN (d. 1954). Internationalist; led anti-opium campaign, 1908; US delegate to Opium Convention, 1924.

• 1900 Anna Seghers born Mainz, Germany (d. 1983). Anti-fascist author; Jewish; Communist. Co-founder of East German freedom movement. Arrested by Gestapo for anti-fascist novel Die Gefährten, 1932; exiled, 1933. Awarded Stalin Peace Prize, 1951.

• 1919 Polly Mann born St. Paul, MN. Founded Women Against Military Madness (WAMM), 1982; opposed nuclear arms, terrorism, and wars in Central America, Iraq, and Afghanistan.

• 1934 Jackie Hudson born Saginaw, MI (d. 2011). Dominican nun; led nonviolent protests against war and nuclear weapons for 30 years; repeatedly arrested; spent six months in prison.

• 1941 Gwendolyn T. Britt born Washington, DC. (d. 2008). Freedom Rider; arrested Jackson, MS, 1961; spent 40 days in prison; elected Maryland senator, 2002.

• 1942 Sharon Olds born San Francisco, CA. American poet. Inspired by anti-Vietnam women poets.

• 1955 Achta Saker Abdoul born Sarh, Chad. Judge at Rwanda War Crimes Tribunal, 2003.

Women's peacemaking on this day

• 1919 Rosika Schwimmer appointed first-ever female ambassador, for Hungary to Switzerland.

• 2000 Sister Dorothy Hennessey arrested for School of Americas protest; sentenced to six months prison.

• 2009 Catherine Ashton appointed first foreign minister for Europe.

November 20

Women peacemakers born today

• 1827 Emily Howland born Sherwood, NY (d. 1929). Quaker pacifist; abolitionist; suffragist; teacher of African-Americans, 1857-1927; faced mobs nonviolently.

• 1858 Selma Lagerlof born Mårbacka, Sweden (d. 1950). Swedish author; awarded Nobel Prize for Literature, 1909. Opposed World War I; published pacifist novel The Outcast, 1918; signed Anti-Conscription Manifesto, 1930; aided victims of Finnish War and Nazi refugees.

• 1918 Corita Kent born Ft. Dodge, IA (d. 1986). Peace artist; Immaculate Heart nun; nonviolent Vietnam War protester, 1967; supporter of farmworkers; supporter of Martin Luther King, Jr.

• 1923 Nadine Gordimer born Springs, Transvaal, South Africa (d. 2014). Awarded Nobel Literature Prize, 1991; early opponent of Apartheid; books banned; hid African National Congress leaders.

• 1944 Koko Kondo born Hiroshima, Japan. Prominent hibakusha, survivor of Hiroshima; international peace activist; opposed wars in Iraq and Chechnya.

• 1959 Jeanmarie Simpson born Ray, AZ. American pacifist actress, whose roles include Jeannette Rankin and Mary Dyer; leader of WILPF.

Women's peacemaking on this day

• 1926 Finnish branch of Women’s International League established.

• 1986 Elizabeth Richards' "Working Towards Peace" at UN.

• 1993 UN Declaration Against Violence Towards Women.

• 2010 Nancy H. Smith arrested protesting the School of the Americas, for which she was sentenced to 6 months at Danbury Prison.

• 2010 Women Say No to NATO Europe-wide protests; London women wore purple t-shirts.

• 2011 Theresa Cusimano arrested second time for protesting the School of Americas. Previously spent 2 months in prison, 2008.