October 10

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Women peacemakers born today

  • 1840 Helen Bright Clark born Rochdale, Lancashire, England (d. 1927). Pioneering British women’s rights activist; suffragist. Quaker absolute pacifist. Raised two peacemaker daughters, Hilda and Alice. Co-founded anti-racist Society for the Furtherance of Human Brotherhood. Served on committee for Hague Women's Peace Congress, 1915.

  • 1884 Fanny Fligelman Brin born Berlad, Romania (d. 1961). Pacifist; suffragist; Jewish peace leader. One of five women consultants to US delegation at founding of UN, 1945, representing Women's Action Committee for Lasting Peace.

  • 1897 Else Zeuthen born Copenhagen, Denmark (d. 1975). Member of Danish Parliament; international president of WILPF, 1956-65; delegate to UN; opposed NATO and Spanish Civil War; promoted foreign aid; protected Jews during Nazi occupation.

  • 1907 Wanda Jakubowska born Warsaw, Russian Poland (d.1998). Auschwitz survivor film The Last Stage, 1947 about concentration camps. Only female winner of International Peace Prize, 1950.

  • 1912 Marion Bromley born Akron, OH (d. 1996). Quaker pacifist; pioneering war tax resister; founder of CORE, 1941; founder of Peacemakers, 1948; first Freedom Ride, 1947; arrested in New York Easter parade, 1947.

  • 1931 Carol Price Husten born Brooklyn, NY (d. 2016). Peace activist; “Bombshell Granny”; Granny Peace Brigade member arrested and acquited for protest at Times Square recruiting office 2005; previous arrests at School of Americas and against Iraq War; arrested 2010 Grand Central Banner drop “TALK LESS; DISARM MORE; Chair Peace Action NY State; guidance counselor.

  • 1944 Mehrangiz Kar born Ahvaz, Iran. Muslim; human rights activist; lawyer; journalist; arrested and sentenced to 4 years, but released in 2 months for cancer treatment, 2000. Recipient of Trarieux Prize and Human Rights First award.

  • 1953 Janet Bloomfield born Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, England (d. 2007). British Quaker peace activist; UK Coordinator of Atomic Mirror, to create a nuclear-free world, 1997. Chaired Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND), 1993-96; Vice-President of International Peace Bureau, Geneva, 1994-97.

  • 1955 Catherine Dupe Atoki born Kabba, Kogi state, Nigeria. Chair of African Commission on Human Rights, 2011-12. Awarded Gusi Peace Prize, 2013.

Women's peacemaking on this day

  • 1903 Women's Social & Political Union founded by Emmeline Pankhurst.

  • 1931 WILPF Peace Caravan arrived in Washington DC after crossing the US for 9,000 miles.

  • 1965 20 women, including Dorothy Day, Hildegarde Goss-Mayr, and Chanterelle Lanza Del Vasto broke 10-day fast for peace at the Second Vatican Council.

  • 1991 Women in Black started regular Wednesday vigil against war, Belgrade.

  • 2005 Young WILPF (Y-WILPF) met for the first time in Stockholm.

  • 2011 280 Barbacoas, Colombia women end 110-day "Crossed Legs" strike refusing sex.

  • 2015 WikiPeaceWomen began Bern, Switzerland with goal of a million by 2020.