October 19

Women peacemakers born today

• 1887 Anna Cox Brinton born San Jose, CA (d. 1969). Quaker pacifist; AFSC Commissioner for Asia, 1946; AFSC International Program director.

• 1923 Georgia Davis Powers born Springfield, KY (d. 2016). First female African-American Kentucky Senator, 1967; leader of Martin Luther King, Jr. movement, Louisville.

• 1936 Johnnetta Betsch Cole born Jacksonville, FL. Anthropologist; opposed Vietnam War; first female president of Spelman College.

• 1945 Maire Leadbeater born New Zealand. Second generation anti-nuclear and human rights activist, daughter of Elsie Locke. Campaigned for human rights in Burma, East Timor, Philippines, Papua and Indonesia.

• 1974 Binalakshmi Nepram born Imphal, Manipur, India. Awarded Sean MacBride Peace Prize for disarmament work, 2011; founded Control Arms Foundation of India (CAFI), 2004; Manipur Women Gun Survivors Network (MWGSN), 2007.

Women's peacemaking on this day

• Feast Day of St. Frideswide (d. Oxford 735). Patroness of Oxford Cathedral; nonviolent resister of attack by two men.

• 1965 Twelve women arrested at farm picket, Kern County, CA.

• 1971 Ginetta Sagan organized sold-out concert opposing the ruling Greek junta, featuring Joan Baez and Melina Mercouri, Berkeley, CA.

• 1977 Ellen Kuzwayo arrested in Johannesburg.

• 2001 Human rights lawyer Digna Ochoa murdered in Mexico City.

• 2006 Uruguayan Defense Minister Azucena Berruti fired military leader General Díaz.

• 2016 Latin American women strike for life. “Vivas nos queremos!(We want us alive)”