October 26

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Women peacemakers born today

  • 1888 Doris Stevens born Omaha, NE (d. 1963). Chronicler of American suffragists; Executive Secretary of the Congressional Union for Womens Suffrage; arrested 1917, sentenced to 60 days in Occoquan Prison but pardoned after 3 days; arrested picketing Metropolitan Opera house, 1919.

  • 1911 Mahalia Jackson born Hearn, TX (d. 1972). Leading singer of protest songs; civil rights leader who bailed out Martin Luther King, Jr.

  • 1989 Alaa Murabit born Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. Libyan physician; women’s rights leader. Founding president of Voice of Libyan Women, 2011; spearheaded Noor Campaign to promote Koran’s teachings of nonviolence, 2013.

Women's peacemaking on this day

  • 1862 Eliza Gurney spoke truth to power to President Lincoln in White House.

  • 2011 Hundreds of Yemeni women set fire to their makrama (full body veils) in Sana'a. "Who protects Yemeni women from the crimes of the thugs?"