October 8

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Women peacemakers born today

  • 1847 Rose Scott born Glendon, New South Wales (d. 1925). Pioneering Australian internationalist; feminist; peace organizer. Opposed Boer War; promoted arbitration and international organization.

  • 1881 Esther Lape born Wilmington, DE (d. 1981). Visionary journalist; publicist; professor; peace researcher; activist. Co-founder of League of Women Voters; administered Bok Peace Prize, 1923; author of Ways to Peace, 1924; informal presidential envoy to Europe on World Court, 1927; collaborator and mentor of Eleanor Roosevelt on international affairs; led campaign for World Court, 1923-35; promoted universal health care.

  • 1891 Ellen Wilkinson born Manchester, England (d. 1947). First female British cabinet minister, 1945; pacifist; Fabian Socialist; led march of unemployed, 1936; founding president of UNESCO, 1945.

  • 1901 Doris Twitchell Allen born Old Town, Maine (d. 2002). Psychology professor; founded Children's International Summer Village to promote peace education, 1951.

  • 1929 Betty Boothroyd born Dewsbury, Yorkshire. Anti-apartheid leader; first female Speaker of House of Commons, 1992; member of European Parliament.

  • 1939 Lynne Irene Stewart born Brooklyn, NY. Human rights lawyer; sentenced to 28 months prison for helping terrorist, 2009.

  • 1940 Catherine Burks-Brooks born Birmingham, AL. One of the first nonviolent Freedom Riders, May, 1961; imprisoned at Parchman Prison, Jackson, MS, 1961.

  • 1946 Hanan Ashrawi born Ramallah, Palestine. Diplomat, poet, and professor. Palestinian peace negotiator.

  • 1958 Urvashi Vaid born New Delhi, India. Attorney; human rights advocate; gay rights leader; ACLU lawyer; anti-Apartheid leader; co-founder of New Yorkers Say No to War, 2003; arrested at White House protest on abortion, 1992; opposed wars in Vietnam, Gulf, Iraq, Afghanistan.

  • 1971 Claudia Abate born New York, NY. UN conference officer, 1994-2005, worked on reconciliation; co-founder of Foundation for Post Conflict Development (FPCD), 2005.

Women's peacemaking on this day

  • Feast Day of St. Bridget (Birgitta) 1303-1373 "God's Ambassadress" stopped Crusade against Baltic states.

  • 1967 Thich Nu Tri Can immolated herself in war protest.

  • 1991 Start of weekly peace vigils of Women in Black at Belgrade parliament building.

  • 2013 Kim Eun-Hye arrested and sentenced 3 months jail for alleged assault on Korean policewoman during a protest against US naval base Jeju.

  • 2014: Women in Black Against War vigil against drones at Edith Cavell statue, London.