October 1

Women peacemakers born today

• 1832 Jean Brooks Greenleaf born Bernardston, MA (d. 1918). Suffragist leader; witnessed damage of war, New Orleans, 1865.

• 1847 Annie Besant born Clapham, London (d. 1933). Theosophist; nonviolent labor organizer; founder of Fabian Society; called "the greatest orator in England" by G.B. Shaw.

• 1935 Julie Andrews born Walton-on-Thames, England. Actress; starred in antiwar film The Americanization of Emily, 1964.

• 1938 Carol Ruth Silver born Boston, MA. UN clerk; Freedom Rider; arrested Jackson, MS, 1961 on Trailways bus from Nashville; jailed 40 days; worked with Cesar Chavez; San Francisco Supervisor, 1978-89; involved with OLPC, donating computers to Afghan children.

• 1950 Neidonuo Angami born Kohima, Nagaland, India. Naga peacemaker. Co-founded Naga Mother’s Association, 1984. Led the Shed No More Blood Campaign to end civil war, 1994. Nobel Peace Prize nominee, 2005.

• 1964 Elisabetta Zamparutti born Cermes, Bolzano, Italy. Radical nonviolence advocate; opponent of drones, death penalty. Member of European Parliament, 2008-present.

Women's peacemaking on this day

• 1889 Ramallah Girl's School founded by Quakers. Still teaching nonviolence.

• 1953 First American treaty signed by a woman, Ambassador Eugenie Anderson.

• 1965 Ten-day fast for peace at Vatican II Rome by Chanterelle and 20 Catholic women.

• 1983 Minnesota Women's Peace Camp in St. Paul demonstrated against Sperry weapons making.

• 2011 Oxford women's silent vigil "Down the Drones."

October 2

Women peacemakers born today

• 1857 Leonie La Fontaine born Brussels, Belgium (d. 1949). Belgian feminist; pacifist; founding member of WILPF.

• 1885 Ruth Bryan Owen born Jacksonville, IL (d. 1954). First female American ambassador, posted to Denmark, 1933; delegate to UN founding San Francisco, 1945; UN representative, 1949; twice US Representative; First woman on US House Foreign Affairs Committee; influential speaker on peace and UN; plan of world government, 1942. Served in Jane Addams's Hull House; administered relief in Belgium; served as nurse in World War I; promoted women as "Mothers of Humanity."

• 1889 Margaret Chung born Santa Barbara, California October 2, 1889 (d. January 5, 1959). First known American-born Chinese female physician. After graduating from the University of Southern California Medical School in 1916 and completing her internship and residency in Illinois, she established one of the first Western medical clinics in San Francisco's Chinatown in the early 1920s.

• 1906 Willa Taggart born OR (d. 2000). Maintained 40-year-long weekly vigil against Titan missles, Chico, CA, 1960-2000; arrested for chaining self to IRS office in protest of Central America war, 1984; lifelong member of FOR.

• 1910 Peg McIntyre born New York (d. 2008). Grandmothers for Peace activist; opposed Iraq War, School of Americas; arrested over 12 times for nonviolent protests; jailed 30 days for protest against Cassini rocket at the age of 89.

• 1920 Casey Davis. Peace activist, Houston, TX.

• 1934 Cora Weiss born Harlem, NY. Peace activist; social worker. Supported Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, c. 1961. Co-founded Women Strike for Peace against nuclear weapons, 1961; formed Jeannette Rankin Brigade against Vietnam War, 1969. Active member of SANE; major supporter of UN. President of International Peace Bureau, 2000-06. Nobel Peace Prize nominee, 2002.

• 1963 Maria Ressa born Manila, Philippines. American journalist and co-founder and CEO of Rappler. Time's Person of the Year 2018 issue featuring a collection of journalists from around the world actively combating fake news. Ressa is one of the 25 leading figures on the Information and Democracy Commission launched by Reporters Without Borders. She was awarded the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize jointly with Dmitry Muratov for "their efforts to safeguard freedom of expression, which is a precondition for democracy and lasting peace."

Women's peacemaking on this day

• 1915 Louise-Aimée Saumoneau imprisoned in Paris for opposing war.

• 1924 Helena Swanwick gave first official speech on international politics in Geneva Protocol.

• 1935 Virginia Woolf started "Three Guineas" after Brighton Labour conference.

• 1960 Wilhelmina Taggart began 50-year vigil against Titan missiles on her birthday, Chico, CA.

• 1977 All-Ireland women's liberation conference.

• 1990 Elizabeth McAlister arrested for painting White House sidewalk with Pope's words "No More War Never Again."

• 1992 Lynne Guenther sentenced to 5 years probation for protest at UN.

• 1998 The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda sentenced Jean-Paul Akayesu to life imprisonment for crimes against humanity, sexual assault, and genocide.

• 2002 Code Pink founded, opposing Iraq War.

• 2007 Sonia Gandhi spoke to UN on nonviolence.

October 3

Women peacemakers born today

• 1877 Virginia Gildersleeve born New York, NY (d. 1965). Internationalist; historian; dean of Barnard College. Early promoter of League of Nations; helped draft charter of UN and UNESCO.

• 1921 Gedong Bagus Oka (née Ni Wayan Gedong) born Kangasem, Bali, Dutch East Indies (d. 2002). Balinese Hindu leader. Gandhian philosopher of nonviolence and truth. Member of Indonesian Parliament, 1968, 1999. Awarded Gandhian Jamnalal Bajaj Prize, 1994.

• 1941 Karin Hokborg born Luleå, Sweden. Judge of Rwanda War Crimes Tribunal, 2003; Swedish diplomat and international lawyer.

Women's peacemaking on this day

• 1967 Thich Nu Tri Tuc immolated self in Vietnam war protest.

• 1982 Greenham women clogged sewer pipe with wool construction.

• 2011 Swedish women protest at Parliament, Stockholm: "DRONES KILL CHILDREN."

October 4

Women peacemakers born today

• 1898 Elizabeth Reynard (d. 1962). Cape Cod author; professor of English; companion and assistant to Virginia Gildersleeve in drafting UN Charter, 1945.

• 1904 Alice Stewart born Sheffield, England (d. 2002). Recipient of Right Livelihood Award, 1986, for effect of nuclear radiation.

• 1913 Miriam Levering (née Lindsey) born Pittsburgh, PA (d. 1991). Quaker pacifist. With her husband, headed lobby for Law of the Sea treaty, 1983; active in WILPF and World Federalists.

• 1927 C. Delores Tucker born Philadelphia, PA (d. 2005). Civil rights leader; founded Martin Luther King, Jr. Association for Non-Violence, 1968; outspoken critic of gangsta rap.

• 1936 Sally Belfrage born Hollywood, CA. Journalist; civil rights activist; wrote memoirs detailing nonviolent "Freedom Summer," and Greenham movement; war tax resister.

• 1942 Kek Galabru born Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Helped end civil war, 1991; founded Cambodian human rights organization LICADHO, 1992.

• 1942 Bernice Johnson Reagon born Dougherty City, GA. Historian; singer and composer; arrested with SNCC, 1961.

• 1943 Lourdes Arizpe Schlosser born Mexico City, Mexico. Pioneering Mexican anthropologist and professor. Deputy Director, UNESCO, 1994-98. General Secretary, World Commission on Culture, UN and Development.

• 1946 Susan Sarandon born New York, NY. Actress; voiced early opposition to Iraq War on moral grounds and predicted disaster; trip to Nicaragua, 1983; UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, 1999; Code Pink Mother's Day protest, 2006.

Women's peacemaking on this day

• 1997 Peg McIntyre, age 87, arrested at Cape Canaveral for protest against Cassini rocket.

• 2002 Eveline L. Herfkens of Netherlands named executive coordinator of UN Millennium Goals.

• 2012 In Kosovo, members of the Partnership for Change: Empowering Women international summit drew up Pristina Principles to empower women.

• 2014: Lapland Women for Peace held standing demo against drones, Kiruna, Sweden.

October 5

Women peacemakers born today

• 1932 Yvonne Brathwaite Burke born Los Angeles, CA. Lawyer; three-term Congresswoman, 1973-79; County Commissioner; marched with Martin Luther King Jr.; opposed Vietnam war.

• 1938 Herschelle Sullivan Challenor born Atlanta, GA. Civil rights leader; took part in nonviolent sit-in, 1960; founding dean of School of International Relations, Clark Atlanta University; highest ranking American in UNESCO, 1978-91; presided over UN Decade of Cultural Development.

Women's peacemaking on this day

• 1789 6,000 French women marched from Paris to Versailles for bread and liberty.

• 1962 UN Convention on Marriage adopted.

• 1973 First national conference of Pax Christi organized by Eileen Egan.

• 1974 Marie-Claire Voron led women in first nonviolent protest against military base at Larzac.

• 1977 Mothers of the Plaza put ad in La Prensa with 237 photos of disappeared victims.

• 1982 13 Greenham women arrested for blocking construction.

• 2009 UN Security Council Resolution 1889 requested use of women in peacemaking.

October 6

Women peacemakers born today

• 1800 Sarah Pugh born Washington DC (d. 1884). Quaker educator; nonviolent suffragist; abolitionist; delegate to world's first antislavery convention, London, 1840; co-founder Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society, 1833; responded to mob burning their hall with nonviolent linking arms with black sisters, 1838.

• 1902 Elizabeth Gray Vining born Germantown, Philadelphia, PA (d. 1999). Quaker; tutor to future emperor of Japan, 1946-50; committed civil disobedience against Vietnam War and Apartheid.

• 1917 Fannie Lou Hamer born Ruleville, MS (d. 1977). Civil rights activist; organizer of Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, 1962; nonviolent trainer for Mississippi Freedom Summer, 1964.

• 1922 Betty Blaisdell Berry born Providence, RI (d. 2007). International economist of Middle East; NOW Family Relations Coordinator, 1968-73; American Arbitration Association, 1977-87.

• 1979 Ermira Mehmeti born Skopje, Yugoslavia. Albanian member of Macedonian Parliament; peacemaker in postwar reconciliation. Nobel Peace Prize nominee, 2005.

Women's peacemaking on this day

• 1789 French women won king's assent to constitution and bread.

• 1913 Two Muslim women arrested for civil disobedience in South Africa.

• 1932 Gandhian follower Ellen Hørup organized International Conference for India, Geneva.

• 1983 Philadelphia women protested US missiles in Germany at celebration of 300th anniversary of German immigration.

• 2002 Three Dominican nuns arrested for protest at missile silo in Georgetown, CO.

• 2003 Valerie Amos headed British House of Lords.

• 2006 Irom Chanu Sharmila arrested in Delhi for attempted suicide in fast to death protest against army massacre in Manipur.

• 2011 “October2011” protest for peace, environment and health created by Dr. Margaret Flowers.

• 2015 Dr. Margaret Flowers arrested for protest of US bombing Afghan hospital at Senate Armed Services hearing.

October 7

Women peacemakers born today

• 1860 Margarethe Lenore Selenka born Hamburg, Germany (d. 1922). German peace leader; ethnologist; archaeologist; suffragist. Organized first worldwide women's peace demonstration and million signatures for arms control, 1899; protest against Boer War, 1901; founding member of WILPF.

• 1873 Clementine Kraemer born Rheinbischofsheim, Baden, Germany (d. 1942). Leading German pacifist writer; popular novelist and poet. Unable to find refuge abroad, died at Theresienstadt concentration camp.

• 1952 Marilyn Waring born Ngankuawahia, New Zealand. Feminist professor of politics; 10-year member of parliament, served on Foreign Affairs Committee; led movement to make nation nuclear-free, 1982; critic of economics in which war is most profitable, while women's unpaid work is not counted.

• 1960 Katrina vanden Heuvel born New York, NY. Editor & publisher of The Nation; voiced early opposition to Iraq War.

Women's peacemaking on this day

• Feast day of St. Justina of Padua

• 1918 Following the failed passage of the Nineteenth Amendment, the National Women's Party marched on the Capitol.

• 1931 Maria Montessori met Gandhi in London.

• 1990 Benedictine nun Katherine Howard circulated Universal Declaration of Nonviolence.

• 1990 Sandra Boston led 19 women in "Hearts Across the Gulf," Greenfield, MA.

• 2002 Global Women’s Peace Initiative first met UN building, Geneva.

• 2006 Chechen war opponent Anna Politkovskaya assassinated.

• 2013 Margaretta D’Arcy arrested at Shannon Airport for peaceful die-in protesting American use of airfield as refueling site for Afghanistan-bound warplanes.

October 8

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.

October 9

Women peacemakers born today

• 1885 Edith Terry Bremer born Hamilton, NY (d. 1964). Immigration expert; founded International Institute, a movement for cultural pluralism with efforts towards protection of immigrant girls, 1910.

• 1930 Felicia Langer born Tarnow, Poland. Israeli human rights attorney for Palestinians; recipient of Right Livelihood award, 1990.

• 1943 Svetlana Sotiroff MacDonald born Geneva, Switzerland. Canadian; Quaker pacifist; human rights lawyer; gay rights advocate.

• 1949 Daniela Dahn born Berlin, Germany. German journalist and peace writer.

• 1950 Jody Williams born Brattleborough, VT. Awarded Nobel Peace Prize for landmine abolition, 1997; advocates abolition of all nuclear weapons.

• 1969 Trine Pertou Mach born Bredal, Denmark. Danish politician; ; peace activist; Socialist member of Parliament, 2012-15, foreign affairs committee. Expert on Middle East where she worked, 2001-06.

Women's peacemaking on this day

• 1983 Women's Peace Camp started with Hunger Walk, Ann Arbor, MI.

• 1991 Belgrade Women in Black led by Staša Zajović began protest against war. “Always disobedient to patriarchy, war, nationalism, and militarism.”

• 2007 Yoko Ono dedicated the Imagine Peace Tower, Viday, Iceland.

• 2011 Yemeni women marched in three cities to celebrate Tawakkol Karman's Nobel Prize.

• 2012 In Mingora, Pakistan, the Taliban boarded a school bus and shot 14-year-old student Malala Yousafzai in the head for her defense of female education.

• 2013 WoMin founded at Women’s Jail, Constitution Hill in Johannesburg.

• 2015 UN published “Preventing Conflict: a Global Study” on the failure to use women peacemakers. “United Nations must take the lead in stopping the process of militarization and militarism that began in 2001 in an ever-increasing cycle of conflict. The normalization of violence at the local, national and international levels must cease. Networks of women peacebuilders and peacemakers must be expanded.”

• 2016 “Always Disobedient! Still on the Streets!” Serbian Women in Black celebrated 25th anniversary.

• 2016 Italian Women in Black held peace march Perugia to Assisi. “Get War out of History!”

October 10

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.

October 11

Women peacemakers born today

• 1874 Mary Heaton Vorse born New York, NY (d. 1966). Journalist; novelist and poet; labor organizer; Socialist and pacifist. Opposed World War I; co-founder of Pacifist Women's Party, 1915; delegate and reporter at International Congress of Women at The Hague, 1915.

• 1884 Eleanor Roosevelt born Manhattan, NY (d. 1962). Internationalist; drafter of UN Human Rights Declaration, 1948; Chair of UN Commission on Human Rights, 1947-51; US delegate to UN, 1946, 1949-52, 1961.

• 1911 María Adela Gard de Antokoletz (d. 2002). Argentine human rights activist; one of 14 founders of Mothers of May Plaza; vice president.

• 1913 Lilo Ramdohr born Aschersleben, Saxony. Member of White Rose nonviolent resistance to Hitler; twice arrested.

• 1959 Ana Raffai born Zagreb, Yugoslavia. Catholic theologian; Croatian peacemaker; nonviolence trainer at Center for Peace Studies. Co-organized ecumenical prayers for peace, 1994; Nobel Peace Prize nominee, 2005.

Women's peacemaking on this day

• Feast Day of Blessed Mary Soledad (1826-87). Founder of Handmaids of Mary, Serving the Sick Madrid, 1851. Last words: "Children, live together in peace and harmony."

• 1999 Mary Banotti of Ireland appointed UNFPA Goodwill Ambassador for right to family planning.

• 2002 Peace activist Shadon Abu Hijla killed by Israeli machine guns at Nablus.

• 2004 International Council of 13 Indigenous Grandmothers convened for the first time, Phoenicia, NY.

• 2009 In San Francisco, two women interrupted Tiger Woods at President’s Cup golf tournament with banners “President Obama—End Bush’s War” & “End the Afghan Quagmire.”

• 2012 First International Day of the Girl Child, as established by UN.

• 2016 Annette Klapstein and Emily Johnston shut down Enbridge tar sands pipeline, Leonard, MN.

October 12

Women peacemakers born today

• 1859 Diana Agabeg Apcar (née Gayane Aghabekyan) born Rangoon, Burma (d. 1937). One of first women diplomats, appointed Armenian envoy to Japan 1920; secured Japan’s recognition; anti-imperialist writer on Armenian genocide.

• 1912 Mahala Ashley Dickerson born Montgomery, AL (d. 2007). African-American; Quaker; lawyer; human rights activist in Alabama and Alaska.

• 1930 Marian Franz born Newton, KS (d. 2006). Mennonite; tax resister; founder of Peace Tax Fund, 1982; Conscience and Peace Tax International, 1994.

• 1943 Joyce Ladner born Battles, MS. Sociologist; acting President of Howard University; Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee organizer, 1960s; authority on Tanzanian women.

• 1948 Wendy Jean Chamberlin born Bethesda, MD. US Ambassador to Laos, 1996-99; US Ambassador to Pakistan, 2001-02; acting head of UN High Commission for Refugees, 2005.

• 1961 Janet Cherry born Cape Town, South Africa. South African white opponent of Apartheid; underground ANC; Secretary-General National Union of South African Students (NUSAS) 1982; joined Black Sash 1984; led End Conscription Campaign “Troops Out” 1985-88; detained without charges each year 1981, 1985-88; house arrest 1989; trainer for Centre for Nonviolent Action and Strategies (CANVAS) Belgrade, professor after liberation.

Women's peacemaking on this day

• 1913 At the border to Volksrust, South African authorities arrested Fatima Mehtab and her mother, Hanifabai, for taking part in Gandhi's satyagraha civil resistance, and jailed them for 3 months.

• 1914: Premiere of Katrina Trask’s antiwar play “In the Vanguard”.

• 1915 Edith Cavell executed for hiding British wounded, Brussels. "Patriotism is not enough; I must have no hatred or bitterness for anyone."

• 1969 Nurse Lt. Susan Schnall dropped antiwar leaflets from plane over Calif. Military base. "End the war now, bring our boys home—bring our boys home alive."

• 1978 Disarmament advocate Karin Söder named first woman to serve as Foreign Minister of Sweden.

• 2013 In Ecuador, over 100 women of 7 tribes departed Puyo on the Women’s Mobilization for Life March, to the capital city of Quito to protest oil drilling in the Amazon.

• 2013 Genny Bove was arrested for posting “Free Bradley Manning” banners on British highways; case later dropped.

October 13

Women peacemakers born today

• 1808 Caroline Weston born Weymouth, MA (d. 1882). Pioneering supporter of world's first nonviolence society, Boston, 1838; abolitionist; school mistress.

• 1881 Eugénie Cotton born Soubise, Charente-Maritime, France  (d. 1967). French scientist, feminist, peace advocate; founding president pacifist Women’s International Democratic Federation (WIDF) Paris 1945, dedicated to peace, anti-fascism, anti-imperialism; Resistance to Nazis WWII; arrested for resistance to draft for Vietnam War 1950; opposed Algerian War; Stalin Peace Prize 1951; World Peace Council gold medal 1961.

• 1901 Edith Sampson born Pittsburgh, PA (d. 1971). American diplomat; first African-American delegate to UN, 1950; first African-American judge, 1962.

• 1935 Mary Hamilton Wesley born Cedar Rapids, IA (d. 2002). Freedom Rider; led resistance in Parchman Prison; second female CORE Field Secretary, 1961; first female CORE Southern Regional Director, 1963. Miss Mary case won in Supreme Court, 1963.

• 1944 Charlotte Bunch born Artesia, NM. Feminist; opponent of Vietnam War; founder of Center for Women's Global Leadership, 1989; Human rights advocate at UN.

Women's peacemaking on this day

• 1905 Start of militant phase of British suffrage movement. Christabel Pankhurst and Annie Kenney interrupted Prime Minister: "Will the Liberal Government give votes to women?"

• 1908 “Rush on Parliament” by suffragists met by 5,000 police.

• 1922 Grace Abbott appointed first unofficial US representative to League of Nations, Geneva.

• 1962 Helen Joseph became the first person sentenced to house arrest under the South African Sabotage Act.

• 1975 Whina Cooper led nonviolent protest for Maori rights at New Zealand parliament.

• 2007 Protest in Shanghai by US winners of Victoria Cup Bridge World Championship.

• 2008 Heartbeat for Peace drum gathering at Elipse by White House by 13 Indigenous grandmothers and Turtle Women Rising.

• 2011 Alli McCracken arrested at Capitol for sign: "Fund My Education, Not Your Wars."

• 2012 Maya Evans completed an eight-day, 90-mile Drones Peace Walk from the Elbit factory to RAF Waddington, England's first armed drone base.

October 14

Women peacemakers born today

• 1856 Violet Paget born Boulogne, France (d. 1935). British internationalist; pacifist author under the pseudonym Vernon Lee; lesbian; suffragist. Supported Hague Women's Peace Congress and the founding of WILPF, 1915.

• 1906 Hannah Arendt born Hanover, Germany (d. 1975). Political philosopher; defender of civil disobedience and nonviolence; critic of Vietnam War.

• 1930 Mary Louise Defender Wilson born Shields, ND. Native American (Dakota) activist; teller of stories of understanding other cultures.

• 1953 Amsatou Sow Sidibé born Dakar, Senegal. Professor and politician. President of Rafet, the African Network for Promotion of Working Women. Presidential candidate, 2013. Nobel Peace Prize nominee, 2005.

• 1956 Rosalina Tuyuc Velásquez born San Juan Comalapa, Chimaltenango, Guatemala. Guatemalan indigenous Kaqchikel Mayan activist; founded National Association of Guatemalan Widows (CONAVIGUA) 1988; elected to Congress 1995; headed National Reparations Commission 2004; Niwano Peace Prize 2012.

• 1974 Natalie Maines born Lubbock, TX. Lead singer of country group Dixie Chicks; protested Iraq War.

Women's peacemaking on this day

• 1832 Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society founded.

• 1939 Women's Peace March, Liverpool.

• 1967 Joan Baez arrested in Vietnam War protest at Oakland Induction Center; sentenced to 10 days in prison.

• 1982 Greenham women issued historic circular letter to close base.

• 2015 UN Global Study on Women, Peace and Security launched.

October 15

Women peacemakers born today

• 1830 Helen Hunt Jackson born Amherst, MA (d. 1885). Poet and author; defender of Native American rights; opposed Indian wars.

• 1876 Teresa Billington-Greig born Preston, Lancashire (d. 1964). British nonviolent activist and thinker; self-described, "a feminist, a suffragist and a rebel"; founder of Women's Freedom League, 1907; held in Holloway Prison; fined for returning policeman's blow, 1906.

• 1893 Rae Luckock born Arthur, Ontario (d. 1972). Canadian peace activist; social reformer; feminist. One of first women elected to provincial legislature 1943; first president Congress of Canadian Women, promoting friendship and visits to USSR and China, 1950.

• 1923 Sally-Alice Thompson born Missouri. Peace activist. Member of Raging Grannies and Vets for Peace Albuquerque. Protested at President Bush’s ranch, Crawford, Texas, 2005.

• 1959 Christine Christopherson born Darwin, Australia. Aboriginal artist. Arrested for trespassing on aboriginal land at Jabiluka uranium mine, 1999; jailed 12 days and compensated.

Women's peacemaking on this day

• Feast Day of St. Theresa (1515-82). "If we neither possess nor strive to obtain this peace at home, we shall never find it abroad."

• 1915 Manifesto of Women at the Hague issued. "Our mission was to place before belligerent and neutral alike the resolutions of the International Congress of Women held at The Hague in April; especially to place before them the definite method of a conference of neutral nations as an agency of continuous mediation for the settlement of the war."

• 1927 Eleanor Roosevelt: "The time to prepare for world peace is during the time of peace and not war."

• 1967 67 women arrested in Stop the Draft protest at Oakland induction center, including Joan Baez, her mother, and children's author Emma Sterne; they were sentenced to 10 days.

• 1967 Florence Beaumont immolated herself in Vietnam protest at Los Angeles federal building.

• 1977 Mothers of the Plaza delivered petition of 24,000 signatures protesting the disappeared in Buenos Aires.

• 1999 Sonia Picado of Costa Rica appointed chair of UN Human Rights investigation of Kosovo.

• 2000 NOW's World March for Women, Washington DC.

• 2009 Code Pink leader Jodie Evans spoke truth about Afghan War to President Obama, San Francisco.

• 2015 PeaceWomen Around the Globe sponsored 10 Peace Tables on 3 continents.

October 16

Women peacemakers born today

• 1874 Bessie M. Rischbieth born Adelaide, Australia 1874 (d. 1967). Australian social reformer and feminist leader; peace activist; theosophist. Delegate to League of Nations, 1935. Witnessed and supported suffragist struggle, London, 1908. Led protests against abuse of aborigines. Blocked bulldozers in environmental protest at Narrows Bridge, Perth, 1963.

• 1905 Dorothy Hutchinson born Middletown, CT (d. 1984). Quaker pacifist; WILPF president, 1965-8; author of Peace in Vietnam; World Federalist; founded Peace Now Movement, 1943.

• 1953 Elisabeth Reusse-Decrey born Switzerland. Psychotherapist working with international Conciliation Resources; leader of World Organisation Against Torture. Founded Geneva Call to coordinate international action against landmines, 1998; President of Swiss Parliament 2000; Nobel Peace Prize nominee, 2005.

• 1969 Lisa Schirch born Bluffton, OH. Mennonite Professor of Peacebuilding; author of women’s peacemaking manual 2004; director of 3P Human Security 2007; Director of Human Security Alliance for Peacebuilding.

Women's peacemaking on this day

• Feast of St. Hedwig, Duchess of Silesia (1174-1243).

• 1965 Fifth Avenue Parade against Vietnam War organized by Norma Becker.

• 1986 Joint Statement on Peace by US/USSR Religious Women Exchange, Moscow.

• 2000 Joyce & Emma Katzberg arrested in Newport for "No More Nuclear Weapons" protest.

• 2002: Nonviolent victory of Palestinian village of Yasuf winning protection from settler attacks, won with assistance of International Women’s Peace Service.

• 2008 WOZA leaders Jenni Williams and Magodonga Mahlangu arrested in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe for protest at denial of food aid.

• 2011 Azizah Othman killed in Taiz, Yemen, in women's nonviolent protest.

• 2012 Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein and running mate Cheri Honkala were arrested at Hofstra University for attempting to enter the second presidential debate.

October 17

Women peacemakers born today

• 1917 Marsha Hunt born Chicago, IL. Actress; internationalist; leader of UN Association; protested House Un-American Activities, 1947; blacklisted despite lack of any communist association.

• 1927 Corinne Willinger born Bronx, NY. Granny for peace whose 78th birthday present was protest at NY recruitment center 2005; led war toy protest at Toys-R-Us New York 2006.

• 1929 Nirmala Deshpande born Nagpur, Maharashtra, India (d. 2008). Gandhian social reformer; author; member of Indian Parliament, 1997-99, 2004-08. Joined Vinoba Bhave's Bhoodan land reform movement, 1952; embarked upon 24,000-mile padayatra ("journey on foot") to spread Gandhi's message; led peace marches in Punjab and Kashmir; honored by both Pakistan and India for peace efforts. Led nonviolent peace effort on Tibet, 1997; created Gandhi Peace Center Kingsway Camp, Delhi, 2004; Nobel Peace Prize nominee, 2005.

• 1945 Graca Machel born Incadine, Mozambique. Spearheaded UN report on child soldiers, 1996.

• 1948 Ellen Margrethe Loj born Godesby, Denmark. Danish peacemaker; delegate to UN, 2001-7; ambassador to Israel, 1987-92; UN Special Representative to Liberia, 2007.

• 1948 Diane Wilson born Spindrift, TX. Shrimp fishing captain; self-styled "eco-outlaw"; Vietnam-veteran medic. Began environmental protests, 1998; protest fast against Bhopal leak; arrested for posting banner on Dow Chemical tower, sentenced to 120 days jail, 2002; co-founder of Code Pink, protest against Iraq War; protest US Senate, BP meeting London, 2010.

• 1973 Kshama Sawant born Pune, India. American social activist; economics professor. Socialist member of Seattle City Council, 2014-present.

Women's peacemaking on this day

• 2002 Prof. Barbara Wien forced to resign from US Institute of Peace for advising against military response to 9/11.

• 2002 Women of International Women’s Peace Service nonviolently interposed themselves between armed settlers of Tapuach and unarmed Palestinians.

• 2005 Granny Peace Brigade founded. Eighteen grandmothers tried to enlist, Times Square. "We will not be silent."

• 2010 1,700 women led by First Lady Olive Kabila marched against war rape, Bukava, Congo.

• 2011 Tibetan Buddhist nun Tenzin Wangmo, 20, immolated herself.

• 2012 Nasrin Sotoudeh fasted 49 days in prison thru December.

• 2013 Mi’kmaq First Nation woman Annie Clair was arrested for chaining herself to fracking equipment, Elsipogtog, New Brunswick.

October 18

Women peacemakers born today

• 1873 Edith Waterworth born Castleton, Lancashire, England (d. 1957). Australian peace leader and women’s rights advocate. WILPF leader.

• 1920 Melina Mercouri born Athens, Greece (d. 1994). Anti-militarist; actress; singer. Performed at founding of Amnesty International USA; leader of Greek resistance, exiled internally.

• 1924 Marie-Therese Danielsson born Le Thillot, Vosges, France (d. 2003). Ethnologist; recipient of Right Livelihood Award for campaign against French nuclear tests in Polynesia, 1991; leader of WILPF Polynesia.

• 1946 Penny Wensley born Toowoomba, New South Wales. Australian diplomat; first Australian female representative to UN, 1997.

• 1952 Haya Rashed Al-Khalifa born Bahrain. Third female president of UN General Assembly, 2006; first female Bahraini ambassador, 1997; leading lawyer.

Women's peacemaking on this day

• 1991 Laila Zana arrested for advocating Kurdish coexistence, Cizre, Turkey.

• 1994 Winona LaDuke chained herself to truck axle in environmental protest, Los Angeles

• 2011 Jaleela al-Salman re-arrested after 149-day prison sentence for helping wounded nonviolent protesters in Bahrain.

• 2011 Naomi Wolf arrested in nonviolent march on NY sidewalk connected to Occupy protest.

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)”

October 20

Women peacemakers born today

• 1873 Frances Alice Kellor born Columbus, OH (d. 1952). Internationalist; progressive reformer; expert on conflict resolution; Code of International Arbitration, 1931; advocate for the outlawing of war; founded National League for Protection of Colored Women, 1906; advocate for immigrants' rights.

• 1873 Nellie Letitia McClung born Chatsworth, Ontario, Canada (d. 1951). Canadian suffragist; novelist; legislator; delegate to League of Nations, 1938.

• 1886 Florence Brewer Boeckel born Trenton, NJ (d. 1965). Suffragist; Director of National Center for Prevention of War; prolific writer on peace and international organizations; handbook on peacemaking, 1928; delegate to the World Peace Congress in Brussels, 1936.

• 1920 Janet Rosenberg Jagan born Chicago, IL. Socialist; jailed for Guyana's independence, 1954; UN delegate 1993; awarded Gandhi Peace Prize, 2003; first female president of Guyana, 1997.

• 1926 Dorothy Rupert born Meadow Grove, NE. Colorado legislator, 1986-2001; legislated against female genital mutilation. Active in WAND and WILPF, opposing Vietnam War and nuclear weapons; Nobel Peace Prize nominee, 2005.

• 1947 Patricia Verdugo born Santiago, Chile (d. 2008). Journalist and author of 10 books chronicling Pinochet’s human rights abuses. Co-founded magazine Hoy (“Today”), critical of the ruling dictatorship, 1977. Co-founded the Women's Movement for Life, protesting human rights abuses, 1983. Nobel Peace Prize nominee, 2005.

• 1964 Karen Tse born Cleveland, OH. International human rights lawyer; UN Judicial Mentor to Cambodia, 1994; founded International Bridges to Justice, 2000.

Women's peacemaking on this day

• 1917 Alice Paul began serving a seven-month sentence at Occoquan Prison.

• 1965 Helen Chavez arrested for unlawful assembly in civil disobedience of farm workers protest, Delano, CA.

• 1989 Donna Lee Hirsch arrested for civil disobedience in protest against Trident II nukes, West Valley, UT.

• 1990 Stephanie Atkinson refused call to reserves in Gulf War, New York.

• 1999 Greenock Judge Margaret Gimblett acquitted three women for damage to Trident sub lab, Loch Gail.