September 10

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Women peacemakers born today

  • 1809 Jenny d’Héricourt (née Poinsard) born Besançon, Franche-Comté, France (d. 1875). French revolutionary feminist and medical practitioner. Formed Universal Woman's League for Woman's Rights and Universal Peace.

  • 1883 Mabel Vernon born Wilmington, DE (d. 1975). Quaker pacifist; suffragist speaker and organizer; one of first six arrested in White House protests, 1917; organized WILPF Peace Caravan, 1931; directed Peoples Mandate against War, 1935; promoted Good Neighbor policy in Latin America; lobbied against UN veto, 1945.

  • 1905 Rose Schorr Rosenberg born Hodmezovasarhely, Hungary (d.?). Freedom Rider arrested Jackson MS 1961; held in notorious Parchman Prison; attorney who worked for peace with communist Cuba and China.

  • 1934 Shelagh Foreman. Peace Abbey Courage of Conscience award for co-founding Mass. Peace Action for Nuclear Freeze; opposed Iraq War.

  • 1938 Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz born San Antonio, TX. Radical feminist history professor; Marxist revolutionary; opposed Vietnam War, aid to Contras, and Iraq wars.

  • 1941 Margaret Winonah Beamer-Myers born Cleveland, OH. 19-year-old student Freedom Rider arrested and imprisoned, Jackson, MS, 1961; only Rider to serve full 6-month sentence at Parchman Prison.

  • 1952 Medea Benjamin born New York. Founded anti-war Code Pink, 2002; co-founded United for Peace & Justice, 2004; began Global Exchange, 1988; economist 10 years with FAO in Africa; Green Party candidate for Senate from California, 2000.

  • 1952 Jacqueline "Jackie" Cabasso born New York. Anti-nuclear weapons activist. A "founding mother" of Abolition 2000 Global Network to Eliminate Nuclear Weapons, 1995. Worked with World Court Project on legal status of nuclear weapons, 1995. Arrested 50+ times for nonviolent resistance.

  • 1963 Monica Frassoni born Veracruz, Mexico. Secretary General of Young European Federalists, 1985-87. Italian member of European Parliament, 1999-2009; co-chair European Green Party/European Free Alliance, 2009-. Opponent of nuclear weapons; proponent of nonviolence.

Women's peacemaking on this day

  • 1720 First Chipko tree-hugging: Amrita Devi and 3 daughters gave lives to protect Khejarli's mimosa trees. "If a tree is saved even at the cost of one's head, it's worth it."

  • 1901 Emma Goldman arrested Chicago for her alleged role in the assassination of President McKinley; jailed 2 weeks.

  • 1943 In Berlin, Elisabeth von Thadden hosted a tea party for the Solf Circle, a Nazi resistance group. Gestapo informer Paul Reckzeh infiltrated the party, resulting in arrests and the end of the group.

  • 1988 Rosalina Tuyuc Velásquez founded National Association of Guatemalan Widows (CONAVIGUA).

  • 2009 68-year-old fisherwoman Tamiko Takebayashi chained herself to dock at Iwaishima, Japan protesting nuclear plant.