September 1

Women peacemakers born today

• 1791 Lydia Sigourney born Norwich, CT (d. 1865). Popular American "poet laureate of peace"; internationalist; supported abolition of slavery.

• 1813 Mary Grew born Hartford, CT (d. 1895). Leading Garrisonian nonviolent abolitionist woman public speaker and editor; delegate to World's Anti-Slavery Convention London 1840; feminist; 23 years president of Pennsylvania Woman Suffrage Association; 34 years Secretary of Female Anti-Slavery Society; opposed Mexican War; opposed talk of war over Oregon; saw Civil War caused by "Slave Power" in spite of 30 years efforts of abolitionists to end slavery peacefully.

• 1878 Anne Marie Petersen born Roskilde, Denmark (d. 1951). Danish missionary teacher, close co-worker and critic of Gandhi; founded her own ashram Seva Mandir and girl's school Porto Novo, Tamil Nadu 1921.

• 1882 Sara Bard Field born Cincinnati, OH (d. 1974). Pacifist poet; suffragist leader; Christian Socialist who spent early years in Burma; opposed nuclear weapons.

• 1944 Sai’da Nusseibeh born Jenin, Palestine. Muslim Palestinian leads effort to create dialog between Jews and Palestinians; founded Jewish Arab Dialogue and Education in Europe (JADE)in early 1970s.

Women's peacemaking on this day

• 1875 Helena Blavatsky founded Theosophical Society, New York.

• 1891 Bertha von Suttner made an appeal for peace in the pages of the Neue Freie Presse, leading to the founding of the Austrian Peace Society.

• 1935 Women's Unarmed Uprising against War Swedish peace protest Stockholm.

• 1939 Sophie Scholl asked conscientious objection pledge against war.

• 1973 Helvi Sipila appointed head of International Womens Year.

• 1983 German Women for Peace formed a human chain linking the Russian and American embassies.

• 1992 Sister Elizabeth Walters sentenced for Easter protest against nuclear weapons.

• 1997 Four Greenham women acquitted for cutting Aldermaston fence 1996.

• 2002 Lucinda Marshall issued Feminist Peace Network’s Statement of Conscience: A Feminist Vision For Peace. "We declare our right to live free from aggression and violence. . . We repudiate warlords and praise peacemakers."

• 2006 Opening of the Women’s Peace Coalition conference on “UN Security Council Resolution 1325 – Women, Peace and Security,” Struga, Macedonia. “Not in Our Name! Always disobedient to the militarists, warriors, heroes, patriots. . . ”

• 2014 Women of the No to War, No to NATO network condemned NATO as it held its summit in Newport, Wales. "As women of the No to War, No to NATO international action network we join in wholehearted condemnation of NATO as an aggressive, expansionist, nuclear armed military alliance."

September 2

Women peacemakers born today

• 1811 Mary Anna Longstreth (d. 1884). Quaker absolute pacifist headmistress who founded Quaker girl's school Philadelphia 1829 at age 18; ran it until 1877; promoted Hampton Academy for Indians and Blacks; co-founded world’s first Women's Medical College Philadelphia 1850.

• 1903 Maria Chinchilla Recinos born Las Animas, Asuncion Mita, Guatemala. Girl’s school teacher; "the first martyr" shot to death by mounted soldiers 1944 in nonviolent protest in Guatemala City which led to overthrow of dictator Ubico; dressed in mourning, women called for end to bloodshed.

• 1918 Claire Culhane born Montreal (d. 1996). Nurse; leading Canadian opponent of Vietnam War in "Enough/Assez" campaign; established hospital in Vietnam 1967; 10 day fast for peace 1968; opposed Cold War and atomic bomb; prison abolitionist.

• 1978 Luz Méndez de la Vega born Retalhuleu, Guatemala (d. 2012). Leading literary figure, poet, writer, and actress; peacemaker: only woman negotiator final peace agreement, 1996.

• 1966 Salma Hayek born Coatzacoalcos, Vera Cruz. Mexican actress and producer; leader in opposing violence against women, and UNICEF advocate promoting vaccination.

• 1967 Nora Chengeto Tapiwa born Buhera, Zimbabwe (d. 2014). Zimbabwean community and labor organizer; exiled, 2002; leader of Zimbabwe diaspora; peacemaker in anti-immigrant riots Johannesburg 2008; Joan Kroc peacemaker, 2010.

Women's peacemaking on this day

• 1925 Pattie Hockaday Field appointed first U.S. woman vice consul, Amsterdam.

• 1936 Call to Women, Brussels; seven international women's groups called for women's voices in International Peace Campaign meeting Sept. 3-6.

• 1941 First Conference of Institute of World Organization run by Prof. Laura Puffer Morgan, Washington DC.

• 1983 Grindstone Conference on Women & Militarism, Ontario, Canada.

• 1998 The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda found Jean-Paul Akayesu guilty of war crimes, including the first international conviction for sexual assault as genocide.

• 2007 Peace mission to Chad to stop Darfur violence led by Mary Robinson.

• 2009 50 Mindanao Women met to stop violence to civilians.

• 2014 Ohio University student senate president Megan Marzec poured a bucket of fake blood over her head, protesting Israeli occupation of Gaza.

September 3

Women peacemakers born today

• 1803 Prudence Crandall born Hope Valley, RI (d. 1890). Quaker pacifist. First to admit black students to her Canterbury, CT school, 1833; arrested for violation of Black Law; speaker on abolition and suffrage.

• 1878 Madeleine Vernet born Le Houlme, Normandy (d. 1949). French journalist, poet and teacher; anarchist, militant pacifist who opposed all wars; founded League of Women Against War, 1921; started Volonté de Paix, 1927; promoted conscientious objection.

• 1881 Magda Hoppstock-Huth born Hamburg (d. 1959). Co-founded German WILPF, 1916. Opposed anti-Semitism; defended minorities, 1930s; arrested, 1944, rescued from Fuhlbüttel prison, 1945. In postwar political career, opposed nuclear weapons, Cold War and German remilitarization; advocated total disarmament.

• 1911 Yvonne Dumont (née Fafe) born Paris, France (d. 1986). French Communist politician; active in Resistance WWII; member of postwar Movement for Peace; delegate of pacifist Women’s International Democratic Federation to UNESCO; believed women worked best politically through pacifist protests.

• 1961 Isabelle Ameganvi born Kpalimé, Togo. Togolese lawyer, legislator, and human rights activist. Initiated Lysistrata-style sex strike for Let’s Save Togo campaign, followed by two women’s marches, 2012.

• 1969 Jaine Rose born England. Gloucestershire artist and weaver; self-styled witch. Founded Wool against Weapons Action (AWE); conceived 7-mile-long pink "peace scarf" against Trident missiles from Aldermaston to Burghfield, Berkshire, 2014.

Women's peacemaking on this day

• 1791 Declaration of the Rights of Women by Olympe de Gouges. "Man, are you capable of being just?"

• 1934 Zürich Conference of WILPF organized by German exile Gertrud Baer.

• 1981 Magna Carta of Women, CEDAW, UN Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women became effective.

• 2014 Afghan woman Samira Hamidi protested the lack of women at NATO summit in Wales with a sign reading "TALK TO ME—NOT ABOUT ME"

September 4

Women peacemakers born today

• 1878 Ruth Fry born Highgate, London (d.1962). Quaker writer on peace and nonviolence; relief organizer after World War I, Russian famine 1921; Secretary National Council for the Prevention of War 1926-27; Treasurer London War Resisters’ International 1936-7.

• 1905 Mary Renault born Forest Gate, Essex, London (d. 1983). Historian and writer, leader of Black Sash women's movement against Apartheid.

• 1925 Mary McDonough Harren. Catholic Worker mother founded Peace & Justice House, Wichita, KS. First protest at Kansas military base; opposed Vietnam War, Salvador intervention; protested nuclear waste train.

Women's peacemaking on this day

• 1981 "Women for Life on Earth" arrived at Greenham Common, having marched 120 miles from Cardiff.

• 1989 Three women hammered Trident submarine New London CT.

• 1995 Fourth World Women's Conference Beijing; Women in Black vigiled for "A world safer for women."

• 2010 Kate O'Sullivan tried to make citizen's arrest of Tony Blair as war criminal, Dublin.

September 5

Women peacemakers born today

• 1840 Wilhelmina Sherriff Bain born Edinburgh, Scotland (d. 1944). New Zealand pacifist who opposed Boer War; promoted arbitration and disarmament as alternatives to war; she said she "would live, and die, for Peace" (Dict. New Zealand Bio.); opposed conscription 1909; teacher, feminist, suffragist, poet.

• 1900 Betty Muther Jacob (d. 1993). Quaker "Godmother of Peace Studies" Univ. of Hawaii; founded Matsunaga Institute for Peace 1986, International Center for Democracy; assistant to executive directors of UNRRA, 1945-46, UNICEF, 1947-54.

• 1901 Florence Eldridge born Brooklyn, NY (d. 1988). Celebrated actress, co-founder Congress of American Women (CAW) 1946 opposing Cold War, NATO and a-bomb; CAW was condemned as "Communist hoax" by Congressional un-American activities committee; leaders included wife of Republican governor Gifford Pinchot and Susan B. Anthony II.

• 1913 Georgia Lloyd born Winnetka, IL (d. 1999). Second generation pacifist leader, daughter of Lola Maverick Lloyd; lifelong socialist; author of peace plans through history; led Campaign for World Government 1943-90; co-founder World Federalists 1947; active in WILPF and War Resisters League; NGO observer at UN founding San Francisco 1945.

• 1937 Meg Beresford born London. British campaigner against nuclear weapons. Organizing Secretary for European Nuclear Disarmament (END), 1981-83; General Secretary of Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, 1985-90.

• 1939 Claudette Colvin born Birmingham, AL. As 15-year-old, was first person to refuse to yield bus seat, 1955 Montgomery AL.

• 1939 Ellen Lee Ziskind born Lowell, MA. Freedom Rider arrested Jackson MS 1961; became Boston psychiatric social worker.

• 1948 Benita Ferrero-Waldner born Salzburg, Austria. UN Chief of Protocol 1995; Foreign Minister of Austria 2000; European External Relations Commissioner 2004; key diplomat in release of Bulgarian nurses and Palestinian doctor imprisoned by Libya 2007; peacemaker in Aceh.

Women's peacemaking on this day

• 1981 First Peace Camp established Greenham Common by Women for Life on Earth, lasted two decades.

• 1991 Three women tried for Nagasaki Protest at Westover AFB, Chicopee MA.

• 1995 Hillary Clinton addressed the Beijing Women’s Conference. “[H]uman rights are women's rights. . . And women's rights are human rights.”

• 2001 Maria de los Angeles assassinated Mexico City; City Councilwoman lawyer investigating corruption.

• 2005 Lisa Shannon began the first Run for Congo Women as a solitary 30-mile trail run, Portland.

• 2014 At Cardiff Summit talk, Afghan woman Samira Hamidi protested NATO’s lack of female input with sign: “TALK TO ME NOT ABOUT ME.”

September 6

Women peacemakers born today

• 1839 Leonie Rouzade born Paris, France (d. 1916). French feminist, socialist, writer of utopian novels.

• 1860 Jane Addams born Cedarville, IL (d. 1935). Birthright Quaker; principal founder WILPF; Nobel Peace Prize 1931.

• 1868 Margaret Dreier Robins born Brooklyn, NY (d. 1945). International labor leader who called International Congress of Working Women 1919 DC; opposed Versailles Treaty on feminist grounds.

• 1953 Delia Mamon. Economist. Founder and president, Graines de Paix, for peace education and intercultural peace education, Geneva, 2005.

• 1957 Michaële Jean born Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Governor-General of Canada 2005-10; first woman head of International Francophone Organization 2015; UNESCO Special Envoy for Haiti; nominee for UN Secretary General 2016.

Women's peacemaking on this day

• 1934 WILPF Constitution and Purpose adopted Zürich.

• 1935 People's Mandate to End War launched by WILPF.

• 1964 Nagaland Peace Day negotiated by Marjorie Sykes.

• 1976 Peace People Rally 25,000 Derry, Ireland.

• 1990 Maria Nicoletta Gaida founded Ara Pacis Initiative.

• 1990 Women and Peace Coalition of Israel opposed Gulf War. “Women refuse to accept war as a solution to resolve conflicts.”

• 1991 Women's International Peace University created; first Ovum Pacis by Marcia Mason, Burlington, VT.

September 7

Women peacemakers born today

• 1877 Jeanne Melin born Carignan, Ardennes, France (d. 1964). French novelist and poet; absolute pacifist and feminist; co-founder WILPF; opposed both World Wars and Cold War; founded Association for Peace through Law 1901; advocated peace education 1907; ran for President 1947.

• 1897 Lenore G. Marshall born New York, NY (d. 1971). Jewish novelist, poet and pacifist leader of American Friends Service Committee; co-founded SANE 1956; WILPF activist. Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize supports world peace 1975.

• 1913 Valerie Taylor born Aurora, IL (d. 1997). Lesbian poet and novelist; Socialist; Quaker pacifist; active in WILPF; early protests against Vietnam War.

• 1933 Ela Bhatt born Ahmedabad, India. Indian lawyer; Gandhian leader of SEWA women's social service organization; won Alternative Nobel Prize 1984; Niwano Peace Prize 2010; Indira Gandhi Peace Prize 2011; co-founded Women's World Banking 1979.

• 1964 María Fernanda Espinosa Garces born Salamanca, Spain. Poet and diplomat. Ecuadorian Foreign Minster, 2007; UN Ambassador, 2008-11; Ecuadorian Defense Minister, 2012-present. Closed US base at Manta, 2007; as Permanent Representative to UN, opposed responsibility to protect, 2008; as Defense Minister, promised to close half of military bases and turn them into public places like parks, 2014.

Women's peacemaking on this day

• 1931 Chinese literary scholar Low Kuang-lai became the first non-European woman delegate to the League of Nations.

• 1968 American women's movement re-ignited in 200 woman protest Miss America contest Atlantic City.

• 1975 First call of UNIFEM to change lives of women in lesser developed lands.

• 1996 Wendy Leitner and Claire Miller arrested in Norfolk, VA for protest launching carrier H.S.Truman. "Love your enemies—Don't prepare to kill them!"

• 2007 Tina Richards arrested at White House for Iraq War protest.

September 8

Women peacemakers born today

• 1810 Mary Antoinette Doolittle born New Lebanon, NY (d. 1886). Shaker Eldress and lecturer; wrote War Positively Unchristian.

• 1872 Elizabeth Fisher Read born New Brighton, PA (d. 1943). American international lawyer and suffragist; personal attorney and mentor of Eleanor Roosevelt; life partner of internationalist peace advocate Esther Lape; translated book on World Court; author of International Law and International Relations 1926.

• 1881 Ethel Snowden born Pannal, Harrogate, Yorkshire (d. 1951). British suffragist, feminist orator and author; opposed World War I; led Women's Peace Crusade; founder WILPF 1915; Christian Socialist.

• 1920 Madeleine Rebérioux born Chambéry, Savoy (d. 2005). French historian; Socialist; first woman President of Human Rights League 1991; signed Manifesto of 121 opposing Algerian war and torture 1960; opposed Vietnam War; led UN Decade of Peace & Nonviolence 2000; Called "Enough is Enough!" in appeal for Israeli-Palestinian peace, Dec. 13, 2001.

• 1942 Lady Borton born Washington DC. Quaker hospital administrator with American Friends Service Committee rehabilitation center Quang Ngai, Vietnam 1969-71, and with boat refugees Malaysia 1980; postwar aid Vietnam 1993-95.

Women's peacemaking on this day

• 1923 Alexandra Kollontai was appointed Soviet ambassador to Norway.

• 1944 German martyr Elizabeth von Thadden beheaded by Nazis Berlin for treason 5 pm; opposed war as member of Fellowship of Reconciliation. Last words: "Put an end, Lord, to all our sufferings."

• 1994 Three women wove shut the gate of ELF submarine system Republic MI; Martha Hayward and Dominican sisters Carol Gilbert and Ardeth Platte.

• 2001 1000 Women for Peace at UN presented petition of Latin American women.

• 2009 Asia-Pacific Women's Conference on Peace & Security, Manila through 10th.

• 2015: Michaela Anang interrupted Dick Cheney’s opposition to Iran treaty: “We want peace and not war!”

September 9

Women peacemakers born today

• 1806 Sarah Mapps Douglass born Philadelphia, PA (d. 1882). Black abolitionist educator and headmistress; co-founder Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society 1833; led desegregation of Quaker meetings, and promoted education of black women.

• 1872 Sarala Devi Chaudhurani born Jorasanko, Calcutta (d. 1945). Indian nationalist leader, "Bengal's Joan of Arc"; favorite of Gandhi; feminist; singer and composer; polyglot writer; teacher and social reformer (dowry); Theosophist.

• 1885 Clare Frewen Sheridan born London (d. 1970). Pacifist sculptress and writer; made bust of Gandhi (1951); sculpture Woman Leading a Blind Soldier.

• 1931 Olga del Valle Márquez born Villa la Trinidad, Tucumán, Argentina (d. 2005). Founded and led Mothers of the Plaza in Jujuy. Nobel Peace Prize nominee, 2005.

• 1934 Sonia Sanchez born Birmingham, AL. Black poet and playwright; civil rights leader of CORE; pioneer professor of Black studies 1967; Lucretia Mott Award of Nat. Endowment for the Arts 1984; won WILPF Peace & Freedom award 1989; leader of Madre; arrested 2006 for protest at recruiting for Iraq.

• 1937 Sarah Harder born Chicago, IL. President National Peace Foundation 2000; feminist professor; president AAUW 1985-9; President of Women for Meaningful Summit encouraging end of Cold War 1990; co-chaired the 1990 Soviet-American Women's Summit; leader of International Federation of University Women and NOW; promoted UN peacemaking and gender equality; peacemaking in Caucasus 1992. Coined term "feminization of power."

Women's peacemaking on this day

• 1980 Molly Rush and Anne Montgomery co-founded Plowshares in King of Prussia protest.

• 1989 First Conference of Women in Black, Kibbutz Hotel, Jerusalem.

• 2000 Five nuns of "Sacred Earth & Space Plowshares" arrested Peterson CO AFB for hammering fighter plane.

• 2007 Cape Town Mayor Helen Zille arrested for protest against drug dealers.

• 2007 Soka Gakkai Women's Peace Committee (WPC) hosted "Culture of Peace Forum for Mothers and Children," Tokyo.

• 2015 Seven Hawaiian women arrested for blocking road to sacred mountain Mauna Kea.

September 10

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.

September 11

Women peacemakers born today

• 1796 Eugenie Niboyet born Montpellier, France (d. 1883). French feminist editor; Christian Socialist; her first book against death penalty 1836; first European peace journal 1844; founded first continental peace society LIPL Geneva 1867; sponsored peace essay contests.

• 1850 Mary Elizabeth Lease born Ridgway, PA (d. 1933). Populist lawyer, orator, suffragist, pacifist; Vice President World Peace Congress 1893; opposed militarism.

• 1877 Rosika Schwimmer born Budapest (d. 1948). Hungarian internationalist and pacifist, feminist and suffragist editor, lecturer; first woman diplomat 1918; founded pacifist Hungarian Feminist Assn. 1904; co-founded WILPF Hague 1915; led Women’s Peace Party 1914; cofounder Campaign for World Government 1937; World Peace Prize 1937; nominated for Nobel Prize 1947.

• 1885 Denise Moran Savineau born Paris, France (d. after 1946). Journalist. French critic of colonial treatment of women. Ran forum of World Committee of Women against War and Fascism, 1935.

• 1895 Mercedes M. Randall born Guatemala City (d. 1977). Peace historian and leader of WILPF; wrote first American account of Holocaust 1942; organized nomination of Emily Balch for Nobel Prize 1946; wrote her biography.

• 1897 Hertha Kraus born Prague, Bohemia (d. 1968). German Jewish professor of social welfare; Quaker pacifist; early member of German FOR; exiled 1933.

• 1924 Agnes Baker Pilgrim born Lodgson, OR. Takelma elder tribal member. Designated "Living Treasure" by Confederated Tribes of Stiletz. Founding president, International Council of 13 Indigenous Grandmothers, 2004. After 140 years, revived Sacred Salmon Ceremony.

• 1941 Minnijean Brown-Trickey born Little Rock, AR. Civil rights activist. One of Little Rock Nine who desegregated Central High School, 1957. Exiled during Vietnam War to Canada where she supported First Nation issues; Interior Dept. Deputy Assistant Secretary for Diversity under Clinton administration, 1999-2001. Awarded Congressional Gold Medal, 1999.

• 1953 Audrey Eu born Hong Kong. Lawyer; head of Hong Kong Bar Association. Leader of Occupy Central with Love and Peace (OCLP), a nonviolent direct action movement for free elections. Elected member of legislature, 2000-12; founding chair of Civic Party, 2006-12.

• 1969 Edda Manga Otalora born Bogota, Colombia. Swedish historian; peace activist; anti-militarist. Imprisoned in Gaza Freedom Flotilla when nine were killed, 2010.

Women's peacemaking on this day

• 1970 Women's Pentagon Action established against imperialism, racism, nukes, military spending.

• 1971 NOW conference Los Angeles called for end of all war.

• 2002 First Peace Path Baltimore by Women in Black in memory of twin towers destruction.

• 2002 Prof. Barbara Wien advised US Institute for Peace against military response to 9/11. “I would hope that the United States would not resort to military retaliation and that we need to do a great deal of soul-searching in this country about how U.S. policies might have contributed to the emergence of terrorist policies."

September 12

Women peacemakers born today

• 1838 Elizabeth Spence Watson born Newcastle-on-Tyne, England (d. 1919). Quaker absolute pacifist; suffragist. Opposed all wars, including World War I.

• 1859 Florence Kelley (d. 1932). Quaker-raised social reformer; co-founded WILPF, NAACP, Womens Peace Party; opposed World War I; anti-imperialist; Socialist; suffragist; peacemaking colleague of Jane Addams.

• 1876 Elisabeth Freeman born Chesterfield, Derbyshire, England (d. 1942). Anglo-American militant suffragist and pacifist who opposed World War I; organized spectacular suffrage protests including leading a yellow gypsy wagon in DC; NAACP Anti-Lynching Campaign in Texas 1916; first women’s train on presidential campaign 1916.

• 1881 Constanze Hallgarten born Leipzig (d. 1969). Leading German Jewish pacifist; WILPF founding member; leader of German Peace Cartel (DFK); organized Munich Peace Exhibition 1927; exiled by Hitler.

• 1897 Irène Joliot-Curie born Paris, France (d. 1956). Nobel Chemistry Prize 1930; Cold War pro-Communist pacifist; engaged feminist; suffragette; leader of World Women’s Committee Against War and Fascism 1934; Resistance to Nazis WWII; leader of pacifist Women’s International Democratic Federation (WIDF); supported Stockholm Appeal for Peace 1950; signed Russell-Einstein Call for Peace of Scientists 1955. Opposed use of nuclear material for bombs.

• 1940 Linda Gray born Santa Monica, CA. Nonviolent activist actress, opposed to war; decade as UN Goodwill Ambassador 1998-2007, including mission to Nicaragua on childrens' health; chaired UNFPA's Face to Face Campaign, to raise awareness of women denied basic human rights, including reproductive health care and family planning.

Women's peacemaking on this day

• 1919 Women’s Peace Society founded New York City by Fanny Garrison Villard.

• 1984 First National Women's Conference to Prevent Nuclear War, Washington DC, speaker Joanne Woodward.

• 1997 Mary Robinson took office as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

September 13

Women peacemakers born today

• 1866 Lutie Eugenia Stearns born Stoughton, MA (d. 1943). Quaker pacifist librarian who founded the travelling library; lecturer for world peace; promoted Peace Flag.

• 1879 Annie Kenney born Springhead, Yorkshire, England (d. 1953). Militant working-class suffragist whose arrest for heckling Churchill marked start of militant phase 1905; jailed 3 days; 12 later arrests and force-feeding 1913; opposed World War I.

• 1945 Gertrude Mongella born Ukerewe Island, Lake Victoria, Tanzania. Secretary General of UN Conference on Women, Beijing 1995; UN Undersecretary for women 1995-96; diplomat High Commissioner to India 1991-2; first President Pan-African Parliament 2004-09; cabinet minister 1985-90, educator.

• 1960 Suzanne Jabbour born Ardeh, Zghorta, Lebanon. Lebanese human rights activist; psychologist; co-founded Restart Center for Rehabilitation of Victims of Violence and Torture 1996; Council of Europe North South Prize 2013; President of International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims (IRCT) 2012; vice chair UN committee on torture; aided refugees from Syrian war.

Women's peacemaking on this day

• 1972 Women Strike for Peace protest Wall Street, New York.

• 1987 Grandmothers for Peace protest at Nevada nuclear test site, led by Barbara Wiedner, leading to arrest.

• 1993 Oslo Peace Accords mediated by Norwegian diplomat Mona Juul.

• 2011 First meeting of Asia-Pacific Regional Advisory Group on Women, Peace and Security, Bangkok.

• 2016 24 women in white arrested in peaceful protest Kampala, Uganda.

September 14

Women peacemakers born today

• 1857 Alice Stone Blackwell born Orange, NJ (d. 1950). Suffragist journalist; second generation woman peacemaker, daughter of pacifist Lucy Stone; Socialist social reformer; active in American Peace Society, League of Women Voters, and NAACP; promoted human rights of Armenians; translated works of minorities.

• 1883 Margaret Sanger born Corning, NY (d. 1966). Nurse; birth control pioneer who organized international population conferences NY 1925, Geneva 1927, Zurich 1930; first President of International Planned Parenthood 1953.

• 1921 Constance Baker Motley born New Haven, CT (d. 2005). First black woman federal judge 1966; civil rights lawyer who represented Martin Luther King Jr., NAACP and Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee; key lawyer in Brown vs. Board of Ed.

• 1935 Kate Millett born St. Paul, MN. Feminist author who led United Women's Contingent in March against Vietnam War 1971; influential book of second wave of feminism Sexual Politics 1970 called for social revolution without violence or counter-revolution; arrested and deported from Iran 1979.

• 1941 Joan Trumpauer Mulholland born Washington DC. Freedom Rider student arrested 1961 Jackson MS and imprisoned two months in notorious Parchman Prison; Freedom Summer organizer 1964.

Women's peacemaking on this day

• 1510 Death of St. Catherine of Genoa.

• 1906 First Satyagraha campaign arrest, Gandhian woman Punia, Volksrust, Transvaal.

• 1983 First nonviolent protest against Pinochet, Santiago by Elena Bergen and others.

• 1988 Dolores Huerta severely beaten by San Francisco police.

• 2001 Rep. Barbara Lee alone opposed Iraq War. "I am convinced that military action will not prevent further acts of international terrorism against the United States."

• 2010 Michelle Bachelet appointed head of UN agency for gender equality.

September 15

Women peacemakers born today

• 1939 Elizabeth Odio Benito born Punta Arenas, Costa Rica (d. 1993). International justice and human rights defender; Yugoslav War Crimes tribunal 1993-8; vice president International Criminal Court 2003; instrumental in ruling that rape is torture; judge in conviction of Thomas Lubanga for war crime of recruiting child soldiers 2012.

• 1955 Xue Hanqin born Shanghai. Fourth woman justice of World Court 2010; Director General Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs 199-2003; Ambassador to Netherlands 2002-8; first Chinese ambassador to ASEAN 2008; Chairman of the International Law Commission 2010; leader of Asian Society of International Law.

• 1963 Lidia Yusupova born Grozny, Chechnya. Russian human rights activist, called "the bravest woman in Europe" (BBC) who exposed disaster of Chechen war; Nobel Prize nominee; Ennals Award for human rights defenders 2004, Rafto Prize for human rights 2005.

Women's peacemaking on this day

• 1906 Satyagrahi Punia tried and rearrested for nonviolent protest.

• 1913 Kasturba Gandhi led civil disobedience in final phase of Satyagraha.

• 1953 Vijaya Pandit elected first woman President of UN General Assembly.

• 1963 Four girls killed in civil rights movement 16th Street Church, Birmingham AL; one 11 years old, others 14.

• 1971 First Greenpeace action ship sailed from Vancouver for Kamchatka to protest nuclear tests.

• 1979 Over 1000 women met Cologne in Women’s Congress Against Nuclear Power and Militarism.

• 1993 Gabrielle McDonald appointed first woman war crimes judge by UN General Assembly.

• 2001 Rep. Barbara Lee cast only vote against use of force which allowed Iraq War.

• 2008 Three women arrested for antiwar protest, Madison, WI.

• 2015 Andrea Mercado led 100 Women on beginning of 100-mile walk from York, PA to Washington DC to protest immigrant detentions.

September 16

Women peacemakers born today

• 1902 Mildred Harnack born Milwaukee, WI. Professor of English in Germany; translator and literary historian; member of resistance "Red Orchestra"; guillotined by Hitler 1943 Berlin for resistance.

• 1921 Ursula Franklin born Munich. Canadian scientist; physics professor and philosopher of science; Quaker pacifist; eighteen months in a Nazi work camp World War II; leader of antiwar CanadianVOW; opposed NATO and Vietnam War; promoted conscientious objection; Pearson Peace Medal.

• 1927 Sadako Ogata born Tokyo. Diplomat and Professor of International Relations; UN High Commissioner for Refugees 1992-2001; Japan's International Cooperation Agency 2003-12; Asian Nobel prize Magsaysay Award for peace and international understanding 1997; Indira Gandhi Peace Prize 2001.

• 1928 Patricia M. Wald born Torrington, CT. American Judge of International Court for Yugoslavia 2002; opposed execution of Rosenbergs; only woman on 2004 commission to assess intelligence leading to Iraq War.

• 1931 Rita Lasar (née Rabecca Zelmanowitz) born Cleveland, OH (d. 2017). As sister of 9/11 victim, co-founded September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows, opposing violent response to 9/11, 2002. Opposed Iraq War, Guantanamo, and the bombing of Afghanistan.

• 1943 Bärbel Wartenberg-Potter born Pirmasens, Palatinate, Germany. Lutheran bishop of Lübeck. Called on US to "renounce counter-violence" against Islam; opposed wars in Iraq and Afghanistan; signed appeal "Another War in Europe? Not in our name!", 2014.

• 1951 Lucy Asuagbor born Mamfé, Cameroon. Judge of International Court for Yugoslavia 2001; Cameroon chief justice; African Commission on Human rights.

• 1958 Maura O'Connell born Ennis, County Clare. Irish singer at Music for Peace concert Nashville Peace & Justice Center 2003.

Women's peacemaking on this day

• 303 St. Euphemia martyred for refusal to worship Ares god of war at Chalcedon.

• 929 St. Ludmilla, Dutchess of Bohemia martyred for influence as teacher of grandson St. Wenceslas.

• 1913 Kasturba Gandhi arrested for nonviolent protest, jailed until December 22.

• 1979 Women’s Die-In Cologne against nuclear power and militarism.

• 2007 Actress Sally Field accepted Emmy Award with antiwar speech "If the mothers ruled the world, there would be no goddamn wars in the first place."

• 2014 Col. Ann Wright evicted from House Armed Services hearing for participation in Code Pink protest, chanting "No More War!"

September 17

Women peacemakers born today

• 1657 Sophia Alekseyevna Romanov born Kremlin, Moscow (d. 1704). First woman ruler of Russia; Princess and Regent during minority of her brother Peter the Great; she suppressed military revolt; controlling foreign policy, made Eternal Peace with Poland (Moscow) 1686, which lasted for a century; first treaty with China (Nerchinsk) 1689.

• 1846 Marie Popelin born Schaerbeek, Brussels (d. 1913). First Belgian feminist; educator who founded Alliance of Women for Peace through Education 1898; first Belgian woman lawyer 1888; organized International Feminist Conference Brussels 1897.

• 1862 Anna Bugge-Wicksell born Egersund, Norway (d. 1928). Norwegian feminist and suffrage leader. Sweden's first woman diplomat; secretary of Swedish Peace Society. Traveled throughout Norway to promote women's suffrage, 1888. Advocated for international arbitration and reconciliation, 1890. Attended League of Nations inaugural session as alternate member, Geneva, 1920; became first woman to join its Permanent Mandates Commission, 1921.

• 1866 Mary Burnett Talbert born Oberlin, OH (d. 1923). Prominent African-American social reformer. Suffragist; orator; peace activist; WILPF pioneer. Co-organized Niagara Movement against segregation. Served as Red Cross nurse in France during WWI.

• 1896 Margarethe Lachmund born Woldegk, Mecklenburg (d. 1985). German Quaker who led north German aid to Jews; arrested in postwar East Germany; opposed postwar conscription and nuclear weapons.

• 1918 Marii Hasegawa born Tadanoumi near Hiroshima, Japan (d. 2012). Peace activist, called "Gentle Woman of a Dangerous Kind"; head of US WILPF 1971-75; led peace delegation to Vietnam; early Nike missile protest; promoted meetings of Russian and American women; Niwano Peace Prize 1996; interned by US World War II.

• 1937 Mary Shanthi Dairiam born Malaysia. International expert on human rights of women; UN Human Rights Commission investigator of Gaza Flotilla episode 2010; co-founder International Women Rights Action Watch Asia Pacific 1993.

• 1950 Soledad Alvear born Santiago, Chile. First woman Foreign Minister of Chile 2000 improved relations with US and Europe; first minister of Women's Affairs; as Justice Minister replaced colonial criminal code; tried to prevent Iraq War.

• 1952 Verity Burgmann born Sydney, Australia. Professor of Political Science; socialist. Along with her sister Meredith Burgmann, arrested for running on field of Sydney Cricket Ground during the South African rugby team's Australian tour to protest apartheid, 1971. Opposed nuclear weapons; supported aboriginal rights.

• 1953 Radhika Coomaraswamy born Colombo, Sri Lanka. Human Rights expert; UN Special Envoy on children in war 2006; UN Rapporteur on Violence against Women 1994-2003.

Women's peacemaking on this day

• Feast Day of St. Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179). Altruist, mystic and political critic, "First Woman Doctor of Europe" who condemned violence in the church ca. 1160, and predicted fall of Holy Roman Empire partly through war.

• 1994 Conscience and Peace Tax International founded Hondarribia, Spain by Marian Franz.

• 2014 Secretary of State Kerry acknowledged previous day's Code Pink protest at Senate Foreign Relations hearing.

• 2016 500 Buddhist nuns of Drukpa Order finished 4000 km. bike trip from Katmandu to Leh to protest human trafficking.

September 18

Women peacemakers born today

• 1879 Welthy Honsinger Fisher born Rome, NY (d. 1980). American missionary, friend of Gandhi; established literacy centers in Allahabad, Lucknow at Gandhi’s request, 1947; founded World Education in 50 countries, 1951; founded World Literacy Canada, 1955.

• 1889 Doris Blackburn born Melbourne, Victoria (d. 1970). Australian peace activist and politician; opposed World War I as Socialist; founded Aborigines Advancement League; headed Australian WILPF.

• 1898 Irene Laure born Lausanne, Switzerland (d. 1987). French Resistance fighter; as Socialist, first woman member of Parliament, 1946; led reconciliation with Germany.

• 1925 Erica-Irene Daes born Chania, Crete. Greek human rights advocate; UN human rights prize 1993; Chair/Rapporter UN Working Group on Indigenous Populations 1982 which produced Draft Declaration of Rights of Indigenous Peoples 1993, adopted by General Assembly 2007.

• 1942 Meredith Tax born Milwaukee, WI. Feminist; antiwar activist; author and essayist. Published writings opposing the Israeli occupation of Gaza, nuclear weapons, and wars in Vietnam, the Balkans, Iraq, and Afghanistan.

• 1945 Bettina Carr-Allinson born Netherlands. Founder European Youth Parliament, which aims to "Promote international understanding, intercultural dialogue and diversity of ideas and practices," 1987. British European Woman of the Year, 1997.

• 1949 Mo Mowlam born Watford, Hertfordshire, England (d. 2005). British politician. Member of Parliament, 1987-2001; Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, 1997-99. Helped negotiate Good Friday Peace Agreement, ending the Troubles, 1998.

Women's peacemaking on this day

• 1838 Abby Kelley, Maria Chapman, Susan Sisson, Thankful Southwick, Anne Weston among founders of world's first nonviolence society, Boston.

• 1889 Jane Addams opened Hull House, Chicago.

• 1914 Rosika Schwimmer presented women's peace petition to President Wilson.

• 1938 WILPF urged FDR to protest Japanese invasion of Manchuria; an early attempt to prevent war, which was rejected.

• 1963 Diane Nash proposed Selma Campaign to Martin Luther King Jr.

• 1993 Tender Women's Rally, Somobor, near Zagreb, "to weave a nurturing love net."

• 2013 Nine women arrested for chaining themselves to Vermont Yankee nuclear plant gate. “Shut it down today!”

September 19

Women peacemakers born today

• 1867 Mabel Hyde Kittredge born Boston, MA (d. 1955). Pacifist expert on homemaking; started school lunches NYC 1901; headed World War I child feeding program in France and Belgium for Hoover; Ford Peace ship 1915; co-founder of WILPF; mission to USSR 1920.

• 1958 Amina Mama born Kaduna, Nigeria. African-American professor of women’s leadership; antiwar feminist. Chaired Global Fund for Women; strong opponent of US militarization of Africa.

Women's peacemaking on this day

• 1893 New Zealand women won vote as result of Kate Sheppard's Monster Petition.

• 2001 Neela Marikkar organized Stand for Peace, when one million Sri Lankans left their homes and offices to go outside, join hands and demonstrate for peace.

• 2005 Fifteen women foreign ministers called for female participation in peacemaking.

• 2014 The Things That Make for Peace: International Day of Peace Symposium, Church Center for UN.

September 20

Women peacemakers born today

• 1831 Hedwig Dohm born Berlin (d. 1919). German Jewish writer, pioneer feminist, Socialist.

• 1822 Elizabeth Smith Miller born Geneseo, NY (d. 1911). Radical feminist reformer, Quaker-educated abolitionist; introduced bloomer in women's dress 1849.

• 1875 Marianne Rauze born Paris (d. 1964). French anti-militarist editor; feminist; Socialist, absolute pacifist, wife of army officer who died of war wounds.

• 1899 Anna Lord Strauss born New York, NY (d. 1979). Internationalist daughter of Quaker; delegate to founding of FAO Quebec 1945; US delegate to UN General Assembly 1951-52; editor, leader of League of Women Voters.

• 1931 Hinda Kipnis born New York, NY. Raging Granny Seattle; arrested 2015 for chaining herself in rocking chair with 5 other Grannies to block Seattle Terminal 5; protested World Trade Organization 1999.

• 1937 Birgitta Dahl born Råda, Sweden. Swedish sustainable development expert: member of parliament 1968-, Speaker 1994, Minister 1982-; UN delegate; opposed Vietnam War.

Women's peacemaking on this day

• 1984 Greenham Women do Individual Protests for 10 days.

• 1988 Marcia Timmel hammered and poured blood on Trident display at DC arms bazaar.

• 1993 Susan Crane and Maxina Ventura convicted for painting shadows on Livermore Lab.