July 21

Women peacemakers born today

• 1867 Alys Pearsall Smith born Frankford, Philadelphia (d. 1951). Quaker relief organizer; founding chair of Italian Refugees' Relief Committee 1927 aiding refugees from Fascist Italy; married Bertrand Russell in Quaker ceremony.

• 1870 Florence Jaffray Harriman born Manhattan (d. 1967). Suffragist, social reformer, and advocate of League of Nations; Ambassador to Norway 1943, aiding escape of royal family and Nazi opponents from Norway; one of first books on Holocaust.

• 1875 Agnes Baldwin Alexander born Honolulu, HI (d. 1971). Internationalist proponent of universal friendship and language; Bahá’i leader who spread message of universal peace, equality of men and women, a world court to Hawaii, Japan and Korea; Esperanto teacher.

• 1872 Hannah Clothier Hull born Wynnewood, PA (d. 1958). Quaker absolute pacifist, suffragist, national chair of WILPF 1924-39; Chair Peoples Mandate to Governments to End War 1935; delegate to League of Nations Disarmament Conference 1932.

Women's peacemaking on this day

• 1959 Marge Swann arrested for climbing fence at missile site Nebraska.

• 1979 Women's Hall of Fame dedicated, Seneca Falls, NY.

• 1983 Argentine Mothers of Playa del Mayo walked 7 km. Calilegua to San Martin in protest against disappeared relatives. Walk was repeated annually on Thursday nearest July 21.

• 1998 Gro Harlem Brundtland became head of WHO.

• 2007 29th WILPF Congress, Santa Cruz, Bolivia. "Women unite! Build peace! Generate change!"

July 22

Women peacemakers born today

• 1849 Emma Lazarus born Manhattan, NY (d. 1887). Poetess who wrote sonnet for base of Statue of Liberty.

• 1917 Shaista Suhrawardy Ikramullah born Calcutta, India (d. 2000). Pakistani diplomat and author; PhD London; as delegate to UN influenced Human Rights Declaration and Genocide Convention.

• 1931 Riane Eisler (née Tennenbaum) born Vienna, Austria. American cultural historian; peace educator, author Educating for a Culture of Peace, 2002.

• 1946 Ann Wright born Durant, Oklahoma. Spoken about the role of dissent and about the need to reduce the US military presence around the world. Co-author of “Dissent: Voices of Conscience.”

• 1967 Lauren Booth born Islington, London. Broadcaster journalist; co-sponsor of nonviolent Free Gaza Movement; broke blockade of Gaza 2008; converted to Islam 2010; opposed Iraq War initiated by her brother-in-law, Prime Minister Tony Blair.

• 1992 Selena Gomez born Grand Prairie, TX. American pop singer and actress; UNICEF Ambassador mission to Ghana 2008, Chile 2011.

Women's peacemaking on this day

• 1983 Greenham Women graffitied Blackbird spy plane with peace symbols.

• 1992 Palermo Women monthlong hunger strike against Mafia.

• 2003 Liberian woman forced peace at Ghana; Leymah Gbowee threatened to strip. "Okay, I'm going to make it very, very easy for you to arrest me. . . I'm going to strip naked."

• 2010 WILPF demanded withdrawal of US troops in Iraq and Afghanistan at the National Peace Conference, Albany, NY.

• 2014 Irish politician Clare Daly arrested for trying to inspect US planes carrying weapons to war.

• 2016 Medea Benjamin interrupted Donald Trump’s presidential nomination acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention. “We want peace and love, not hate and war.”

July 23

Women peacemakers born today

• 1869 Florence Guertin Tuttle born Brooklyn, NY (d. 1951). Internationalist; feminist and suffragist; author of Alternatives to War, 1931; Women’s Peace Party member opposing World War I; Chaired Women's Pro-League Council 1920; birth-control leader; popular speaker on disarmament and international organization; delegate to Geneva Disarmament Conference 1932.

• 1917 Barbara Deming born New York, NY (d. 1984). Nonviolent activist and writer; lesbian; first arrested 1962 against atom bomb; arrested in civil rights protest Albany GA 1964; Seneca Peace Camp 1984.

• 1943 Randall Caroline Forsberg born Hunter, AL (d. 2003). Founded Nuclear Freeze movement 1980; MacArthur genius 1983.

Women's peacemaking on this day

• 1896 Women of Zaragoza, Spain protested the conscription of their sons and husbands to fight in the war against Cuba. “Down with the War!”

• 1916 Women's Peace Crusade gathering of 5,000 organized by Helen Crawfurd in Glasgow, Scotland.

• 1956 13th WILPF Congress, Birmingham, England. "WILPF in the Atomic Age" resolution on "The Sacredness of Human Life" against capital punishment and war.

• 1976 Women textile workers at Dong II plant Seoul stripped naked to oppose police attack, beaten, 76 arrested in protest against election interference.

• 1986 "Women Unite for Justice and Peace" 23d WILPF Congress, Woudschoten-Zeist, (Utrecht), Netherlands.

• 1998 Greenham Women Sarah Higginson and Peggy Walford sentenced two years prison for cutting fence.

• 2013 Three women arrested for chaining themselves to machinery to protest tar sands pipeline, Stockbridge, MI; they were convicted and imprisoned for one year.

• 2014 Rebecca Vilkomerson, head of Jewish Voice for Peace, arrested at New York sit-in against Gaza invasion.

• 2014 In New York, seven women arrested in drone protest at Hancock AFB.

July 24

Women peacemakers born today

• 1897 Amelia Earhart born Atchison, KS (d. 1937). Famous aviator; lifelong pacifist. After seeing a Canadian soldier amputee, she volunteered as nurse in World War I, 1918. Promoted peace on national speaking tours.

• 1920 Bella Abzug born Bronx, NY (d. 1998). Feminist and civil rights legislator. Founded Women Strike for Peace, 1961. Democrat member of Congress, 1971-77; introduced resolution on Vietnam on first day in Congress, 1971.

• 1942 Julia Vadala Taft born Governors Island, New York (d. 2008). International humanitarian crisis manager. Oversaw US settlement of Vietnam refugees. Assistant Secretary of State for Population & Migration, 1997-2001; UN Director of Crisis Prevention, 2001-04.

• 1966 Aminatou Haidar born Akka, Western Sahara, Morocco. “Tne Sahrawi Gandhi.” Abducted by Moroccan authorities while participating in nonviolent demonstration for Saharan independence, 1987; held without trial, imprisoned, tortured and eventually released, 1991.

Women's peacemaking on this day

• 1292 Blessed Cunegund, Queen of Poland who became a Poor Clare; credited with nonviolent repulsion of Tartar attack on Pyenin Castle, 1287.

• 1780 Warrant of arrest issued for Shaker Mary Partington for her refusal to support arms in American Revolution; jailed three months.

• 1868 Marie Goegg-Pouchoulin founded first international women's peace society, Geneva.

• 1983 At Greenham Common, women tagged American warplane with anti-nuclear graffiti.

• 2013 CEDAW urged that Arms Trade Treaty consider impact on women. "A strong ATT should have as its primary purpose the prevention of human suffering especially among women and children, caused by the proliferation and illicit trade of arms."

July 25

Women peacemakers born today

• 1806 Maria Weston Chapman born Weymouth, MA (d. 1885). "Garrison's Lieutenant"; co-founder of world's first nonviolent society 1838, edited first nonviolent newspaper. Elizabeth Pease Nichol called her "[the] Joan of Arc of the anti-slavery movement."

• 1913 Jill Jackson Miller born Lawrence, MO (d. 1995). Film actress, singer, author, speaker, composed popular peace song.

• 1979 Hilal Demir born Turkey. Turkish sculptor, feminist, nonviolent anarchist; founded Antimilitarist Feminists 1999; Izmir War Resisters 1997-2002; Izmir Nonviolent Training Institute.

• 1980 Kajsa “Ekis” Ekman born Stockholm, Sweden. Swedish feminist journalist; illegally seized on high seas by Israeli navy aboard “Marianne”, imprisoned a week in Israel for Freedom Flotilla III nonviolent protest, 2015.

Women's peacemaking on this day

• 1902 First Human Rights Convention on White Slavery drafted Paris.

• 1998 "Bread & Roses: Women Define Globalization" 27th WILPF Congress, Baltimore MD.

• 2001 Singer Bonnie Raitt arrested in Rainforest protest Itaska, IL.

• 2002 In Bogotá, Colombia, 45,000 women from La Ruta Pacifica de las Mujeres (“Women’s Peaceful Road”) and four other pacifist coalitions came together to protest ongoing civil violence. “No to War!”

• 2004 Three Dominican Sisters sentenced 30-41 months prison for protest against missiles: Carol Gilbert, Jackie Hudson, Ardeth Platte.

July 26

Women peacemakers born today

• 1940 Anna Abdallah born Southern Tanzania. Nurse; held four major cabinet posts: Minister of Health, Agriculture and Community Development, Public Works, Local Government. Initiated Creators of Peace for a just, peaceful and sustainable world.

• 1947 Meredith Burgmann born Beecroft, Sydney, Australia. Professor; UN development consultant. Australian Labor Party politician; 15-year member of New South Wales Senate; Senate President, 1999-2007. Arrested 21 times, including for running on field of Sydney Cricket Ground during the South African rugby team's Australian tour to protest apartheid, 1971; later sentenced to two months in prison. Opposed Vietnam War and nuclear weapons; publicly opposed Iraq War.

• 1952 Claudia Fritsche born Liechtenstein. Ambassador to UN 1990-2002, US 2000-2002.

Women's peacemaking on this day

• 1983 Barbara Deming joined Women's Peace Walk to Seneca arms depot at Northwoods, NY.

• 1985 Nairobi Conference on Women last ended 4 pm.

• 1996 Graça Machel's report to UN on child soldiers.

• 2002 Thousands of women from Christian Women Initiatives in Liberia called for a neutral force for peace.

• 2015 Mothers Against War protested the Japanese government’s move to remove constitutional prohibition of war. "Our children were not born to be killed or to kill others."

July 27

Women peacemakers born today

• 1831 Helen Taylor born Kent Terrace, London, England (d. 1907). Pioneering British suffragist, feminist, radical social reformer, and actress. Anti-imperialist and democratic socialist. Stepdaughter of John Stuart Mill. As the first woman candidate for Parliament, campaigned on platform of women’s rights, war prevention, and wage raises, 1885. Publicly opposed coercion in Ireland. Active leader of Women’s Peace & Arbitration Association.

• 1862 Joan Mary Fry born Highgate, London, England (d. 1955). English social reformer; vegetarian; Quaker pacifist who organized relief to Germany after World War I; aided imprisoned conscientious objectors; delegate to first women's Hague Conference 1915.

• 1866 Eleanor Louisa Lord born Salem, MA (d. 1956). Advocate of international arbitration; history and econ instructor Smith College.

• 1898 Queen Mother Moore born New Iberia, LA (d. 1996). "Queen Mother" of 1972 All African Women’s Conference, Dar es Salaam; radical civil rights leader and humanitarian; President World Federation of African People; founding president Universal Association of Ethiopian Women; petitioned UN 1957 for reparation for slavery 1963; arrested many times for anti-racial protests.

• 1927 Gisèle Halimi born La Goulette, Tunisia. French-Tunisian human rights lawyer; feminist activist. Presided over war crimes tribunal, condemning American actions in Vietnam as war crimes of genocide and torture, 1967. Publicly condemned Algeria War, 1961. Founded feminist reproductive freedom organization Choisir, 1971.

• 1930 Shirley Williams born London. Daughter of pacifist Vera Brittain; co-founder internationalist Social Democratic Party 1981; Labour Minister of Education 1976-79; helped draft constitutions of South Africa, Russia, Ukraine as Harvard professor; leader in effort to reduce nuclear weapons.

• 1951 Bronagh Hinds born Belfast, Northern Ireland. Contributed to peacemaking efforts in Iraq, Liberia, Timor, and Colombia. Founded DemocraShe to empower women in politics, policy influence, and peace-building, 2000.

• 1960 Emily Thornberry born Guildford, Surrey, England. Labour Party politician, member of Parliament 2005; shadow Foreign Secretary 2016; human rights lawyer; leader Stop the War Coalition against Iraq War 2003; longtime supporter of CND questioned Trident missile; condemned war on Libya “reckless”; moved ending support of Yemen War 2016; condemned US missile strike on Syria 2017.

Women's peacemaking on this day

• 1937 Ninth (and last before WWII) WILPF conference, Luhacovice, Czechoslovakia urged arms embargo and sanctions against aggression.

• 1959 "Alternatives to Violence" 14th WILPF Conference, Stockholm.

• 1976 Olga del Valle Márquez de Arédez began solitary vigil for disappeared relatives at Ledesma, Jujuy, Argentina.

• 1985 Final Document of Nairobi Conference: Forward-Looking Strategies.

• 1995 "Weep for Children" protest Groton CT vs. last Trident nuclear sub; four women arrested.

July 28

Women peacemakers born today

• 1855 Louisine Havemeyer born New York, NY (d. 1929). Socially prominent art collector; suffragist leader, speaker and financier arrested jailed 5 days for leading protesters burning effigy of Pres. Wilson at White House 1919; co-founder National Women's Party 1916.

• 1879 Lucy Burns born Brooklyn, NY (d. 1966). Most arrested suffrage leader, co-leader with Alice Paul; opposed World War I; co-founded Women's Peace Society 1917; organized Washington suffrage parade; held first peace vigil at White House; beaten and force-fed in Occoquan prison.

• 1924 Anne Braden born Louisville, KY (d. 2006). Peace and justice journalist; anti-racism leader; first arrested 1951 in protest against execution of Willie McGee, a black man convicted of rape; convicted and exonerated of dynamiting Wade house Louisville 1954.

• 1946 Fahmida Riaz born Meerut, British India. Pakistani poet and feminist. Persecuted and exiled by military regime, 1981-88. Founded Women and Development Association WADA (“A Promise”), working for peace and women’s rights, 1994. Promoted friendship with India.

Women's peacemaking on this day

• 1893 Kate Sheppard submitted Monster Petition for vote, signed by quarter of New Zealand women.

• 1922 Peace Day marking start of WWI organized by Alice Park, San Francisco.

• 1988 Laure Moghaizel organized peace vigil against civil war, Beirut.

• 1992 Helen LaValley, 81-year-old blind nun sentenced for Easter Sunday protest at SAC base Wurtsmith Michigan; closed that year.

• 2008 In Addis Ababa, the Nobel Women's Initiative called for an end to the Darfur war.

• 2010 Hooligan Sparrow led women with red umbrellas in protest to legalize prostitution, Wuhan, China.

• 2012 Sister Megan Rice, age 82, invaded Oak Ridge nuclear weapons depot and poured blood on uranium.

July 29

Women peacemakers born today

• 1871 Cornelia Ramondt-Hirschmann born The Hague (d. ?). Founder WILPF; on team of women's appeal to heads of states (tsar of Russia, kings of Sweden and Denmark) for peace, 1915; hosted WILPF Emergency conference for " new peace" 1922; WILPF international co-chair 1936-7; headed Netherlands Theosophical Society 1927-30.

• 1877 Michi Kawai born Yamada, Japan (d. 1953). Japanese internationalist, pacifist; "The greatest woman leader in Japan"; Secretary of YWCA; leader of Fellowship of Reconciliation; President of Japan Peace Society 1931-3 opposing Manchurian war; labored to avoid war with US.

• 1890 Elisabeth von Thadden born Mohrungen, E. Prussia (d. 1944). Aristocrat schoolmistress; illegally welcomed Jews and read Psalms. Beheaded by Nazis, Berlin, 1944.

• 1963 Alexandra Paul born Manhattan, NY. American actress and athlete, twice arrested for civil disobedience in protest against Iraq War; jailed 5 days; dozen arrests for peaceful protest at Nevada Test Site; Great Peace March for global nuclear disarmament across US 1986; sponsored aid to South Africa and Guatemala.

• 1979 Nadja Halilbegovich born Sarajevo, Bosnia. Author and poet; musician; peace activist and lecturer; wounded age 12 Sarajevo.

Women's peacemaking on this day

• 1917 Women's Peace Demonstration, Birmingham England 300 women join Peace Crusade.

• 1919 Gandhi inspired by Mass meeting London celebrating liberation of first suffrage fasters.

• 1983 Barbara Deming arrested at Seneca NY arms depot.

• 2006 Five Code Pink protesters arrested at White House for protest against British Prime Minister's support of war.

• 2013 In Jayapura, Indonesia, twenty women jumped into police van holding nine independence protesters, resulting in release of all.

July 30

Women peacemakers born today

• 1880 Rosalia Gwis-Adami born Edolo, Italy (d. 1930). Italian peace leader; novelist and journalist; co-founded pacifist Society of Young Italian Women 1909; supported European unity and League of Nations.

• 1891 Mary Albee Chesley AKA Tarabehn born Nova Scotia, Canada (d. 1936). Canadian Gandhian. Served as itinerant banker to rural women; raised funds for Russian and Chinese famine relief, aid to German children; Quaker family; died of pneumonia on pilgrimage to Hindu Buddhist holy site Badri-Kedar on Tibetan frontier. Described by Gandhi as, “one of the noblest women had the good fortune to meet.”

• 1933 Ada Aheroni (née Andrée Yadid) born Cairo, Egypt. Israeli peace poet, novelist; founding president International Forum for the Literature and Culture of Peace (IFLAC) 1999.

• 1939 Eleanor Smeal born Ashtabula, OH. Founded Feminist Majority 1987 supporting women's equality, reproductive rights and non-violence; President of NOW 1977-82; opposed Vietnam War and Iraq War 2002; arrested 1987 at protest at Vatican embassy DC; arrested at White House 1992 for abortion protest.

• 1940 Mary E. King born New York, NY. Professor of Peace and Conflict Studies at the UN University for Peace, Costa Rica. Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) activist, 1962-66. Deputy director of American domestic volunteer agency ACTION, overseeing Peace Corps and VISTA, 1977-81.

Women's peacemaking on this day

• 1913 Barcelona women led strike of textile workers.

• 1927 First Grassroots campaign of Women’s Peace Union for Outlawry of War started in North Dakota.

• 1980 International Women’s Conference Copenhagen ended with resolution on peace.

• 1993 Seneca Falls Walk to Waterloo NY. Barbara Deming and 52 other women arrested.

• 1996 Four Plowshares women acquitted for damage to Indonesian warplanes, Liverpool.

• 2011 30th WILPF Congress, San José, Costa Rica, through Aug. 6.

• 2012 Hanna Poddig chained herself to rail track to block uranium shipment, Gronau, Germany.

• 2014 In Washington DC, nine Code Pink protesters arrested at the Israeli Embassy in Gaza protest.

July 31

Women peacemakers born today

• 1833 Amelia Stone Quinton born Jamesville, NY (d. 1926). Indian rights advocate; co-founded Women’s National Indian Association 1879; wrote petition 1882 demanding observation of US treaties.

• 1882 Anna Mahé born Bourgneuf-en-Retz, Lower Loire, France (d. 1960). French teacher and spelling reformer; imprisoned for article by an "antimilitarist mother" 1910, but acquitted of crime; founder and managing editor of radical anarchist paper l’Anarchie, 1905-14.

• 1887 Dorothea Dutcher Buck born Milwaukee, WI. Internationalist President of General Association of Women's Clubs 1947-50 who promoted UN.

• 1957 Ingrid Washinawatok born Menominee, WI (d. 1999). UN indigenous rights leader murdered in Colombia civil war.

• 1963 Berta Soler born Matanzas, Cuba. Co-founder of Ladies in White, a group dedicated to nonviolently protesting detention of political prisoners.

Women's peacemaking on this day

• 1913 Alice Paul led suffrage demonstration DC. 80 cars from Hyattsville MD with petition to Senate for vote.

• 1914 12 million British women petitioned for peace, organized by Chrystal Macmillan and Millicent Fawcett. "We women of the world. . . appeal to you. . . to avert deluging half the civilized world in blood."

• 1983 German women climbed fence at "Deathbase" Hasselbach in protest against cruise missiles.

• 2012 Nine Shut It Down women arrested for protest at Vermont Yankee nuclear plant.

• 2014 Sisters of Mercy Eileen Campbell and Jean Stoken arrested at White House protest against deportations.