Carol Bellamy born Plainfield, NJ January 14, 1942. Director of Peace Corps, 1993; Executive Director of UNICEF, 1995; first president of Lawyers Committee to End the War.
"When the lives and the rights of children are at stake, there must be no silent witnesses." (to UN Security Council, Jan. 10, 2004; photo http://uni.cf/zsafuF)
Alva Vanderbilt Belmont (née Smith) born Mobile, AL January 17, 1853 (d. 1933). Women's rights activist; multi-millionaire. With Alice Paul, founded and led National Women's Party, 1916; supported first picket of White House.
"Just pray to God. She will help you." (1911 photo Wikipedia)
Ida Whipple Benham born Quakertown, CT January 8, 1849 (d. 1903). Quaker; peace poet; director of American Peace Society, 1897.
"The coals of war come quickly to a glow;
And still the cannon crowd the parapets.
Ready and waiting—keen for sharp dispute!
Blind man, thou temptest sore the lightning stroke."
(The Armed Truce, Advocate of Peace, Aug. 1895, p. 173; photo http://bit.ly/AEZLsE)
Medea Benjamin born New York September 10, 1952. 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.
"We must insist that governments stop taking innocent lives in the name of seeking justice for the loss of other innocent lives." (Global Exchange, 2002; photo Code Pink)
Phyllis Bennis born Los Angeles, CA January 19, 1951. American journalist and author; peace activist; opponent of Israeli occupation and Gaza war; began activism opposing Vietnam War, supporting Civil Rights movement, 1969. Head of New Internationalism Project at Institute for Policy Studies (IPS); founded U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, 2002; opposed US imperialism, esp. Iraq and Afghan Wars, Libya intervention, ISIS bombing.
"You can't destroy an ideology—or even an organization—through bombing. . . A military strike might bring some immediate satisfaction, but we all know revenge is a bad basis for foreign policy, especially when it has such dangerous consequences." (Popular Resistance, September 12, 2014; photo World People's Blog)
Meta Berger (née Schlichting) born Milwaukee, WI February 23, 1873 (d. 1944). Democratic Socialist reformer; postwar national leader in WILPF. Opposed World War I; member of Milwaukee Emergency Peace Committee, opposing recruiting, 1917. Delegate to disarmament conference, Geneva, 1932.
"I had never taken the absolutist pledge that I would never support a war. As a Socialist I had learned. . . that there may have to be a final conflict between those who work and those who exploit. . . [when] Hitler began his reign of terror. . . I was now determined to fight to abolish all the things that were in the way of peace in the world." (A Milwaukee Woman’s Life on the Left, 2001, pp. 159-60)
Greta Berlin born Detroit, MI April 6, 1941. Peace activist for Palestine justice 1967; co-founder Free Gaza Movement 2006, Gaza Flotilla 2008, 2010.
"Never underestimate the power of pissed-off women." (July 13, 2010, Elias Harb interview; photo mycatbirdseat.com)
Juliet Bernstein (née Relis) born Ferndale, NY July 2, 1913. Leader of Cape Cod FOR; National Women's Hall of Fame 1995. Created nuclear free zone for town of Chatham 1984; led campaign against land mines; annual peace poetry, poster and essay contest; NAACP "Unsung Hero" for racial equality; opposed wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"[The defeat of the coup that led to the dissolution of the Soviet Union showed] the global spread of non-violence. In rising up to tyranny and oppression, people show that change can be achieved through the power of love and truth." (Cape Cod Times, Aug. 1991; photo Robert Winter)
Frida Berrigan born Baltimore, MD April 1, 1974. Second-generation woman peace activist, daughter of Elizabeth McAlister; opposed nuclear weapons, Iraq and Afghan wars.
"The moment demands our attention, demands our outrage, demands our compassion, demands our vision, demands our work; and that is what peacemaking is about." (Dec. 10, 2010 to War Resisters League; photo War Resisters League)
Betty Blaisdell Berry born Providence, RI October 6, 1922 (d. 2007). International economist of Middle East; NOW Family Relations Coordinator, 1968-73; American Arbitration Association, 1977-87.
Mary Frances Berry born Nashville, TN February 17, 1938. African-American historian. Chancellor of University of Colorado Boulder, 1976; Chair of US Civil Rights Commission, 1993-2004. Arrested in anti-Apartheid protest, 1984.
Rosalie Bertell born Buffalo, NY April 4, 1929 (d. 2012). Anti-nuclear scientist; mathematician; nun. Awarded Right Livelihood Award, 1986; received Sean MacBride Peace Prize, 2001.
"War and money make the world go around. When you have money, you have to be prepared to go to war to protect it. . . The continuity of life, the call for making things better for the next and the next generations blots out all hesitation. . . We have to be part of something larger than ourselves, because our dreams are often bigger than our lifetimes." (Planet Earth; photo toequest)
Catherine Bertini born Syracuse, NY March 30, 1950. First woman to lead a UN agency as head of World Food Program, 1992-2002; noted for response to famines in North Korea and the Horn of Africa. Undersecretary of UN Office for Management, 2002.
“We must help keep people alive, and we don't have the luxury of deciding whether or not we like what the government is doing.” (Lehrer Newshour, Jun. 9 2000)
“Men wage war—women and children suffer the consequences.” (speech to Red Cross, Nov. 1, 1999; photo Wikipedia)
Mary McLeod Bethune born Mayesville, SC July 10, 1875 (d. 1955). Internationalist civil rights leader and government official. African-American woman college president of Bethune-Cookman School, 1923-42, 46-47. Only official African-American woman counselor present at founding of United Nations, San Francisco, 1945.
"The world tomorrow must be a 'people's world'—if our civilization is to survive." (comment on UN, June 1945)
"I leave you love. I leave you hope. I leave you the challenge of developing confidence in one another. I leave you a thirst for education. I leave you a respect for the use of power. I leave you faith. I leave you racial dignity. I leave you a desire to live harmoniously with your fellow men. I leave you, finally, a responsibility to our young people." (last will and testament; photo wikimedia commons)
Barbara Bick (née Lichtenstein) born Washington DC April 25, 1925 (d. 2009). Co-founder of Women Strike for Peace 1961; feminist promoter of Afghan women’s rights; socialist leader of Peoples Coalition for Peace and Justice (PCPJ) 1970.
“There are two categories: revolutionaries, and those who make revolutions work.” (Center for Security Studies, May 3; photo feminist press)
Jessica Biel born Ely, MN March 3, 1982. Actress. Climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro to publicize UN Foundation’s Girl Up program and its focus on the global water crisis, 2010; paired with Shanoah Washington against gang violence at TeenNick HALO Awards, 2011; supporter of UN refugee program.
“We are all in this together.” (Kenya, Jan. 20, 2010; 2007 photo Wikipedia)
Jessie Florence Binford born Marshalltown, IA January 20, 1876 (d. 1966). Chicago-based juvenile rights advocate; 61-year resident of Jane Addams's Hull House. Co-founded Jane Addams Peace Association, 1948; opposed Vietnam War.
"We see all about us the devastating effects of war on youth." ("Don't Forget the Children," Rotarian, Feb. 1943; http://bit.ly/oG79Zy)
Regina Birchem born Sisseton, SD December 20, 1938. American cell biologist; professor; author. International President of WILPF, 2004-07; undertook peace mission to Gaza, 2009.
"For many around the world daily pressing concerns are for food, shelter, affordable clean water, freedom from threats of violence. Not much thought is given each day to the proliferation of nuclear weapons and the threat of nuclear attack. . . The stockpiling of weapons does nothing to provide for simple human needs. . . there is a connection between the seemingly futile negotiations to limit proliferation of nuclear weapons, not to mention the ultimate goal of eliminating them entirely, and the shocking disparity between the haves and the have-nots." (International Peace Update, January 1, 2005; photo The Arab-American)
Shirley Temple Black born Santa Monica, CA April 23, 1928 (d. 2014). Child movie star; Republican diplomat. Delegate to UN, 1969; delegate to Stockholm Conference on the Environment, 1972; US Commission to UNESCO, 1973. US Ambassador to Ghana, 1974-76, and Czechoslovakia, 1968, 1989-92. First woman Chief of Diplomatic Protocol, 1976.
"Ambassadors, if they do it right, work about 14-hour days. . . My favorite part of the job was working in the office and with the people of a country. My unfavorite part was the parties and the receptions." (Mail Tribune, July 27, 1997; 1990 photo Wikipedia)
Alice Stone Blackwell born Orange, NJ September 14, 1857 (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.
"Grave divines are horrified at the thought of admitting women to vote when they cannot fight, although not one in twenty of their own number is fit for military duty, if he volunteered. Of the editors who denounce woman suffrage, only about one in four could himself carry a musket; while, of the lawyers who fill Congress, the majority could not be defenders of their country, but could only be defended." ("Objectons Answered: Why Should Women Vote?" 1915; photo Wikipedia)
Women in Peace
is dedicated to highlighting the achievements of extraordinary, peacemaking women from around the world.
