Roseanne Barr born Salt Lake City, UT November 3, 1952. Actress; opposed wars in Iraq and Afghanistan; participant in "One Taxpayer's Mother" protest for Code Pink on National Mall, May 8, 2010.
"The thing women have yet to learn is nobody gives you power. You just take it." (photo CBS Deadline 2010)
Dame Nita Barrow born Barbados November 15, 1916 (d. 1995). Nurse; educator; diplomat; organized UN Women's Conference Nairobi, 1985.
"A clear understanding of every culture's pressures, its history and the way its people view themselves and the world is essential to the maintenance of peace. Every conflict has its deepest roots in a people's view of themselves and their neighbors." (National-Louis Univ. website 2007; photo UNESCO)
Drew Barrymore born Culver City, CA February 22, 1975. American actress, producer, and director. World Food Program Ambassador against Hunger, 2007.
Clara Barton born Oxford, MA December 25, 1821 (d. 1912). Pioneering war nurse, providing what she called "war on war itself." Founded American Red Cross, 1881, and extension of relief to peacetime disasters; achieved US signature to Geneva Convention, 1882.
"If we would do efficient work in alleviating the sufferings caused by the barbarisms of war. . . we should organize philanthropic efforts and be ready for whatever is necessary, to be on the field at the sound of the first gun." (The Red Cross, p. 26; 1866 Brady photo wikicommons pd)
Suzanne Bastid (née Basdevant) born Rennes, Brittany, France August 15, 1906 (d. 1965). International lawyer, first French woman professor of law; on first international (League of Nations) committee on status of women 1937; President World Court 1949-52.
"[The right to use force] exists only in the case of legitimate defence and collective action against aggression." (Cours d'Institutions Internationales, p. 247, 1956; photo intlawgirls)
Daisy Bates (née Gatson) born Huttig, AR November 11, 1914. As head of Arkansas NAACP, leader of Little Rock desegregation, 1957.
"No man or woman who tries to pursue an ideal in his or her own way is without enemies." (photo Ark. U.)
Katharine Lee Bates born Falmouth, Cape Cod August 12, 1859 (d. 1929). Poet and song writer; Wellesley professor; author of "America the Beautiful" and pacifist poems "Fodder for Cannon."
Oh may this war, this blasphemy that blots the globe with blood
Slay war forever, cleanse the earth in its own mighty flood.
("How Long?" 1916; photo CapeCodOnline)
Agnes Bauerlein (née Schretien) born Nijmegen, Netherlands February 12, 1928 (d. 2015). American war resister after family died in allied bombing 1944; social worker; influenced by Dorothy Day; welcomed Vietnamese refugees 1975; put up Berrigans during their trial 1982; arrested DC for nuclear protest; jailed 10 days for destroying nuclear weapons plans in AVCO plant 1983; month in Iraq desert with Gulf Peace Team 1991 trying to avert war. a week in prison for Iraq War protest 2001.
“It is my fear that we in the U.S. are just as apathetic as the German population in the late 1930s. I certainly see apathy on the nuclear issue. The U.S. military complex is alive and well, and the prospect of its growth is very real unless we, the American people, let our democratic government know that we don’t need it.” (Satya, Sep. 2001; photo New York Times)
Aleta Baun born Lelobatan, Molo, Timor, Indonesia April 16, 1963. Led 150 women in year-long nonviolent protest against marble mining, 2010. Awarded Goldman Environmental Prize, 2013.
"[E]verything is interrelated. Our slogan that 'land is flesh, blood is water, a stone bone, blood vessels and the forest is a hair.' We believe that if we were to separate from one's natural elements, or if any of these elements until it breaks, we will die and lose our identity.” (Ongsono.com, May 13, 2013; photo Goldman Prize)
Millicent Baxter (née Brown) born Christchurch, New Zealand January 8, 1888 (d. 1984). Anti-militarist. Converted to pacifism upon learning of persecution of World War I conscientious objector, whom she later married, 1918. Active in War Resister’s League; opposed conscription for World War II; opposed nuclear weapons.
On persecution of conscientious objectors: “It moved me, right out of my shell into the open; and in the open I have remained, looking into things, questioning them.” (photo with son James, Dict. NZ National Biography)
Eve Bazaiba Masudi born Democratic Republic of Congo August 12, 1948. Congolese Senator. Muslim proponent of nonviolence and conflict resolution. Member of regional peace organization Women as Partners for Peace in Africa (WOPPA), 2000. Nobel Peace Prize nominee, 2005.
“[S]ince 1996, the DRC has been tormented by a hellish cycle of armed conflict concentrated largely in the country’s eastern provinces. . . These conflicts have been accompanied by grave human rights violations—victimizing women and children.” (The World of Parliaments, April 2009; photo blog.trustafrica)
Melba Pattillo Beals born Little Rock, AR December 7, 1941. One of Little Rock Nine who integrated Central High School nonviolently, 1955; later earned doctorate in education; journalist.
"I was slapped by one girl. I turned and said 'Thank you' and continued on my journey to class." (Warriors Don't Cry, p. 88; photo Melba Beals.org)
Margaret Winonah Beamer-Myers born Cleveland, OH September 10, 1941. 19-year-old student Freedom Rider arrested and imprisoned 1961 Jackson MS; only Rider to serve full 6-month sentence in Parchman Prison.
"[T]his was the punishment for the crime of sitting down in a waiting room next to a fellow student." (Bobbie O’Brien, station WUSF, April 11, 2011; photo Miss. Archives)
Helen Marston Beardsley born San Diego, CA June 26, 1892 (d. 1982). Quaker peace leader and organizer. Took part in Friends relief, Vienna, 1921; founded WILPF San Diego chapter, 1924; co-founded San Diego Peace Center. Socialist work with Mexican immigrants and farm workers; opposed nuclear weapons; marched against Vietnam War at age 89; on Nixon's enemies list, 1971.
"If justice can be gained without violence, it is up to us to prove it." (Joan Jensen, "When Women Worked", California History, p. 128, June 1988; 1941 photo aclusandiego.org)
Queen Beatrix of The Netherlands, born Baarn, Netherlands January 31, 1938. Received pacifist education in Bilthoven; awarded Charlemagne Prize for European Unity, 1996.
"We must not confine peace and freedom, security and wealth only to Western Europe. That would be inequitable and shortsighted." (Acceptance speech; 2008 photo Wikipedia)
Simone de Beauvoir born Paris, France January 9, 1908 (d. 1986). French feminist; existentialist philosopher; wrote landmark feminist text The Second Sex, 1949. Opposed World War I, nuclear weapons, Vietnam War.
"Peace was to me more important than victory." (Memoirs, p. 65; photo Wikipedia)
Gualberta Alaide Beccari born Padua, Italy May 7, 1842 (d. 1906). Journalist, suffragist, pacifist and feminist; at age 18 founded first Italian women's rights journal La Donna 1868-1891; pioneered advocacy of women and peace 1870.
"I felt myself stirred to rebellion when I learned of some brutal husband who had beaten his wife; and I felt myself. . . painfully humiliated if I heard what happened from the woman herself." (Judith Howard, "Patriot Mothers in Post-Risorgimento" in Berkin & Lovett, eds. Women, War and Revolution, pp. 237-52, 1980; photo maldura.unipd.it)
Lydia Becker born Chadderton, Lancashire, England February 23, 1827 (d. 1890). English suffrage leader, scientist, and peace advocate. Opposed Franco-Prussian War, 1870-71; Bosnia War, 1876; first Boer War, 1878.
“An unnecessary war is a national crime. Shall women be dragged into this crime against their consent? A war involves heavy and grinding taxation. . . A war involves bereavement and misery.” (Englishwoman’s Review, Feb. 1, 1878, in Heloise Brown, The Truest Form of Patriotism, p. 34; portrait Girton College)
Norma Becker born Bronx, NY February 18, 1930 (d. 2006). Teacher and protest leader. Founded the anti-Vietnam War protest group, the Fifth Avenue Peace Parade, 1965; founded the anti-nuclear organization Mobilization for Survival, 1977. Chairperson of War Resisters League, 1977-83.
“The peace movement must be a mass movement embracing women with widely differing viewpoints on every conceivable issue. . . 'Unity in diversity' is not only possible, but desirable.” (WRL Calendar, 1986; photo http://bit.ly/J9X8Gf)
Catherina "Ria" Beckers-De Bruijn born Driebergen, Netherlands November 2, 1938 (d. 2006). Dutch politician; environmentalist; classics teacher. First woman to head a Dutch political party, the environmental Political Party Radicals (PPR), 1977; later became head of GreenLeft Party, 1990-93. Opposed Gulf War, 1990, Iraq War, 2003. (photo nrc.nl)
Women in Peace
is dedicated to highlighting the achievements of extraordinary, peacemaking women from around the world.
