Bonita “Bonnie” Caracciolo born Boston, MA November 10, 1951. Peace activist. Co-organizer of Women’s March on the Pentagon, 2018. Maintains blog Vietnam: My War Too.
“If being anti-war is a crime, consider me a career criminal.” (VVAW The Veteran Spring 2014; photo linkedin.com)
Rebecca Janney Timbres Clark born Baltimore, MD May 6, 1896 (d. 2000). Quaker pacifist; nurse. Aided child refugees with American Friends Service Committee, Poland, 1921; delivered famine relief, Russia, 1922. Medical service in Tagore, India, 1931-34; Russia, 1936-77.
“The divine is in every human being born in the world, regardless of race, country, and religious belief, or lack of religion.” (Friends Journal, Feb. 1, 1985; photo AFSC)
Severn Cullis-Suzuki born Vancouver, BC, Canada November 30, 1974. ”The Girl Who Silenced the World for 5 Minutes.” Environmental activist. Addressed UN Earth Summit, 1992.
“[I]f all the money spent on war was spent on finding environmental answers, ending poverty and finding treaties, what a wonderful place this Earth would be. . . If you don't know how to fix it, please stop breaking it.” (photo pacebutler.org)
Anna Manning Comfort born Trenton, NJ January 19, 1845 (d. 1931); Youngest woman doctor, at age 20, 1865; social reformer defending Native American and Black rights; publicly opposed US imperialism.
"Take up the white man's burden,"—
Yes, Uncle Sam, oh do!
But why seek other countries
Your burdens to renew?
Recall the poor wild Indian
Whom ruthlessly you slew.
"Take up the white man's burden,"—
The negro, once our slave!
Boast lightly of his freedom,
This problem still is grave.
We scoff and shoot and lynch him,
And yet, because he's black,
Why fight the foreign despots,
Or Filipino isles?”
(“Home Burdens of Uncle Sam”, The Public, Syracuse, May 13, 1899, in Liberty Poems; photo Syracuse University)
Casey Camp-Horinek born Nebraska June 6, 1948. Native American (Ponca) leader; board member of Women’s Earth & Climate Action Network, International (WECAN). Drafted first International Indigenous Women’s Treaty, protecting Rights of Nature, Paris, 2015. Arrested for nonviolent protest at Standing Rock, 2017. Spoke at the UN Forum on Indigenous Issues.
“Life on Mother Earth is in danger and coming to a time of great transformation. As Indigenous Peoples, from the global South and North, we are accepting the responsibility designated by our prophecies to tell the world that we must live in peace with each other and Mother Earth to ensure the harmony within Creation.” (Jan. 17, 2014, Quito Ecuador; photo moms clean airforce)
Constance “Connie” Curry born Paterson, NJ July 17, 1933. Civil rights activist and author. Early organizer, first white woman on Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) board, 1960; Great Southern National Student Association organizer, 1953; National Field Representative Collegiate Council for UN, 1960-64; Southern Field Rep. American Friends Service Committee, 1964-73.
“I couldn’t eat with my [black] friends, and knew then that segregation took away my personal freedom as surely as if I were bound by invisible chains.” (1953, in A Woman of the South, p. 5; photo crmvet.org)
Estee Chandler born Tarzana, CA October 1, 1964. Actress. Founded Jewish Voice for Peace, Los Angeles, 2010. Arrested for occupying Senator Feinstein’s office to protest pro-Israel policy on Gaza siege, 2014.
“Too many people who are with us are afraid. Ultimately nonviolence is the only thing that has ever won out.” (Haaretz, May 11, 2018)
“There can and will be no peace in the Middle East until there is genuine peace in the lands called Israel and Palestine; and that will only come with equal rights, security and justice for all who live there. For that to become a reality, the status quo has got to go.” (Mondoweiss, Aug. 20, 2014; photo memory alpha)
Dorothy Cotton born Goldsboro, NC January 5, 1930 (d. 2018). Civil rights leader. Education Director, Southern Christian Leadership Conference; tear-gassed by US bombers on visit to Vietnam for Fellowship of Reconciliation.
“I think I lived through the period where we thought we'd get the whole world understanding nonviolence. . . We became the big model for the world. . . We take some pride in that.” (Rob Montana interview, Feb. 2, 2011)
“If a house is burning, and bucket of water is thrown on the blaze and doesn't extinguish the fire, this doesn't mean that water won't put out fire. It means we need more water. And so with nonviolence.”
“The powerful weapon of love and nonviolence that must be used to right the wrong. . . I believe this tool, this philosophy, this spirit and way of nonviolence will successfully take us to the next leg of our journey toward wholeness. I hope the study of nonviolence will become a basic part of the curriculum of our public education system. I’m convinced nonviolence can be successful in working for positive change in our relations with other countries right now.” (If Your Back’s Not Bent, p 5; photo pdaspeaker)
Fanny Jackson Coppin born Washington DC January 8, 1837 (d. 1913). African-American educator; taught Greek, Latin and mathematics. Born a slave. First African-American school principal, 1869. Delegate to missionary conference, London, 1888; followed by European tour. Missionary to Cape Town, South Africa, where she founded Bethel Institute. Spoke at World’s Congress of Representative Women, Chicago, 1893.
“Love wins when everything else will fail. You say that your child resists all your efforts to break him of his bad habits and make him become good. Have you tried kindness? Have you tried love?” (Reminiscences, p. 58)
On Violence in South Africa: “Much wisdom and patience will be required on the part of our ministers and teachers lest they should add to the spirit of unrest that comes of injustice and proscription. Wisdom dictates that by all means a conflict between the races should be avoided. The Europeans, armed and drilled, would have the advantage of all others, and there could be but one result. The Kingdom of God does not proceed in its conquests by the employment of carnal weapons, and right can afford to be patient because it is bound to win in the end.
”The native people have had enough of war. Their vocation in the ages past was to war among themselves, and it would not be difficult to impress them that that is not the way to right their wrongs. But the new life which we offer them is the life of peace and good will.” (Reminiscences, pp. 132-33; photo blackamerica.com)
Jacqueline "Jackie" Cabasso born New York September 10, 1952. Anti-nuclear weapons activist; speaker at NGO conferences on nuclear weapons in China, Brazil, Israel, India. NGO representative to international conferences, 1991-2014. 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. Core organizer of 40,000-person New York No Nukes! No Wars! March, May 1, 2005; led International Conference for a Nuclear-Free, Peaceful, Just and Sustainable World, NY, 2010. Arrested 50+ times for nonviolent resistance in protest of American nuclear weapons at locales including Livermore Lab, Nevada Test Site, and the White House. Received Sean MacBride Peace Prize, 2008.
"[G]lobal elimination of nuclear weapons is an imperative for our collective survival. And we know that the 'ultimate' elimination of nuclear weapons will never happen unless we demand it now." (Common Dreams, Nov. 25, 2008)
Mary Whiton Calkins born Hartford, CT March 30, 1863 (d. 1930). Pacifist; professor of psychology and philosophy; first female president of the American Psychological Association. Member of Fellowship of Reconciliation; member of WILPF. Defended Sacco and Vanzetti in print; advocated pacifism in World War I; believed in the ethical duty of loyalty to the universal community.
“[T]he devotion of man to the universal community is no mystic attitude but practical service.” (Good Man & the Good, 1918, p. 59; photo feministvoices.com)
Kay Camp (née Katherine Lindsley) born Mt. Kisko, NY July 10, 1918 (d. 2006). Quaker International president of WILPF 1974-80; led opposition to Vietnam War and nuclear weapons; first meeting of Russian and American women 1961; led delegation to Vietnam for Vietnamese women peace agreement 1971; led human rights visit to Chile 1974; US delegate to UN Disarmament meeting 1978; 3 years UNESCO commissioner 1980-2; created Stop the Arms Race (S.T.A.R) campaign 1980; war tax resister; arrested for trying to see President Reagan 1983.
"Wars must end in the minds of women." (Peace & Freedom, p. 32, Fall 2006; photo Swarthmore.edu)
Rev. Joan Brown Campbell born Youngstown, OH November 13, 1931. Global Peace Initiative of Women, 2002; US director of World Council of Churches; peace missions to South Africa, Cuba, Serbia.
"Compassion is a dangerous dream because it rocks the foundations of old interests and gives us new ground to stand on." (Gandhi Ashram, Penang, TED blog, Nov. 12, 2009; photo Charter for Compassion)
Caroline Canafax (née Newberger) born Seattle, WA February 17, 1921 (d. 2011). Peace teacher and activist. International Vice-President of WILPF; sang against war with Raging Grannies. Founding editor of Pacific Vision newsletter focused on Asia-Pacific region, 1987.
Sharon Capeling-Alakija born Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, Canada May 6, 1944 (d. 2003). Director of United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) 1989-94; Director of UN Volunteers 1998ff; Canadian volunteer teacher in Tanzania and Barbados 1964.
"All of us. . . know about the positive energy that can be set free when lives are touched by people who care. . . Care is at the core of the concept of community." (Aug. 23, 2001, UN Volunteers; photo Univ. Sask.)
Rachel Carey-Harper born San Jose, CA November 25, 1950. Quaker; founder of Clothesline Project against violence towards women, Hyannis, 1990.
"A nonviolent education requires skills in conflict resolution that benefits not only our relationship to other countries but most important, our relationship to each other. It develops attitudes and behaviors that foster constructive problem solving and truth. . . an anti-war perspective deserves at least equal weight to the one that advocates killing, destruction and propaganda." (draft minute re: Beth Verani, June 24, 2010)
Lucy Perkins Carner born York, PA November 30, 1883 (d. 1989). Quaker social worker and pacifist leader. Active in Fellowship of Reconciliation, WILPF, War Resisters League, and American Friends Service Committee. Refused taxes for Vietnam War. Demonstrated against germ warfare, Fort Detrick, 1968.
“That method leading to understanding and persistent good will across all barriers, and, underlying it, loyalty to one’s own conviction at whatever cost—these qualities are as much needed today as much as they were in the days of Jane Addams.” (“Incorrigible Jane Addams”, The Rotarian, Sept. 1965, p. 43; photo Swarthmore College Peace Collection)
Rosamond Carr (née Halsey) born South Orange, NJ August 28, 1913 (d. 2006). Humanitarian. Returned to Rwanda after evacuation to found Imbabzi ("a place where you will find all the love a mother would give.") orphanage for 300 children after Rwanda genocide 1994.
Confronted with spear-bearing mob seeking an enemy: “You don’t mind killing old women. . . If you want to kill someone, here I am. Kill me.” (“Land of a Thousand Hills: My Life in Rwanda”, 1999; photo New York Times)
Vikki Carr (née Florencia Bisenta Cardona) born El Paso, TX July 19, 1941. Bilingual singer, philanthropist; donor of scholarships for Hispanic students.
"I want to help Hispanic students realize their dreams by assisting their efforts to pursue higher education." (Vikki Carr Scholarship Foundation; photo imdb.com)
Rachel Carson born Springdale, PA May 27, 1907 (d. 1964). Ecologist and marine biologist; author of Silent Spring, 1962.
“Until we have the courage to recognize cruelty for what it is—whether its victim is human or animal—we cannot expect things to be much better in this world. We cannot have peace among men whose hearts delight in killing any living creature. By every act that glorifies or even tolerates such moronic delight in killing, we set back the progress of humanity.” (to Fon Boardman, March 1, 1952, in Linda Lear; photo Wikipedia)
Women in Peace
is dedicated to highlighting the achievements of extraordinary, peacemaking women from around the world.
