February 21

Women peacemakers born today

• 1878 Mirra Alfassa born Paris, France (d. 1973). Follower of and successor to Indian spiritual leader Sri Aurobindo, dedicated to peace and global oneness. Known as The Mother by her disciples.

• 1936 Barbara Jordan born Houston, TX (d. 1996). African-American civil rights activist; lawyer and politician. Member of US House of Representatives, 1973-79.

• 1947 Tyne Daly born Madison, WI. Actress; peace activist. Participated in "The World Says No to War" before Iraq war, Washington DC, 2003; took part in March for Women's Lives, Washington DC, 2004.

Women's peacemaking on this day

• 1838 Quaker abolitionist Angelina Grimké became the first woman to speak before an American legislature, addressing the Massachusetts House to petition against slavery.

• 1966 Women's Response to the Rising Tide of Violence conference commenced in Philadelphia, PA.

• 1984 Sister Stacy Lynn Merkt arrested for aiding Salvadoran refugees; sentenced to six months in prison.

• 2014 Premiere of Universal Peace Foundation-sponsored documentary The Power of Mothers and Their Effect upon the World near UN headquarters, New York.

February 22

Women peacemakers born today

• 1875 Mary Barbour born Kilbarchan, Scotland (d. 1958). Labor organizer; pacifist; birth control advocate for married women. Organized "Mrs. Barbour's Army," comprising tens of thousands of women in nonviolent rent strike in Glasgow, 1916; founded Scottish branch of International League and Women's Peace Crusade protesting World War I, 1916. Established the Women's Welfare and Advisory Clinic, Glasgow's first family planning center, 1925.

• 1898 Thillaiyadi Valliammai born Thilliayadi, Tamilnadu, India (d. 1914). Satyagrahi martyr. Activist against South African apartheid policies. Arrested and sentenced to 3 months hard labor, 1913; died shortly after release on her 16th birthday.

• 1900 Meridel Le Sueur born Murray, IA (d. 1996). Socialist; feminist; author and poet; defender of poor and Native Americans.

• 1975 Drew Barrymore born Culver City, CA. American actress, producer, and director. World Food Program Ambassador against Hunger, 2007.

Women's peacemaking on this day

• 1297 St. Margaret of Cortona's feast day, the day of her death. Franciscan Tertiary who settled local quarrels and condemned militarism of Bishop of Arezzo.

• 1899 Celebration of Alliance of Women for Peace, Paris.

• 1914 Valliamah Moonsamy Mudaliar, first Satyagrahi martyr, died at the age of 16 from fever caught in Johannesburg jail where she was sentenced for her nonviolent protest of pass laws.

• 1944 Kasturba Gandhi died of a heart attack while under British captivity.

• 1943 In Munich, Sophie Scholl executed by Nazis for resistance.

• 1955 First meeting of Golders Green, Vera Leff, Marion Clayton, Agnes Simpson and three others, leading to eventual founding of Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND).

• 1967 Barbara Garson’s anti-Vietnam play "MacBird!" opened in Berkeley, California.

• 1983 Greenham Women swamped Newbury courthouse.

• 1986 Phillippine People Power Revolution begins with civil disobedience in Manila.

• 1995 Helen John sentenced to six months imprisonment for breaking 13 windows at RAF Menwith Hill base.

• 2001 First conviction for war crime of sexual slavery: UN Tribunal Judge Florence Mumba convicted three Bosnian Serbs for crimes of mass rape committed at Foča, 1992.

February 23

Women peacemakers born today

• 1787 Emma Willard born Berlin, CT (d. 1870). Educator. Founded first women's seminary, 1814; proposed Universal Peace, one of the first plans for an international organization, 1820; one of the first to aid women abroad, Greece, 1833.

• 1870 Marguerite Gobat born Delémont, Switzerland (d. 1937). Pioneering peace educator; journalist; feminist. Secretary of Universal Union of Women for International Harmony, 1915; co-founded Swiss WILPF, 1919.

• 1873 Meta Berger born Milwaukee, WI (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.

• 1889 Lucy Godiva Woodcock born Sydney, Australia (d. 1968). Australian pacifist; teacher; union leader; feminist. Voiced opposition to Cold War policies at peace conferences, 1954-55; promoted recognition of China.

• 1892 Sigrid Helliesen Lund born Kristiania, Norway (d. 1987). Norwegian Quaker humanitarian and peace activist. WILPF leader.

• 1903 Denise Durant born Jemappes, Belgium (d. 1969). Belgian feminist; socialist organizer; anti-militarist; pacifist.

• 1904 Helen Nearing born Ridgewood, NJ (d. 1995). Gandhian disciple; nonviolent theosophist.

• 1951 Ivonne Abdel-Baki born Guayaquil, Ecuador. Artist; diplomat; peacemaker. Instrumental in Peru-Ecuador peace, 1998. Presidential candidate, 2002; UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador.

• 1954 Nebahat Akkoç born Diyarbakir, Turkey. Turkish Kurd human rights activist; teacher; opposed military coup 1980; jailed 12 days tortured 1994; founded women’s center KAMER 1997; Heinrich Böll Alice Klein Human Rights Prize 2015; Mevlana Kinship and Peace Award 2005, Amnesty International Ginetta Sagan Award 2004.

Women's peacemaking on this day

• 1909 Second National Women's Day took place in New York. 2000 people met at the Murray Hill Lyceum to discuss equality for women.

• 1966 Police arrested Ruth Tinsley in Richmond, Virginia for lunch counter protest.

• 1986 81-year-old woman Mrs. Monzon, stopped tanks in Manila's nonviolent People Power Revolution. "Stop! I am an old woman. You can kill me, but you shouldn't kill your fellow Filipinos."

• 2012 UN Security Council held open debate on women, peace and security; Secretary General issued first-ever report on conflict-related sexual violence.

February 24

Women peacemakers born today

• 1535 Eléanore de Roye (d. 1564). Princess of Condé; peace advocate. Negotiated Treaty of Amboise, ending wars of religion, and granting rights to Protestants, 1563.

• 1894 Mildred White born Raisin Valley, MI (d. 1988). Quaker; teacher. Taught at Ramallah, Palestine, promoting nonviolence, 1922.

• 1942 Margaret Ann Hercus born Hamilton, New Zealand. Law professor; politician. First Minister of Women's Affairs, 1984-87; Ambassador to UN, 1988; UN representative to Cyprus, 1998; served on panel on UN Peace Operations, 2000.

• 1953 Jane Hirshfield born Manhattan, NY. Poet, essayist, and translator. “A Peace Benediction” dedicated at Zen Concert for Peace, 2012.

• 1957 Fauziah Mohd Hasan born Kuala Trengganu, Malaysia. Obstetrician. Undertook mercy missions to Kosovo, 1999; Maluku, 2000; Afghanistan, 2001-03. Captured by Israeli navy aboard Zaitouna-Oliva, the Women’s boat to Gaza, in attempt to aid Gaza, 2016.

• 1962 Fatoumata Maȉga born Gao, Mali. Malian peace activist; founding president Association des Femmes pour les Initiatives de Paix, Bamako 1998; chairwoman West Africa Network for Peacebuilding ; secretary general Peace and Security Network ECOWAS Women; head Mali PeaceWomen Across the Globe.

Women's peacemaking on this day

• 1911 Anna Mahé acquitted for crime of writing article as “antimilitarist mother.”

• 1912 Elizabeth Gurley Flynn led 20,000 textile workers in Bread and Roses strike.

• 1964 Barbara Deming was freed from an Albany, Georgia jail after 27 days to complete her Canada-to-Cuba Walk for Peace.

• 1984 "Mrs. Mops" (charwomen protesters) broke into Cornwall satellite dish.

• 2008 UN launched Gender Equality Architecture Reform (GEAR) campaign.

February 25

Women peacemakers born today

• 1902 Elizabeth Evans Baker born Montclair, NJ (d. 1990). Peace advocate; philanthropist. Sponsored peace programs at Juniata College, 1971, and Ohio State University, 1981.

• 1910 Millicent Hammond Fenwick born New York, NY (d. 1992). Politician and diplomat. US Representative, 1972-84; US Ambassador to UN Food & Agricultural Organization (FAO), 1983-87.

• 1932 Mary Eoloff born (d. 2014) Quaker teacher and peace activist. Founded Minnesota Pax Christi, 1980; co-founded Peace Studies Task Force.

Women's peacemaking on this day

• 1838 Angelina Grimké issued a report on the success of nonviolence efforts. "We Abolition Women are turning the world upside-down."

• 1980 German Women for Peace made appeal: “We women create peace! We do not arrange ourselves in rank and file, we dance out of line!”

• 1984 Rooftop Protest of Greenham Women at Holloway Prison.

• 1986 Corazon Aquino inaugurated president of Philippines following nonviolent People Power Revolution.

• 1995 Soldiers’ Mother’s Committee of Russia held international Congress "For life and freedom" against Chechen War.

• 1997 Rev. Cecilia Redner and Marija Fischer convicted of illegal entry in the Bofors Factory Protest. They entered the site to plant an apple tree and disarm a naval cannon destined for Indonesian military use in East Timor.

• 2015 In Caracas, Maria Corina Machado joined a march protesting the Venezuelan government's use of deadly force against a 14-year-old student protester.

February 26

Women peacemakers born today

• 1858 Lavinia Lloyd Dock born Harrisburg, PA (d. 1956). Internationalist; nurse; militant suffragist. Opposed World War I; arrested during suffragist activities for picketing the White House, 1917.

• 1878 Gabrielle Duchêne born Paris, France (d. 1954). French radical; pacifist; journalist; opposed imperialism. Founded French WILPF; organized national Peace Action Week, 1930, Women's Congress Against War and Fascism, 1934.

• 1904 Marie-Hélène Lefaucheux born Paris, France (d. 1964). Leader of women's resistance movement against Hitler; only French female delegate to the first General Assembly of the UN, 1946-59. Helped create the UN commission on women, and served as chair, 1948-53.

• 1950 Helen Clark born Hamilton, New Zealand. Professor of political science; leader of peace and disarmament movement. Prime Minister of New Zealand, 1999-2008; opposed US invasion of Iraq, 2003; first female head of UN Development Programme, 2009.

• 1950 Hunter Lovins born Ripton, VT. Pioneer in field of sustainable development. Recipient of Right Livelihood Award, 1983; delegate to UN conference on sustainability, 2002.

Women's peacemaking on this day

• 1911 On the fourth National Women's Day, Bertha Fraser delivered antiwar speech at Carnegie Hall.

• 1915 British Women met at Caxton Hall, London to plan for the WILPF.

• 1917 Rose Weiner of St. Paul fined $50 for alleged remark that she was glad the Lusitania was sunk and hoped other transports meet a like fate.

• 1982 Kuwaiti women won right of abortion, and marched for right to vote.

• 2002 Lindis Percy and Anni Rainbow arrested for protest at Menwith Hill, England.

• 2016 Guatemalan court found military officers guilty of sexual slavery in Sepur Zarco case. Judge Yassmin Barrios found Col. Esteelmer Reyes Girón guilty of crimes against humanity in sexual violence against 15 Maya women.

February 27

Women peacemakers born today

• 1869 Alice Hamilton born New York, NY (d. 1970). Physician; pioneer in industrial toxicology. Co-founded WILPF, 1915; went on peace mission to capitals of belligerent nations with Jane Addams; US representative to League of Nations Health Committee. Opposed Cold War and Vietnam War.

• 1917 Alona Elizabeth Evans born Providence, RI (d. 1980). International lawyer; expert on terrorism and extradition. Professor at Wellesley College, 1945; first female president of American Society of International Law, 1972.

• 1930 Joanne Woodward born Thomasville, GA. Academy Award-winning actress; peace activist. Co-founded non-profit organization Another Mother for Peace in opposition to the Vietnam War, 1967.

Women's peacemaking on this day

• 1910 Third celebration of National Women's Day, New York City. Billed as, "an anticipation day," women gathered outside Carnegie Hall to sing "La Marseillaise."

• 2017 Lindis Percy arrested for trespassing at Menwith Hill spy base, Yorkshire.

• 1960 Diane Nash arrested at the Nashville Sit-In, marking the beginning of the nonviolent sit-in movement.

February 28

Women peacemakers born today

• 1795 Sidney Ann Lewis born Wilmington, DE (d. 1882). Quaker; abolitionist leader. Founded American Anti-Slavery Society, Philadelphia, 1833.

• 1808 Sybil Jones born Brunswick, ME (d. 1873). Powerful Quaker orator. Founded Ramallah School in Palestine, 1869.

• 1856 Elizabeth Glendower Evans born New Rochelle, NY (d. 1937). Socialist; penal reformer. WILPF founding member. Publicized socialist causes, including the plight of Lawrence textile strikers, and the criminal trial of anarchists Sacco & Vanzetti. Sacco's last words, "Farewell, Mother," were addressed to her.

• 1942 Fidelma O'Kelly Macken born Ireland. First female judge appointed to the European Court of Justice, 1999-2004; Irish Supreme Court justice, 2005-2012.

• 1946 Valentina Melnikova born Moscow. Founding head of Committee of Soldiers Mothers of Russia (CSMR), 1989; chair of United People's Party of Soldiers' Mothers. Received Sean MacBride Peace Prize, 1995.

• 1954 Julia Sebutinde born Entebbe, Uganda. Trainer in peace and conflict resolution; Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), 1996. First female African judge appointed to World Court, 2012; presided over trial of Charles Taylor for war crimes.

Women's peacemaking on this day

• 1908 First National Women's Day celebrated in New York City by female members of the Socialist Party of America.

• 1915 Sweden celebrated Women’s Peace Sunday, organized by Anna Whitlock.

• 1918 Elizabeth and Margaret Paine forced by mob to kiss flag during World War I, Trenton, NJ.

• 1932 Maude Royden proposed a Peace Army to stop Japanese aggression in Manchuria.

• 1968 Auroville, a city in India dedicated to peace and unity, founded by Mirra Alfassa.

• 1993 Two women from the Global Peace Farmers organization arrested at Concord Naval Station.

• 2000 94-year-old Louise Franklin-Ramirez was arrested at Supreme Court in death penalty protest.

February 29

Women peacemakers born today

• 1736 Ann Lee born Manchester, England (d. 1784). Founding mother of nonviolent pacifist Shaker movement. Arrested for persuading men not to fight in American Revolution, 1780; accused of treason, jailed 5 months.

• 1860 Mary Hughes born London, England (d. 1941). “Friend of All in Need.” British social worker; Christian Socialist; lifelong pacifist. Denied exit for Hague Women's Peace Congress, 1915.

Women's peacemaking on this day

• 1960 Diane Nash spoke for nonviolent students protesters at Nashville sit-in trial; 16 students jailed.

• 1975 International Women's Year recommended to UN General Assembly by UN Commission on Women.

• 1996 Louise Arbour of Canada appointed UN Prosecutor for Rwanda War Crimes Tribunal by UN Security Council.