Jorie Graham

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Overview

Jorie Graham (née Pepper) born Brooklyn, NY May 9, 1950. Pulitzer Prize-winning poet. Harvard professor. Her collection of anti-war poetry Overlord portrayed Iraq War invasion in light of Normandy, 2005.

Quotations

Because there is no way to get the killing to end.

(“Omaha”, Overlord, 2005, p. 28)

 

we are among those left at the end—oh lucky few—how very special we are

in our seats, ticket in hand—among

the survivors—worth the price of admission.

(“Copy”, Overlord, 2005, p. 74; photo 92y.org)

Martha Graham

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Overview

Martha Graham born Pittsburgh, PA May 11, 1894 (d. 1991). "Mother of Modern Dance." Her one political production was the three-part anti-war piece "Chronicle," 1936. The first segment "Spectre 1914" recalls the blood of World War I; next, "Steps in the Street" shows the grief; the last section "Prelude to Action" demonstrates hopeful resistance to war.

Quotations

"Chronicle does not attempt to show the actualities of war; rather does it, by evoking war's images, set forth the fateful prelude to war, portray the devastation of spirit which it leaves in its wake, and suggest an answer." (original program notes, 1936; photo Wikipedia)

Dorothy Granada

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Overview

Dorothy Granada born Los Angeles, CA December 8, 1930. Nonviolent Filipina/Chicana nurse; 40-day international fast for life against nuclear weapons, 1983; part of group to protest disappeared Guatemalans, 1985; "lived on the tracks" of Concord weapons depot in Nuremberg protest, 1987; awarded FOR Peace prize, 1997; decade-plus efforts for Nicaraguan women.

Quotations

"Blessed are the poor and their friends, who together are building the beloved community where there will be no hunger, no violence, where the earth and all God’s creatures will live in peace and joy!" (Summit, NJ, Nov. 1, 2001; photo episcopalchurch.org)

Linda Gray

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Overview

Linda Gray born Santa Monica, CA September 12, 1940. Nonviolent activist actress, opposed to war; decade as UN Goodwill Ambassador 1998-2007, including mission to Nicaragua on children's health; chaired UNFPA's Face to Face Campaign, to raise awareness of women denied basic human rights, including reproductive health care and family planning.

Quotations

"My role is to meet people, listen to what they have to say and see what we can do to help." (NNDB.com; photo pressofatlanticcity)

Elizabeth Gray Vining

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Overview

Elizabeth Gray Vining born Germantown, Philadelphia, PA October 6, 1902 (d. 1999). Quaker; tutor to future emperor of Japan, 1946-50; committed civil disobedience against Vietnam War and Apartheid.

Quotations

"There is a spark of the Divine in every human soul draws together people of all races, all creeds, all nations, all classes.  That is why war is evil, and social injustice unendurable, why religion is incomplete without service." (http://bit.ly/xwpbd4; photo Wikipedia)

Lynne Greenwald

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Overview

Lynne Greenwald born Erie, PA August 3, 1949 (d. 2014). American anti-nuclear activist; protested Vietnam War inside Pentagon. Arrested for climbing onto missile, Great Falls, MT, sentenced to six months while pregnant, but released after one month,1982; led protests against missile carrying White Train; arrested for cutting three fences into Naval Base Kitsap, Bangor, WA, served 6 months prison, 2009.

Quotations

"It is important to note that while our circle of resisters have a wonderful network of supporters, we also remember all prisoners, everywhere, who daily suffer under this system of injustice." (disarmnowplowshares.wordpress.com, January 23, 2012; photo disarmnowplowshares)

Mary Gregory

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Overview

Mary Gregory (née Foster) born St. Paul, MN August 7, 1930 (d. 2005). American peace activist; potter and counselor. Protested nuclear testing, Nevada, 1950s. Anti-Vietnam War activist. Founding member, Clamshell Alliance, 1976. First arrest earned 3 months in jail, 1977.

Quotations

“I feel the Seabrook clear power plant would pose a clear and present danger to my children.” (Portsmouth Herald, Sep. 4, 1976)

Mary Grew

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Overview

Mary Grew born Hartford, CT September 1, 1813 (d. 1895). Leading Garrisonian nonviolent abolitionist woman public speaker and editor; delegate to World's Anti-Slavery Convention London 1840; feminist; 23 years president of Pennsylvania Woman Suffrage Assn.; 34 years Secretary of Female Anti-Slavery Society; opposed Mexican War; opposed talk of war over Oregon; saw Civil War caused by "Slave Power" in spite of 30 years efforts of abolitionists to end slavery peacefully.

Susan Griffin

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Overview

Susan Griffin born Los Angeles, CA January 26, 1943. Eco-feminist author. Condemned violence, including war, particularly civilian deaths. Published A Chorus of Stones: The Private Life of War, 1992.

Quotations

“These days I sense in myself a muted, almost inexplicable unease. The cause is not just global warming and a frail economy, but a shadowy sense that right now, just under the skin of public awareness, something terrible is occurring. . . bombs kill more civilians than terrorists. . . The fear of being attacked together with a sense of powerlessness disables our empathy with those that are being maimed and killed now. But the tide can be turned. Once we acknowledge the mutual danger we are in, the sleeping power of civilians all over the world can rise to stop these attacks, which are aimed in the end at all of us.” (Transforming Terror: Remembering the Soul of Terror, 2011, pp. 9, 15; photo susangriffin.com)

Nanci Griffith

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Overview

Nanci Griffith born Seguin, TX July 6, 1953. Folk musician. Supported anti-landmine campaign, 2000. Her song “Clock Without Hands” revisited Vietnam and Cambodia, 2001. Opposed Iraq War; criticized endless war, 2005.

Quotations

Almost a century the blood has flowed
We've killed our men of peace around this ball
And refused to hear their ghosts
We spend our destinies in deeds of hate
Humanity upon this ball
Is just a bloody fall from grace

We've killed our men of peace around this ball
And refused to hear their ghosts
We spend our destinies in deeds of hate
Humanity upon this ball
Is just a bloody fall from grace
And we all ride on
(We all ride)
This big blue ball of war

(“Big Blue Ball of War”; photo lyrics.wikia)

Angelina Grimke

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Overview

Angelina Grimké Weld born Charleston, SC February 20, 1805 (d. 1879). Garrisonian abolitionist; nonviolent pacifist; Quaker women's rights speaker.

Quotations

“If a law commands me to sin I will break it; if it calls me to suffer, I will let it take its course unresistingly.” (Appeal to the Christian Women of the South, 1836; photo http://bit.ly/JVGeMj)

Sarah Moore Grimke

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Overview

Sarah Moore Grimké born Charleston, SC November 26, 1792 (d. 1873). Quaker; nonviolent abolitionist; anarchist.

Quotations

"Jesus's 'Resist not evil,' has interdicted to his disciples all war and all violence, and taught us that the spirit of retaliation for injuries, whether in the camp, or at the fire-side, is wholly at variance with the peaceful religion he came to promulgate. How little do we comprehend that simple truth, 'By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.'" (letter to sister, Aug. 25, 1837; photo Lib. Cong. pd)

Hazel Grossman

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Overview

Hazel Grossman (née McKannay) born San Francisco, CA June 20, 1913 (d. 2007). Co-founder Women Strike for Peace 1961; organized San Francisco response; WILPF leader; opposed Vietnam War, Central America wars; at age 81 arrested San Francisco for Women for Peace protest re Israeli deportation of Palestinians 1993; fed 24-hour vigilers against napalm, 1966.

Quotations

“Not everybody can leave their families and be arrested or even spend hours cooking and bringing food to places like Port Chicago, but they can inform the public of why people in the peace movement feel they must place their bodies in front of napalm trucks.” (Andrea Estepa dissertation “Taking the White Gloves Off”, p. 224; photo legacy.com)

Martha Gruening

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Overview

Martha Gruening born Englewood, NJ January 22, 1889 (d. 1937). Jewish-American human rights lawyer and writer. “Brick in a Soft Hat”; arrested 1910 observing shirtwaist strike; suffragist; opposed World War I; arrested in No Conscription campaign 1917; edited pacifist magazine The Dawn; secretary and riot investigator for NAACP.

Quotations

On the massacre of blacks in East St. Louis: “I have seen this democracy at close range, and I know what it means. That is why I want the world made unsafe for it.” (“Speaking of Democracy”, Mother Earth, Aug. 1917; photo Gomez.org)

Alice Gordon Gulick

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Overview

Alice Gordon Gulick born Boston, MA August 8, 1847 (d. 1903). Opposed Spanish-American War 1898; founded International Institute for Girls, San Sebastian, Spain 1887.

Quotations

"What is needed is the spirit of tolerance, of appreciation of that which is good, at the same time that we deprecate the bad." (1898, in Elizabeth Gordon, Alice Gordon Gulick, p. 149, 1971; photo Mt. Holyoke College)