Gwen Hennessey

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Overview

Gwen Hennessey born Buchanan County, IA September 29, 1932. Catholic nun served 6 months in prison for School of Americas protest 2001; marched with Martin Luther King, Jr. in anti-racism demo Antioch IL, worked with Cesar Chavez in Calif; walked across US 1986 against nuclear weapons; Pacem in Terris award 2001.

Quotations

"We’ve always been taught that obedience to an informed conscience was higher than the law of man." (Chicago Tribune, Aug. 8, 2001; photo Morningside College)

Aileen Hernandez

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Overview

Aileen Clarke Hernandez born Brooklyn, NY May 23, 1926. Civil rights leader; feminist. Second national president of National Organization of Women, 1970-71; Nobel Prize nominee, 2005.

Quotations

"My comments to the thousands of persons at the peace march [the 1971 Another Mother for Peace march in Los Angeles] were directed not just against the Vietnam War, but against all war, against the masculine mystique which glorifies violence as a solution to problems, and against the vast diverting of American energies and resources from socially needed programs into social destructive wars." (feminist.com; photo Race, Poverty, Environment)

Emily Gregory Hickman

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Overview

Emily Gregory Hickman born Buffalo, NY July 12, 1880 (d. 1947). History professor; peace advocate; delegate to Universal Peace Conference, Brussels 1936; member of Shotwell Commission planning for UN; State Dept. expert at creation of UN 1945.

Quotations

"It is very essential that the United States delegation of five [to the first meeting of the UN] includes at least one woman." (Oct. 10, 1945, Judy Litoff & David Smith, What Kind of World Do We Want?, p. 228, 2000)

Julia Butterfly Hill

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Overview

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Julia Lorraine "Butterfly" Hill born Mount Vernon, MO February 18, 1974. Spent 738 days living in the redwood tree Luna in civil disobedience protest against logging practices.

Quotations

“Love in action has the answer. . . All life is created in love, and thus in the depths of every human being lies a good heart. Some have lost their path from this love, so it up to us to show them the way." 

Carmelita Hinton

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Overview

Carmelita Hinton (née Chase) born Omaha, NE January 1, 1890 (d. 1983). American internationalist educator; led Jane Addams Centennial; Hull House associate; founded Putney School, 1935.

Quotations

"[T]o strive for a world outlook, putting oneself in others' places, no matter how far away or how remote. . . so that one definitely progresses along the long slow road toward achieving a civilization worthy of the name." ("Fundamental beliefs," to Putney alumnae, May 1954; photo: http://bit.ly/H2ynys)

Jane Hirshfield

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Overview

Jane Hirshfield born Manhattan, NY February 24, 1953. Poet, essayist, and translator. “A Peace Benediction” dedicated at Zen Concert for Peace, 2012.

Quotations

“What poems give us is a way to feel through the underlying dilemmas, a way of recognizing that your own life and the lives of others are not in any way separable. If you don’t recognize that what happens to anyone happens to you, we will go on committing violence to one another.” (“How Can Poems Transform the World?”, Washington Post, May 13, 2015; photo literary-arts.com)

Madelyn Hoffman

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Overview

Madelyn Hoffman born Warren County, NJ November 8, 1956. Professor, peace activist, and environmentalist. Green Party candidate for New Jersey governor's race, 1997. Director of New Jersey Peace Action, 2000. Led opposition to Iraq and Afghan wars and nuclear weapons.

Quotations

“It is hard to imagine anyone but a believer in American exceptionalism concluding that U.S. military operations in the past 15 years have been applied wisely. It is equally as hard to believe that more of the same kind of 'wise application of military force' will actually lead to peace in the Middle East.” (Bloomfield Life, Jan. 29, 2016)

“Our culture of violence needs to be transformed to a culture of peace.” (NorthJersey.com, April 10, 2012; photo essexethical.org)

Elizabeth Holtzman

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Overview

Elizabeth Holtzman born Brooklyn, NY August 11, 1941. Elected 1973 to Congress on anti-Vietnam War platform; youngest woman elected to Congress, age 31; opposed capital punishment and Apartheid; sued Nixon for bombing Cambodia 1973; advocated impeaching Bush for Iraq War.

Quotations

"The people of the world have a right not to see life jeopardized by nuclear holocaust, and that means not only Russian life and American life but all life on this earth." (April 11, 1978, Congressional speech; photo Wikipedia)

Cheri Honkala

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Overview

Cheri Honkala born Minneapolis, MN January 12, 1963. Vice-presidential candidate for Green Party 2012, winning 469,504 votes. Ran on platform of nonviolence; anti-poverty activist, using nonviolent direct action; arrested for building homeless shacks 1997; organized 300 mile March of the Americas poor DC to UN Oct. 1999; ran for sheriff of Philadelphia 2011 opposing foreclosure evictions.

Quotations

“We’re all interconnected to each other and to the environment and the universe. We have a responsibility to learn from the people who have come before us and to pass on those teachings and to do it in a spirit of love.” (Tom Over interview, Free Press, Sept. 14, 2012; photo Wikipedia)

Jessie Jack Hooper

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Overview

Jessie Jack Hooper born Winneshiek, IA November 9, 1865 (d. 1935). Suffragist; peace orator; organized Conference on Cause and Cure of War, 1924; presented a million women's petition to disarmament conference, 1932.

Quotations

"I promised the boys in France that if they won the war this should be the last war." (Autobio, p. 224)

"War will not end war. No matter who wins, everybody loses. . . War is entirely emotional. It is insanity." (James H. Smith, p. 130; photo Oshkosh Museum)

Peggy Hope-Simpson

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Overview

Peggy Hope-Simpson born July 14, 1922. Quaker. Co-founded first women’s peace organization, Nova Scotia Voice of Women (VOW), Halifax, 1959. Voiced early opposition to Cold War and NATO; spoke against racism.

Quotations

"We all start off with a little spark of the divine, and it's there to be nurtured. We must respect that bit of divinity in others.You don't kill the sacred principle of life." (David Kattenburg, Peace Magazine, Aug. 1988, p. 30)

“Without Mother Earth how can we humans continue to be?” (Canadian Friend, Fall 2014, p. 19; photo youtube.com)

Mary-Louise Hopper

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Overview

Mary-Louise Hopper (née Fitkin) born Swampscott, MA June 12, 1907 (d. 1987). American civil rights activist; first white member of African National Congress; arrested Johannesburg 1957 for treason; jailed 5 days, deported.; major leader of international anti-apartheid campaign; Quaker.

Quotations

“For the Freedom Struggle is one—Mississippi, South Africa." (David Hostetter dissertation; photo africanactivist.msu.edu)

Zoia Horn

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Overview

Zoia Horn (née Polisar) born Odessa, Ukraine March 14, 1918 (d. 2014). American librarian jailed 21 days for refusing to divulge information about Harrisburg Seven antiwar protesters, 1972. Publicly opposed Patriot Act.

Quotations

“Toleration is meaningless without toleration for the detestable.” (Zoia! Memoirs of Zoia Horn, Battler for People's Right to Know, 1995, p. 123; photo 123people.com)

Zilphia Horton

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Overview

Zilphia Horton (née Johnson) born Spadra, Arkansas April 14, 1910 (d. 1956). Singer and composer of protest anthem “We Shall Overcome”. Labor organizer; music director of Highlander Folk School, which trained many civil rights leaders.

Quotations

“We will overcome, we will overcome someday. Oh, down in my heart, I do believe, we'll overcome someday.” (her version; photo nyfolklore.org)

Julia Ward Howe

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Overview

Julia Ward Howe born Manhattan, NY May 27, 1819 (d. 1910). After writing "Battle Hymn of the Republic" 1862 she became pacifist leader, founding Women's International Peace Association 1871, and first Mothers' Peace Day 1873.

Quotations

"Disarm, disarm. The sword of murder is not the balance of justice. Blood does not wipe out dishonor, nor violence indicate possession." (Mothers Day proclamation, 1870; photo janebernhardt.com)