June 13

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Women peacemakers born today

  • 1812 Anne Warren Weston born Weymouth, MA (d. 1890). Co-founded first nonviolence society, Boston, 1838; proposed world's first nonviolence newspaper, The Non-Resistant.

  • 1873 Mary Emma Woolley born South Norwalk, CT (d. 1947). First American woman diplomat at major international conference, Geneva Disarmament, 1932. President of Mt. Holyoke College, 1900-32; vice-president of American Peace Society, 1907-13.

  • 1897 Mimi Sverdrup Lunden born Solund, Norway (d. 1955). Norwegian peace activist; feminist; educator, author, translator; anti-fascist 1930; promoted Nobel prize for Ossietsky; twice imprisoned WWII for aiding refugees; leader of Norwegian Peace Committee 1949; its principal delegate to International Peace Council Paris 1949.

  • 1913 Anissa Najjar (née Rawda) born Beirut, Lebanon, Ottoman Empire (d. 2016). Druze social worker and headmistress; vice-president international WILPF 1977; active in independence movement 1943-4; founding head Village Welfare Society, 1953; founding president WILPF chapter Lebanese Committee for Peace and Freedom (LCPF) 1961.

  • 1918 Margaret K. Bruce born Batley, Yorkshire, England (d. 2012). Human rights activist. Lifelong UN employee, 1946-77.

  • 1927 Simone Veil born Nice, France. "First Lady of Europe." First woman president of European Parliament, 1979; first woman winner of Charlemagne Prize for European unity and peace, 1981. Auschwitz survivor.

  • 1946 Nadia Younes born Cairo, Egypt (d. 2003). United Nations diplomat; chief of staff Iraq mission; killed in bombing UN office Bagdad; UN Chief of Protocol 1998-2002, organizing UN Millennium Summit 2000; led UN Kosovo information 1999-2001; World Health Organization External Affairs officer 2002; headed UN information office Rome 1993.

Women's peacemaking on this day

  • 1935 "Down with guns: A martial tone against the war" article started women's unarmed revolt against war.

  • 1976 International Conference of Nonviolent Women at Les Circauds, France.

  • 1996 Four Canadian women were arrested for protesting arms fair, Toronto.

  • 2012 Kandake strong woman Friday protest of Sudanese women led to arrests.

  • 2013 Patrisse Cullors, Alicia Garza, and Opal Tometi created Black Lives Matter.

  • 2014 In Havana, 90 Ladies in White arrested for protest.