Nancy Kurshan

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Overview

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Nancy Kurshan born Brooklyn, NY February 4, 1944. Co-founder of Yippies (Youth International Party), 1964; organizer of Mobe (National Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam), 1967. Arrested in Pentagon protest. Took part in all-women’s trip to North Vietnam, 1970; protested Iraq War, 2003.

Quotations

“Here we call it the Vietnam War. The Vietnamese more accurately call it the American War. After all, the U.S. was the aggressor. It was our troops that landed on their soil; our planes that bombed their cities and sprayed Agent Orange; our army massacred their civilians, women and children included.” (Counterpunch, Oct. 24, 2017; photo hdwallsource)

Mary Kelsey

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Overview

Mary Kelsey born St. Louis, MO June 15, 1877 (d. 1948). Pacifist; suffragist; writer for pacifist journal. Quaker relief worker with AFSC refugees in France WWI; fed German children postwar; founding Executive Secretary Honfleur Peace Conferences, 1923-25; early member Fellowship of Reconciliation.

Quotations

One of those who won the Peace Prize of 1947
Blessed are the Peacemakers, Children of God
(epitaph, Shirley, MA.)

“One would naturally suppose that the war with all its dreadful trend of misery and death and subsequent disaster and loss must have so impressed those who experienced it that there would be a spontaneous movement at its close to ensure its non-repetition. Nothing is further from the truth.” (“The Stigma”, The World Tomorrow, Nov. 1921, p. 332)

Dorothy C. Kahn

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Overview

Dorothy C. Kahn born Seattle, WA August 15, 1893 (d. 1955). International social worker; Chief of UN Social Welfare promoting human rights and economic welfare 1950-55; began biennial Report on the World Social Situation (RWSS); delegate to international conference on child welfare.

Quotations

"The ultimate social cost of poverty, ill health, and idleness are bound to be greater than the immediate cost of prevention and care." (Dec. 1940 report to Congress; photo Wikipedia)

Rebecca Kanner

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Overview

Rebecca Kanner born Cleveland, OH July 9, 1957. Mechanical engineer. Arrested three times for protests against the School of the Americas, Columbus, GA, 1997, 1999, 2000; sentenced to 6 months prison; arrested again, 2014.

Quotations

"I was inspired by the Jewish concept of 'tikkun olam.' Translated from the Hebrew, this means the just ordering of human society and the world—or more literally, the repair of the world. I was also inspired by the Jewish prophetic tradition of social justice. As a Jew, I am moved to work to repair the tragic consequences of the SOA." (court statement, May 22, 2001)

Mary Metlay Kaufman

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Overview

Mary Metlay Kaufman born Atlanta, GA November 9, 1912 (d. 1995). Nuremberg War Crimes prosecutor; opposed Vietnam War and Cold War; defended civil disobedience protesters.

Quotations

"I reject the inhuman and amoral values which dominate our priorities. I reject the notion that we are powerless to change the course and I ask that you join with me in the effort we need to make in reshaping our world." (Hampshire College, 1976; photo 1956 Smith Col.)

Florence Kelley

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Overview

Florence Kelley born September 12, 1859 (d. 1932). Quaker-raised social reformer; co-founded WILPF, NAACP, Womens Peace Party; opposed World War I; anti-imperialist; Socialist; suffragist; peacemaking colleague of Jane Addams.

Quotations

"When the vote is submitted to every citizen, man and woman, whether to said husband, son, and lover to war and when woman abandon their worship of the war-god, then war will cease altogether." (Geneva, NY, March 10, 1910; photo Wikipedia from intlawgirls)

Frances Alice Kellor

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Overview

Frances Alice Kellor born Columbus, OH October 20, 1873 (d. 1952). Internationalist; progressive reformer; expert on conflict resolution; Code of International Arbitration, 1931; advocate for the outlawing of war; founded National League for Protection of Colored Women, 1906; advocate for immigrants' rights.

Quotations

"The institution of war as a method of settling disputes is in itself an evil which has refused to yield to regulation or license; therefore it should follow the course of other institutions of destruction and be made a crime against the law of nations." (Security Against War, II:799, 1924; photo c. 1910 Wikipedia)

Florynce Kennedy

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Overview

Florynce Kennedy born Kansas City, KS February 11, 1916 (d. 2000). African-American radical feminist; lawyer; activist. Opposed Gulf War, Vietnam War, nuclear weapons. Member of the National Organization for Women (NOW), 1966-70.

Quotations

"The spending of our tax dollars by the Pentagon represents the greatest social disease of our country; I call it Pentagonorrhea." (Color Me Flo, p.18, 1976)

"The war in Vietnam was terrible on our financial fiber, it was death on our moral fiber." (Color Me Flo, p.95, 1976)

"We must have a moratorium on all nuclear proliferation and plants, everything. We must escalate the graffiti." (Harvard Crimson, Nov. 20, 1978; photo http://bit.ly/JJnqlM)

Corita Kent

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Overview

Corita Kent born Ft. Dodge, IA November 20, 1918 (d. 1986). Peace artist; Immaculate Heart nun; nonviolent Vietnam War protester, 1967; supporter of farmworkers; supporter of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Quotations

"We can create life without war."

"I admire people who march.
I admire people who go to jail.
I don’t have the guts to do that.
so I do what I can."
(Eye blog 35; photo corita.org)

Mary Day Kent

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Overview

Mary Day Kent born Easton, MD May 20, 1947. US WILPF Executive Director 1999- 2007; Quaker; led campaigns against Iraq War, nuclear weapons, foreign military bases; Amer. Friends Service Committee international programs; international education expert; president UN Assn. Philadelphia 2012.

Quotations

"'Thou shalt not kill' is a clear, forceful, and unequivocal expression of our deepest experience of peace." (March 7, 2003; photo UN Assn. Philadelphia)

Dorothy Kenyon

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Overview

Dorothy Kenyon born New York, NY February 17, 1888 (d. 1972). Lawyer, judge, and civil rights activist. Adviser to Versailles Peace Conference; member of League of Nations Commission on Women, 1938-43, and UN Commission on Women, 1946-50.

Quotations

“I am a lover of democracy, of individual freedom and of human rights for everybody, a battler. . . for the rights of the little fellow, the underdog, the fellow who gets forgotten or frightened or shunned because of unpopular views, but who is a human being just the same and entitled to be treated like one.” (Mar. 14, 1950, quoted at her memorial service, 1972; photo Wikipedia)

Q’orianka Kilcher

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Overview

Q’orianka Kilcher born Schweigmatt, Baden-Würtemberg, Germany February 11, 1990. Peruvian-German indigenous rights activist; actress, singer, songwriter. Arrested for protest at White House against Amazon oil, 2010.

Quotations

“I hope to contribute to a global warming of hearts and a climate change in human consciousness.”

“The things I do, I do from the heart and out of love and respect for our planet and all living things. And I draw my courage from my love for justice and truth and I calm my fears by comforting those who are more scared than me. And I try to do my best to make the world a better place, one small action at a time as good as I can. But it’s getting harder and harder to just mind my business because at some point, silence is betrayal and we have to speak up and stand up to power and find the courage to defend justice, compassion and all the values we stand for. . . .But I think humanity has been sleeping for way too long and it’s a good time for all of us to wake up and remember who we were meant to be.” (Feb. 2, 2013 Juan Caceres interview, IndieWire; photo zimbio.com)

Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick

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Overview

Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick born Detroit, MI June 25, 1945. Six-term U.S. Representative 1997-2011; Chaired Black Caucus 2007-9; opposed war in Iraq 2002; supported international organization and UN; Delegate to Nairobi UN Women's Conference 1996; for impeachment of Cheney for war crimes; for Dept. of Peace & Nonviolence.

Quotations

"I was against the war in Iraq from the beginning; I will continue to stand strong. . . The war in Iraq has cost us more than 3,500 of the lives America’s finest women and men. Over 20,000 more remain maimed and disfigured for life." (June 25, 2008; quote and photo from official website)

Carol Weiss King

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Overview

Carol Weiss King born Manhattan, NY August 24, 1895 (d. 1952). Human rights lawyer who defended unpopular immigrants.

Quotations

"We are all immigrants and the children of immigrants. Why then should we suddenly in our superiority turn away from the immigrant and hold ourselves better?" (1952, in Ann Ginger, Carol Weiss King: Human Rights Lawyer, 1895-1952, p. 91, 1993; photo Amazon.com)

Coretta Scott King

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Overview

Coretta Scott King born Heiberger, AL April 27, 1927 (d. 2006). Singer; wife and companion of Martin Luther King, Jr. Founding member of the Committee for a Sane Nuclear Policy, 1957. Performed in Freedom Concerts, 1964. Following the death of her husband, founded the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change, Atlanta, 1968. Opposed Iraq War and capital punishment.

Quotations

On joining WILPF: "[The] women of the world, united without any regard for national or racial divisions [could] become the most powerful force for international peace and brotherhood." (My Life with Martin Luther King, Jr., 1969, p. 209)

"The greatness of a community is most accurately measured by the compassionate actions of its members. . . a heart of grace and a soul generated by love." (Jan. 17, 2000; photo wikipedia)