Ruth Morgan

Overview

Ruth Morgan born Staatsburg, NY October 12, 1870 (d. 1934). Peace lobbyist. Chair, International Alliance of Women's Committee for Peace and the League of Nations, Geneva, 1926. Chair, Department of International Cooperation for the Prevention of War, National League of Women Voters, which supported World Court, 1924, and Kellogg-Briand Pact, 1928.

Quotations

“The great proposal of the Secretary of State to enter into a general treaty which shall renounce war as an instrument of policy is so challenging as to almost escape our understanding. We mean, however, not only to understand but to support it with all our strength.” (New York Times, Apr. 28, 1928; photo library of congress, 1924)

Betty Reid Mandell

Overview

Betty Reid Mandell born Denver, CO November 4, 1924 (d. 2014). Professor of social work. Editor of democratic socialist journal New Politics. Opposed Vietnam War, Iraq Wars, Gaza bombing, hostility to Iran. (photo bostonglobe.com)

Mary Stone McDowell

Overview

Mary Stone McDowell born Jersey City, NJ March 22, 1876 (d. 1955). Quaker; Latin teacher fired for refusing to promote war bonds in class. Co-founded Pacifist Teachers League opposing WWII, 1940; co-founded Peacemakers against Cold War and nuclear weapons, 1948. Refused war taxes.

Quotations

“I believe that war is wicked and contrary to our democratic faith. . . and it is also contrary to our Christian faith which teaches us to overcome evil with good. Moreover, in the atomic age and in an interdependent world, even victorious war could only bring disaster to our own country as well as others. War preparations and threats of atomic war cannot give us security. True patriotism calls for world-wide cooperation for human welfare and immediate steps toward universal disarmament through the United Nations.” (letter to IRS, 1954, in The Picket Line, “Non-Communist Demonstrators”; photo Mary McDowell Friends School)

Tamika Mallory

Overview

Tamika Mallory born New York, NY June 12, 1980. Civil rights leader. Organized 2017 Women’s March with nonviolence as its first principle; arrested at Trump Tower for Day Without a Woman protest.

Quotations

“On July 14th, Women’s March and partners will mobilize a mass demonstration, again grounded in the principles of Kingian nonviolence, to denounce the false and intimidating rhetoric of hatred and send a clear message that our movement will proudly and bravely continue to strive for the respect of the civil and human rights of all people.” (Facebook, July 17, 2017; photo womensmarch.com)

Gertrude Bustill Mossell

Overview

Gertrude Bustill Mossell born Philadelphia, PA July 3, 1855 (d. 1948). African-American journalist, editor, author, and teacher.

Quotations

“Always the cry of peace, peace, when there is no peace. We live in a hope of developing a manhood and a womanhood that will aim at a real and not a fictitious peace.” (Streitmatter, p. 43)

"Give women more power in the government offices if the desire is for peace and prosperity.” (Streitmatter, p. 45; photo Lockport Union Sun)

Janet McCloud

Overview

Janet McCloud (née Renecker) “Yet-Si-Blue” born Tulalip Reservation, WA March 30, 1934 (d. 2003). “Rosa Parks of the American Indian Movement. ” Native American rights leader; co-founder Women of All Red Nations (WARN), 1974. Convened Indigenous Women’s Network, 1985. Arrested for fish-in, 1965, 6-day fast in jail; vindicated in classic Boldt decision, 1964.

Quotations

“We needed to do something for the women. We are the backbone of our communities. Men are the jawbone.” (Jane Katz, ed., Messengers of the Wind, ch. 24; photo Seattle P-I)

Maya Menezes

Overview

Maya Menezes born Toronto, Canada March 20, 2004.  Canadian youth activist. Supporter of refugee cause; working to combat climate change.

Quotations

“What we’re trying to organize on the ground against is actually a rejection that some people are deserving of basic dignity and rights, and some are not. In the global climate crisis, we understand that most of the world either will be turned into a desert or will be uninhabitable, due to temperature, storm changes. We need to make sure that a climate plan that talks about decreasing emissions also has an open conversation that the borders must be open and people must have clear avenues to status and citizenship and safety in wherever they want to move to.” (Democracy Now!, Dec. 15, 2018; photo toronto environmental alliance)

Marichuy

Overview

Marichuy (née María de Jesús Patricio Martínez) born Tuxpan, Jalisco, Mexico December 23, 1963. Native American Nahua human rights activist; traditional healer. First indigenous woman to run for Mexican presidency; founded National Indigenous Congress, 1996.

Quotations

“We are standing up, we are standing up to fight. We are determined to risk everything, even death. But we don’t carry drums of war, but rather banners of peace. We want to partner with all the men and women who, upon recognizing us, recognize their own roots.” (Chiapas Support Committee, Oct. 17, 2017; photo mexiconewsdaily)

Jan Maher

Overview

Jan Maher born Huntington, IN February 10, 1946. Peace playwright; co-author Most Dangerous Women about WILPF peacemakers.

Quotations

“There is clear and compelling evidence that when women are involved in peacemaking processes, the peace last longer. And that is good for all living things. At a time when the planet upon which we all depend is in mortal danger from our human activities, it's time to listen to women for a change." (photo authorsguild.net)

Flora MacDonald

Overview

Flora Isabel MacDonald born North Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada June 3, 1926 (d. 2003). First woman Foreign Minister of Canada 1979; Pearson Medal of Peace 1999; President World Federalists of Canada; Chair International Development Research Centre 1992; Carnegie Commission on the Prevention of Deadly Conflict (1994-1999).

Quotations

"We must make a quantum leap in our ability and determination to prevent the deadliest forms of conflict because they are likely to become much more dangerous in the next several decades." (Exec. Summary of Carnegie Report, p. xlv; photo Parliament of Canada)

Svetlana Sotiroff MacDonald

Overview

Svetlana Sotiroff Macdonald born Geneva, Switzerland October 9, 1943. Canadian; Quaker pacifist; human rights lawyer; gay rights advocate.

Quotations

"'Love makes a family.' Whether a family is a loving and supportive place, or is a harmful place to bring up children, does not depend upon the gender of the parents." (Aug. 8, 2003, minute she quoted Feb. 1, 2005; photo MacDonald Evenden law firm ad)

Agnes Macphail

Overview

Agnes Macphail born Ontario, Canada March 24, 1890 (d. 1954). Pacifist politician; journalist. First female member of Canadian Parliament, 1921-40; first female member of League of Nations Disarmament Committee, 1929. Opposed World War I conscription.

Quotations

“The misery of being under observation and being unduly criticized is what I remember most.” (Judy LaMarsh, Memoirs of a Bird in a Gilded Cage, 1968; photo Wikipedia)

Marion Adams Macpherson

Overview

Marion Adams Macpherson born Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, Canada May 16, 1924. Canadian ambassador to UN, Sri Lanka, Zambia, Denmark; first career woman diplomat, 1947. Active in Canadian leadership in UN peacekeeping, admission of China to UN, and Namibian independence.

Quotations

On her experiences at the UN, dealing with the Suez crisis, Cyprus war, and Rhodesian secession: "We worked very hard. I think probably that [my work at the UN] was the most fascinating five years, the most interesting work."

Joanna Macy

Overview

Joanna Rogers Macy born Los Angeles, CA May 2, 1929. Anti-nuclear activist; Buddhist scholar; expert on Gandhian development program. Peace Corps volunteer in India, Tunisia, and Nigeria, 1964-66.

Quotations

"For some of us, our love for the world is so passionate that we cannot ask it to wait until we are enlightened." ("Exploring Our Interconnectedness", In Context #34, p. 22, Winter 1993)

"There comes a time when all life on Earth is in danger. . . two powers have spent their wealth in preparations to annihilate each other, they have much in common: weapons of unfathomable destructive power, and technologies that lay waste our world. . . Now the time comes when great courage—moral and physical—is required. . . These weapons are. . . made by the human mind, they can be unmade by the human mind. . . They arise from our own decisions, our own lifestyles, and our own relationships. . . The weapons are compassion and insight. . . They are gifts for us to claim now in the healing of our world." (prophecy of Choegyal Rinpoche in "World as Lover; World as Self"; photo greatthoughtstreasury.com)

Mary Maffeo

Overview

Mary Maffeo born Casper, WY January 6, 1921 (d. 2012). Catholic peacemaker; opposed nuclear testing. Aided refugees from war in Central America; served on Catholic international commission to end Vietnam War.

Natalie Maines

Overview

Natalie Maines born Lubbock, TX October 14, 1974. Lead singer of country group Dixie Chicks; protested Iraq War.

Quotations

"We don't want this war, this violence, and we're ashamed that the President of the United States is from Texas." (London, March 10, 2003; photo 2006 wikicom pd)

Theresa Serber Malkiel

Overview

Theresa Serber Malkiel born Bar, Ukraine, Russia May 1, 1874 (d. 1949). American Socialist organizer of women workers; opposed World War I; Women’s Peace Party executive; early leader WILPF.

Quotations

“The judges and the police make the mistake of their lives if they hope to stop us by keeping up this jail business—every arrest makes a firm convert to the cause.” (Mary, Diary of a Shirtwaist Striker; photo marxistsfr.org)

Julianne Malveaux

Overview

Julianne Malveaux born San Francisco, CA September 22, 1953. Economist president Bennett College 2007-12; critic of US foreign policy as terrorist; opposed Iraq War, supporting Million Man March 2005.

Quotations

“We all know that this war is built on a pack of lies. We all know the American people have absolutely lost any patience with the war that has cost us billions of dollars, heading into the trillion, with a war that has cost us more than 3,000 American lives, not to mention the number of Iraqi lives that there are.” (NPR Roundtable, April 26, 2007; photo blacklikemoi.com)

Amina Mama

Overview

Amina Mama born Kaduna, Nigeria September 19, 1958. African-American professor of women’s leadership; antiwar feminist; chaired Global Fund for Women; strong opponent of US militarization of Africa.

Quotations

“[I]f the US war on terror is the ‘father of all wars,’ Africa’s conflicts are his angry and rebellious offspring, sharing the same disrespect for borders and the close connections to private profiteering. . . All this gives African women particular cause for concern. It tells us why African women must take a stand in the transnational movement to dismantle militarism.” (50.50, Nov. 28, 2012; photo gws.ucdavis.edu)

Polly Mann

Overview

Polly Mann born St. Paul, MN November 19, 1919. Founded Women Against Military Madness (WAMM), 1982; opposed nuclear arms, terrorism, and wars in Central America, Iraq, and Afghanistan.

Quotations

"Militarism is itself not responsible for war. It is the mechanism, the servant, of a larger force—a force that is the dominant religion of American society. . . money." (Oct 1999, in Wild Reed, Nov. 29, 2009; photo Wild Reed)