Alice Tepper Marlin born Long Branch, NJ August 10, 1944. Economist. Received Right Livelihood Honorary Award for work in peace-centric ethical investment, 1990.
“I and many of my friends were inspired to commit our lives to breaking the cycle of poverty, and to end the war. We vowed to live more simply, to 'walk lightly on the earth.'” (Feb. 22, 2008; photo Right Livelihood)
Lenore Guinzburg Marshall born New York, NY September 7, 1897 (d. 1971). Jewish novelist, poet and pacifist leader of American Friends Service Committee; co-founded SANE 1956; WILPF activist. Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize supports world peace 1975.
"I am not embattled. I'm battling, and that makes life so much more interesting." (Sept. 25, 1971 obituary, New York Times; photo ebay)
Lucinda Marshall born August 9, 1956. American feminist and peace activist; poet and blogger. Founded Feminist Peace Network, 2001.
"[T]he same can be said for war—we’ve gone there so many times that it has become politically reflexive. When it comes to peace, however, we’ve had far too little practice." (Common Dreams, May 26, 2014; photo Feminist Peace Network)
Anne Henrietta Martin born Empire City, NV September 30, 1875 (d. 1951). Suffragist historian; author and journalist under the pseudonym Anne O'Hara. Jailed for suffrage protests London 1910, White House 1917; sentenced to Occoquan Prison; opposed both World Wars; Women's Peace Party 1915; first chair of National Woman's Party 1917; leader of WILPF Peoples Mandate against War; first woman to run for US Senate 1918.
"Equality for women is a passion with me." (Barbara Sicherman, Carol Hurd Green eds., Notable American Women: The Modern Period, p. 460, 1980; photo U. Nevada)
Elizabeth "Betita" Martínez born Washington, DC December 12, 1925. Radical Chicana leader and author; opposed US intervention in Central America; opposed "humanitarian" bombings of Kosovo and wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. One of the first UN employees, working under Ralph Bunche on the UN's successful decolonization, 1946-50. Headed New York office of Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC); took part in SNCC's Freedom Summer, Mississippi, 1964; first Chicana to visit North Vietnam. Peace and Freedom Party candidate for California governor, 1982; co-founded Institute for MultiRacial Justice, 1997; Nobel Peace Prize nominee, 2005.
"[B]uilding a multi-racial, multi-national, multi-lingual, multi-class movement is our best hope...for preventing illegal and inhuman assaults on the world's most vulnerable people. For holding back the most powerful, most frightening empire ever seen. For transforming society into a world of peace with justice for all living creatures." ("Why 'Anti-War' has to be 'Anti-Racist' too," Z Magazine, in Colours of Resistance Archive; photo Latinopia.com)
Caroline Atwater Mason born Providence, RI July 10, 1853 (d. 1939). Prolific author; raised a Quaker; lifelong pacifist who opposed World War I.
"[T]oday the greatest war of history is being waged with a total disregard to human life and a ferocity unparalleled in the annals of war; nations seem to have returned to primitive barbarism."
"For love in the end and not hate shall prevail." (World Missions and World Peace, pp. 2, 261, 1916) Photo umn.edu)
Elizabeth May born Hartford, CT June 9, 1954. Canadian environmental activist lawyer. Founded anti-nuclear Small Party, 1980; sued to prevent government application of Agent Orange, 1982; founded Sierra Club of Canada, 1989. Leader of Green Party, 2006; first Green Party member of Parliament, 2011.
"We will raise holy hell!" (against nuclear power, Sept. 2005; photo Wikipedia)
Judith Ann Mayotte (née Moberly) born Wichita, KS January 25, 1937. American humanitarian leader; former nun and theology professor. Special Adviser to US State Department on Refugees, 1994; Chair, Women’s Refugee Commission. Lost a leg from sack of grain dropped from plane, South Sudan, 1993. Received World Citizenship Award of Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, 2009.
"I have walked in so many war zones and so many refugee situations. I hope never again to see someone freshly blown up by a land mine. What I have seen. . . there has to be a way for that not to happen.” (Disposable People?: The Plight of Refugees, 1992)
"Conflict is part of life. How do you prevent conflict from tipping over into violence?"
"We've got to deal with preventive action, and to make prevention a cornerstone of our foreign policy. If we don't, we're going to have one refugee crisis after another." (Johns Hopkins Magazine, April 1997; photo It’s Ethics Stupid)
Elizabeth McAlister born Orange, NJ November 17, 1939. Leader of Vietnam War opposition; opposed all subsequent wars (Central America, Yugoslavia, Iraq, Afghanistan); 25 years Good Friday vigil at Pentagon; Catholic nun; wife of Philip Berrigan; co-founder of Jonah House Baltimore, 1973; activist, Plowshares nonviolent movement against nuclear weapons. Arrested many times; imprisoned for 3 years, 1983.
"I don't believe there is a better way to live than this life of nonviolent civil resistance." (Am. Univ., Jan. 22, 2000; Jim Haber photo nukeresister.org)
Jewell Jackson McCabe born August 2, 1945 Washington DC. Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) organizer for Northeast US; founder and first President of National Coalition of 100 Black Women 1981.
"[B]ehind every great effort and achievement in society goes a Black woman or a group of Black women being unrecognized." (New York Times, Oct. 26, 1981; photo dom.com)
Mary McCarthy born Seattle, WA June 21, 1912 (d. 1989). Author who revealed suffering of Vietnam War, 1967.
"In violence, we forget who we are." (Partisan Review, March, 1961; photo New York Times)
Mary Ann McClintock (née Wilson) born Philadelphia, PA March 28, 1822 (d. 1884). Quaker nonviolent resister. Co-founded Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society, 1833. Along with Jane Hunt, Lucretia Mott, Martha Coffin Wright, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, organized Seneca Falls Convention, 1848. Helped draft Declaration of Sentiments later signed at Seneca Falls Convention.
“We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men and women are created equal. . . ” (Declaration of Sentiments; photo amazon.com)
Helen McCloy born New York, NY June 6, 1904 (d. 1992). Journalist, author; Quaker. Wrote mystery novels under the pseudonym Helen Clarkson.
"Everything you do in war is a crime in peace." (A Change of Heart, 1973; photo Wikipedia)
Nellie Letitia McClung (née Mooney) born Chatsworth, Ontario, Canada October 20, 1873 (d. 1951). Canadian suffragist; novelist; legislator; delegate to League of Nations, 1938.
"Women have not had much to do with making wars, though some wars in ancient times have been blamed on them; and as men have written the histories we have never heard the woman's side of the story." (Book Rags bio; photo Wikipedia)
Alli McCracken born December 22, 1989. National coordinator for CODE PINK. As college student, arrested for assault on Defense Secretary Leon Panetta at congressional hearing by showing sign "FUND MY EDUCATION, NOT YOUR WARS," and vocal protest.
"Secretary Panetta, when are we going to stop funding war and start rebuilding America? We have been at war for almost half my life and guys my age have PTSD. My generation deserves better!" (Code Pink, October 17, 2011; photo Code Pink)
Catherine Waugh McCulloch born Ransomville, NY June 4, 1862 (d. 1945). Pioneer woman lawyer and influential speaker who led suffrage movement in Illinois; WILPF leader, lifelong friend of Jane Addams; opposed US imperialism in Philippines; advocated international arbitration; authored study of British colonies.
"I have great anxiety for the future. How can my daughter be saved from the white slave traffic?" (March 14, 1914 prayer, The Survey, p.752; photo evanstonwomen.org)
Gabrielle Kirk McDonald born St. Paul, MN April 12, 1942. "The most powerful African-American woman in the world." (Kitty Felde, HR Brief, vol.7, p.3); International lawyer. First woman judge of Yugoslav war crimes tribunal, Sept. 1993; served as its president, 1997-99. Judge on Iran-US Claims Commission.
"We must act and protect those who cannot protect themselves. If we do not learn the lessons from our troubled history, then we are doomed to repeat them." (Nov. 19, 1998 report to UN Gen. Assembly; photo ICTY)
Alexa McDonough (née Shaw) born Ottawa, Canada August 11, 1944. Social worker and politician. As leader of the New Democratic Party, opposed Iraq War. Fought Islamophobia, leading campaign for release of US detainee.
“I just think that Canadians want to hear loud and clear just like other countries have said that they will not be part of any U.S. aggression towards Iraq, period. . . [I]t is a gross absence of leadership on the part of the prime minister to just kind of shrug and say 'Sure, Bush, bring on the evidence and then count on us for a war.'” (Canadian Annual Review of Politics 2002, pp. 68-9; photo NNDB)
Gay McDougall born Atlanta, GA August 13, 1947. African-American human rights lawyer; head Global Rights, Partners for Justice 1994-2005; first UN Independent Expert on Minorities 2005; advised first South African elections 1994, and first government of Namibia 1990.
On attacks on Roma: "Where a hard core of extremism exists in society and is willing to perpetrate violence, the full force of the criminal justice system must be used to protect targeted populations." (UN News, Nov. 21, 2008; photo globalfundforwomen)
Mary Eliza McDowell born Cincinnati, OH November 30, 1854 (d. 1936). "Angel of the Stockyards." Associate of Jane Addams at Hull House; successful mediator in labor disputes and racial tensions; WILPF.
"We believe that God hath made of one blood all nations of men, and that we are His children, brothers and sisters of all." (IL History, April 1998, p. 43; photo with Jane Addams, ucservice league)
Women in Peace
is dedicated to highlighting the achievements of extraordinary, peacemaking women from around the world.
