Nancy Morejón born Havana, Cuba August 7, 1944. Leading Cuban poet feminist who opposed Vietnam War, Grenada invasion, Pinochet.
O shining Vietnam, if they bomb your sea,
bring your tree and your shield to the door of the country.
Slam it shut.
("In the Country of Vietnam", trans. Kathleen Weaver; photo Wikipedia)
Paula Moreno Zapata born Bogota, Colombia November 11, 1978. Afro-Colombian management engineer. Minister of Culture, 2007-10; founding president of peace-building organization Visible Hands, 2010.
"Young people have the challenge—and the responsibility—of changing the world. I believe we are living through a special moment today that I like to call 'the globalization of diversity'. . . [E]nding inequality and discrimination can be a basis for ensuring peace and prosperity for every Colombian citizen." (America's Winter, 2010; photo Viente afrocolombianos)
Irene Morgan Kirkaldy born Baltimore, MD April 9, 1917 (d. 2007). First person to defy bus segregation, Gloucester VA 1944 on Journey of Reconciliation; jailed and fined, but vindicated by US Supreme Court in Morgan v. Virginia 1946. Awarded Presidential Citizens Medal 2001.
"When something's wrong, it's wrong. It needs to be corrected." (Wikipedia, Irene Morgan; photo Wikipedia)
Laura Puffer Morgan born Framingham, MA November 22, 1874 (d. 1962). Mathematician; internationalist; educator; editor; math for disarmament and international conferences 1921, 1930, 1932; journalist at League of Nations; proponent of UN; founded Institute on World Organization, 1941.
"That the only alternative to recurring wars is a world organization ending the present international anarchy and establishing world order on solid foundations has come to be accepted as axiomatic by thinking people the world over." (World Affairs, Dec. 1941, p. 213; photo 1933 NYWorld, popart.com)
Robin Morgan born Lake Worth, FL January 29, 1941. American feminist; active in CORE, Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee; anti-Vietnam War; founded Sisterhood Is Global 1984.
“Speaking as feminists, we are opposed to any war in the Persian Gulf where young men and women lay down their lives in a conflagration whose cost in blood and dollars will be prohibitive. We remember Vietnam. . . This is not a war to defend democracy. . . This is not a war for any moral purpose, only for oil and power. . . For 20 years we have said war is a feminist issue; it still is.” (letter by Steinem, Millet and Atkinson, Jan. 15, 1991; photo women's media center)
Luisa Morgantini born Villadossola, Piedmont, Italy November 5, 1940. Leader of Italian peace movement; trade union leader. Co-founded Italian Women in Black. Spokeswoman for Italian Association for Peace; head of its Palestine Group working for peace, 1994-99. Member of European United Left/Nordic Green Left in European Parliament, 1999-2009; Vice-President of European Parliament, 2007-09. Injured by Israeli troops in Bilin, Palestine during nonviolent protest, 2008; arrested and beaten, 2010. Published Beyond the Dance of Death: No to War, No to Terrorism, 2004. Awarded Women in Black Peace Prize, 1995; Colomba d'Oro per la Pace (Golden Peace Dove), 2002; Rebuilding Alliance Peacemaker Award, 2008.
"We need an international UN observation and protection mission with peacekeeping troops to be sent to Gaza. . . Those under attack need protection and assistance. The international community has a duty to protect civilians, to stop the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories, put an end to house demolitions and the destruction of infrastructure." (Nov. 19, 2006 unispal.un.org; photo luisamorgantini.net)
Lina Morgenstern (née Bauer) born Breslau, Silesia November 25, 1830 (d. 1909). German Jewish feminist and peace advocate; educator; founded kitchens for the poor, 1866.
"We demand of state and society that they enables us [women] to realize our talents by admitting us to study like a man." (Patricia Mazon, Gender and University, p. 111; photo 1905 wiki)
Ruth Schachter Morgenthau born Vienna, Austria January 26, 1931 (d. 2006). American professor of international politics, specializing in African affairs; US delegate to UN; founded Food Corps International to combat world hunger.
"We must. . . give, not only take from Africa. . . work for general peace and progress, not just our own." (Africa Today, Dec. 1966, p. 24; photo http://bit.ly/GzRmPt)
Ottoline Morrell (née Cavendish-Bentinck) born Marylebone, London June 16, 1873 (d. 1938). British pacifist leader of Bloomsbury group opposed to World War I, gave farm work to conscientious objectors.
"I would like to do all in my strength in the years to come for the cause of universal peace." (to Bertrand Russell on outbreak of war, Aug. 7, 1914; photo Wikipedia)
Edita Morris (née Edith Toll) born Örebro, Sweden March 5, 1902 (d. 1988). Swedish-American pacifist author. Founded Hiroshima House of Rest with her husband for survivors of nuclear blast, 1957. Published popular novel The Flowers of Hiroshima, 1959. Published novel Love to Vietnam, chronicling the romance between a hibakusha war photographer and a napalm-burned Vietnamese girl, 1968. Following her death, her estate endowed the Hiroshima Foundation for Peace and Culture, 1989. Opposed nuclear weapons and the Cold War.
“Twenty thousand people lie at the bottom of the river. Like Mom, they rushed in flames in the waters. People come today to lay flowers on the surface of the river. It is the only tomb where they can bloom.” (The Flowers of Hiroshima; 1936 portrait by Von Dardel)
Sybil Morrison born January 5, 1893 (d. 1994). Pacifist; feminist; lesbian; chair of British WILPF. Jailed 6 months for opposing war, 1940; released book entitled I Renounce War, 1962.
"I suddenly saw that war made yet another impact on human beings; it deprived them of their humanity. I became a pacifist then and nothing has happened since to alter my conviction that war is a crime against God and humanity." (Kay Camp, Listen to the Women, p. 38; photo Wikipedia)
Elizabeth Cutter Morrow born Cleveland, OH May 29, 1873 (d. 1955). Internationalist; poet; mother of Anne Lindbergh. Promoted reconciliation with Mexico with ambassador husband Dwight; founded Food for Freedom; vice-president American Association for UN.
My friend and I have built a wall
Between us thick and wide:
The stones are laid in scorn
And plastered high with pride.
We TALK across the stubborn stones
So arrogantly tall—
Only we cannot touch our hands
Since we have built the wall.
Macy Morse (née Elkins) born Molalla, OR January 25, 1921. Founded New Hampshire Womyn's Peace Network, 1983; founded Seacoast Peace Response, 2001. Opposed Vietnam War, AVCO and Iraq War; arrested for Seabrook protests.
"My blood flows in all veins." (April 9, 2003, Newington Fivc trial, Portsmouth NH; photo http://bit.ly/wui5GA)
Margaret “Peg” Morton born Cambridge, MA October 31, 1930 (d. 2015). Quaker peace activist. War tax refuser, 1980-2015. Joined Pledge of Resistance against US war in Central America, 1980s. Sentenced to three months in prison for School of Americas protest, 2004; fined $500 for blocking state capitol steps, 2009.
“Taxes for Peace Not War!"
“We demand a vast reduction in the U.S. military spending. . . Is war tax refusal in itself effective? The Spirit in me is insistent. It requires me to refuse. I cannot know if my actions will be effective. Do we ever know? I publicly redirect my taxes to life-giving causes. . . Yes, my taxes are eventually levied, with penalty and interest. I have not stopped the gigantic war machine as it bulldozes over our society. But I have not passively or voluntarily supported it either.” (Western Friend; photo efn.org)
Blanche Rosalie Slaughter Morton born Lynchburg, VA October 28, 1876 (d. 1968). Internationalist; doctor for hospitals and schools in Serbia; President of Zonta; founder of American Women's Hospitals, 1917.
"International and cooperative peace will dawn upon the earth when every life is accorded value for survival instead of applause for extinction." (A Woman Surgeon, p. 355)
Margaret Moseley (née Smith) born Dedham, MA August 11, 1901 (d. 1997). Peace, civil rights and community activist Boston and Cape Cod; state leader WILPF; marched at Selma.
"If we could get the nations of the world to subscribe to [the Universal Declaration of Human Rights], so they would have to bring their societies up to the point of living up to the requirements of the Universal Declaration, we would go such a long way to making the world much more peaceful, much more harmonious and much more just for humans." (Moving Mountains One Stone at a Time: Memoirs of Margaret Moseley, p. 17, 1993)
Carol Moseley Braun born Chicago, IL August 16, 1947. First African-American woman US Senator 1993-99; Ambassador to New Zealand, 1999; ran for President 2004 opposing Iraq War.
"The notion that we won the war against Iraq is like saying we won a war against Arizona. . . This was an exercise that could have been handled better with diplomacy." (NPR, May 6, 2003; photo Wikipedia)
Constance Baker Motley born New Haven, CT September 14, 1921 (d. 2005). First African-American woman to serve as federal judge, 1966. As civil rights lawyer, represented Martin Luther King, Jr., NAACP, and Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee; key lawyer in Brown vs. Board of Education.
“There appears to be no limit as to how far the women's revolution will take us.” (Equal Justice Under Law, 1998, p. 242; photo columbia.edu)
Lucretia Mott (née Coffin) born Nantucket, RI January 3, 1793 (d. 1880). Quaker nonviolent abolitionist and feminist. Co-organized the Seneca Falls Convention; co-founded Swarthmore College. Described as "the greatest American woman." (Hare)
"Mind acting on mind is of much greater force than brute force contending against brute force." (Sermon, June 6, 1860)
"Wars shall eventually 'cease to the ends of the earth'—for when once Nations shall be convinced, that retaliatory punishments should not be inflicted for great crimes, how much less disposed will they be, to resort to the sword in settlement of disputes, or for points of honor." (Letter to Combes, May 25, 1855; portrait Wikipedia)
Jacqueline Moudeina born Kouma, Chad April 17, 1957. First Chadian woman lawyer; human rights activist; began suit of 7 women against dictator Hissène Habré for genocide 2000; wounded by grenade in peaceful protest 2001; Ennals Human Rights Defender 2004; Right Livelihood award 2011.
“I have tried to conquer the fear. I no longer have the word fear in my vocabulary. It is a real struggle on a daily basis. I am working with women who can’t understand why the dreadful atrocities they experienced are not being recognised by the court.” (Lyndsey Unwin interview, Sept. 2011; photo rightlivelihood)
Women in Peace
is dedicated to highlighting the achievements of extraordinary, peacemaking women from around the world.
