Louise M. Slaughter

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Overview

Louise McIntosh Slaughter born Lynch, KY August 14, 1929 (d. 2018). "Most liberal" Democratic congresswoman 1987; opposed Iraq War; favored impeaching president for deception; opposed missile defense and landmines.

Quotations

"I'm not happy about expanding the [Afghanistan] war. It's the kind of war where you know no one's going to surrender, so I don't know how they'll ever going to decide they won. It's like this open-ended [war] that could just go on forever." (Dec. 29, 2009; photo democratandchronicle.com)

Cora Ann Slocomb

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Overview

Cora Ann Slocomb, Countess of Brazza, born New Orleans, LA January 7, 1862 (d. 1944). American-born wife of Italian Count of Brazza; president of International Postal Union, 1897. Defended immigration; organized earthquake relief; saved a woman from capital punishment; lectured on peace and international arbitration; invented the yellow, purple and white peace flag later adopted by the International Peace Bureau.

Eleanor Smeal

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Overview

Eleanor Smeal (née Cutri) born Ashtabula, OH July 30, 1939. Founded Feminist Majority 1987 supporting women's equality, reproductive rights and non-violence; President of NOW 1977-82; opposed Vietnam War and Iraq War 2002; arrested 1987 at protest at Vatican embassy DC; arrested at White House 1992 for abortion protest.

Quotations

"We have led peace efforts in Ireland and we can lead peace efforts in Afghanistan that bring about a permanent peace with democracy and restoration of full human rights for women." (CNN, Aug. 21, 1998; photo Wikipedia)

Lillian Smith

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Overview

Lillian Smith born Jasper, FL December 12, 1897 (d. 1966). American writer and social critic. Author of best-selling anti-segregation novel Strange Fruit (1944) and essay collection Killers of the Dream (1949). Wrote FOR pamphlet “The White Christian and His Conscience”, 1945. Bayard Rustin credited her for getting him to teach Martin Luther King Jr. nonviolence.

Quotations

“Only through persuasion, love, goodwill, and firm nonviolent resistance can the change take place in our South.” (to Martin Luther King, Jr., March 19, 1956)

“[F]reedom is a hard thing, that change means inner as well as outer change, that nonviolence has to do as much with truth as with love.” (preface, Our Faces, Our Words, 1964; photo Wikipedia)

Patti Smith

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Overview

Patti Smith born Chicago, IL December 30, 1946. Rock singer and songwriter; antiwar activist. Spoke and sang against Iraq War; outspoken critic of Afghan War. Memorialized Rachel Corrie in "Peaceable Kingdom", 2003; decried Israeli aggression in Lebanon in "Qana", 2009; railed against Guantanamo in "Without Chains", 2009.

Quotations

“When the cold war was escalating, and I was a child, I thought it was a totally stupid game. Then, when all that fell apart, we need a new enemy. Now we have terrorism. It's a state of mind, not a tangible enemy. It's just a game." (Simon Hattenstone interview, May 25, 2013)

“The people have the power
Vengeful aspects became suspect
and bending low as if to hear
and the armies ceased advancing
because the people had their ear
and the shepherds and the soldiers
lay beneath the stars
exchanging visions
and laying arms
to waste
in the dust”

(“People Have the Power”, 1988)

Nancy Soderberg

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Overview

Nancy Soderberg born San Turce, Puerto Rico March 13, 1958. American diplomat. National Security Council, 1992-97; UN representative, 1997-2001. Advocate for human rights and peace in Ireland.

Quotations

“Bush thought we would invade Iraq and democracy would blossom all around the Arab world. That did not happen.” (It's a Free Country, Feb. 15, 2011)

“Women are an under-utilized positive force for peace.” (Oct. 24, 2000, State Dept. release; photo Wikipedia)

Anna Sokolow

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Overview

Anna Sokolow born Hartford, CT February 9, 1910 (d. 2000). American dancer and choreographer. Produced “Anti-war Trilogy” at the First Anti-War Congress, sponsored by the American League Against War and Fascism, 1933. Established Mexico's first modern dance academy, 1939. Created other anti-war productions including: “Inquisition '36”, “Excerpts from a War Poem”, and “Slaughter of the Innocents” about the Spanish Civil War. Illustrated the sorrow of the Holocaust in “Dreams”, 1963.

Quotations

“Art should be a reflection and a comment on contemporary life. . . The artist should belong to his society. . . yet without feeling that he has to conform to it. . . Then, although he belongs to his society, he can change it, presenting it with fresh feelings, fresh ideas.” (Jewish Virtual Library)

Rebecca Solnit

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Overview

Rebecca Solnit born Bridgeport, CT June 24, 1961. American peace activist author who recorded her participation in anti-nuclear movement: Nevada test site; opposed Vietnam War, Iraq War.

Quotations

“We were not against the US and for Iraq; we were against the war, and many of us were against all war, all weapons of mass destruction—even ours—and all violence, everywhere. We are not just an antiwar movement. We are a peace movement.” (TomDispatch, May 19, 2003; photo inthesetimes.com)

Hannah Greenebaum Solomon

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Overview

Hannah Greenebaum Solomon born Chicago, IL January 14, 1858 (d. 1942). Social reformer; associate of Jane Addams; member of WILPF. Organized World's Parliament of Religions, 1890; delegate to International Council of Women, 1904.

Quotations

"Declaration of war! I had been one who dreamed of our being able to plan a better world; one promising freedom from the tyranny of force, forever." (Autobio., p. 177; photo http://bit.ly/y5qDru)

Susan Sontag

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Overview

Susan Sontag (née Rosenblatt) born New York, NY January 16, 1933 (d. 2004). Essayist; opposed Vietnam War, made trip to Hanoi, 1967; lived in Sarajevo during siege, 1993.

Quotations

"War-making is one of the few activities that people are not supposed to view 'realistically.'" (AIDS and Its Metaphors, 1988).

"I'm sickened by the way that the delivery of so-called humanitarian aid is once again as a justification—or cover—for war." (Salon interview, Oct. 16, 2001)

Gillian Martin Sorensen

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Overview

Gillian Martin Sorensen born Columbus, OH March 4, 1941. UN Foundation leader. UN Undersecretary for Information & Public Policy, 1993-97; UN Assistant Secretary for External Affairs, 1997-2003.

Quotations

“There’s a lot of experience here from women on the front lines. . . women who have moved from being victims of war to being architects of peace.” (Harvard Crimson, Nov. 12, 2002; photo Wikipedia)

Rosalie Sorrels

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Overview

Rosalie Sorrels born Boise, ID January 1, 1933. Anti-Vietnam War folk singer; sang protest songs "Enola Gay," "I Will Not Obey," "Trooper's Lament," "Killing Ground."

Quotations

"Give us your sons and give us your daughters;
No one is safe or immune from the slaughter.
How indifference makes them rage.
What can one say?
I will not obey."

("I Will Not Obey"; 1966 photo http://bit.ly/wy7Is0)

Mira Sorvino

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Overview

Mira Sorvino born Manhattan, NY September 28, 1967. American actress; UN Goodwill Ambassador to combat human trafficking 2009-12; Amnesty International envoy and award winner; appealed to Congress to support UN peacekeepers in Darfur 2006.

Quotations

“We have all chanted, 'Never Again' in response to various mass atrocities that have occurred in the past century. . . Unfortunately, 'again' is now." (to House Int. Affairs, Sept. 20, 2006)

"What we need are people who are brave enough to stand up to these forces [of violence against women]. It's really this monumental fight and we have no resources, but we have the heart." (seawolfliving, Feb. 3, 2016; photo People Magazine, Jan. 21, 2006)

Thankful Hussey Southwick

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Overview

Thankful Hussey Southwick born Portland, ME July 3, 1792 (d. 1867). Co-founder of world's first nonviolent society, New England Non-Resistance Society Boston 1838; active abolitionist and suffragist Quaker; president of Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society.

Quotations

"We register our testimony, not only against all wars, whether offensive or defensive, but all preparations for war. . ." (Declaration of Sentiments, Sept. 20, 1838, in Wendell Phillips Garrison, William Lloyd Garrison 1805-1879, vol. II, p. 231, 1885; photo Mass. Hist. Society)

Anna Garlin Spencer

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Overview

Anna Garlin Spencer born Attleborough, MA April 17, 1851 (d. 1931). Unitarian minister; suffragist. Co-founded American Anti-imperialist League, opposing Spanish American War, 1898. Co-founded American School Peace League for peace education, 1908. Early supporter of NAACP, 1909. Vice-chair and co-founder of Women's Peace Party against World War I, 1915. Opposed “Star Spangled Banner” on the grounds that it promoted war. Founding member and National Chair of WILPF, 1919-20.

Quotations

“As women, we feel a peculiar moral passion of revolt against both the cruelty and the waste of war.” (preamble to Women’s Peace Party Program for peace, Jan. 11, 1915, in Carrie Foster, Women and the Warriors, 1995, p. 12)

“[T]he time has come when women are tired of producing cheap cannon food. No man has a right to speak for himself and a woman on the question of peace. He can speak for himself, but he must let the woman speak for herself." (feminism101.com; photo bellstreetchapel.org)

Fanny Bixby Spencer

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Overview

Fanny Bixby Spencer born Long Beach, CA November 6, 1879 (d. 1930). Pacifist poet, essayist, and playwright. Wealthy socialite; socialist; Tolstoyan Unitarian. Published pacifist works "Non-Resistance", 1917, "The Revolutionary Non-Resistant", 1919, and play "The Jazz of Patriotism", 1920. Blacklisted for opposing WWI.

Quotations

"[T]o exalt patriotism without exalting war at the same time is something like going out to swim without going near the water." (The Repudiation of War, 1922, in L.A. Times, Oct. 16, 1988)