September 26

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Women peacemakers born today

  • 1861 Lucy Biddle Lewis born Sharon Hill, PA (d. 1941). Quaker pacifist co-founder of American Friends Service Committee 1917 to provide young Quakers and other conscientious objectors to war an opportunity to perform a service of love in wartime; co-founder and President of WILPF 1922-24.

  • 1875 Mary Elisabeth Dreier born Brooklyn, NY (d. 1963). Labor reformer and suffragist leader; artist; arrested 1909 in shirtwaist strike; organizer of first antiwar parade 1914; chaired Women's Trade Union League’s Outlawry of War committee; associate of Jane Addams at Hull House; Indian rights advocate; opposed Cold War and nuclear weapons.

  • 1876 Edith Abbott born Grand Island, NE (d. 1957). PhD economist, daughter of Quaker; lifelong pacifist; Dean of Social Service, U. of Chicago; founded Immigrants' Protective League 1909; co-founded Women's Peace Party 1915; opposed World War II.

  • 1893 Freda Kirchwey born Lake Placid, NY (d. 1976). Editor and publisher of The Nation, 1937-1955; WILPF representative at UN 1955-9 supporting Universal Declaration of Human Rights and disarmament; pacifist in World War I; opposed nuclear weapons; critic of strategic bombing, as in Korean War.

  • 1900 Gertrud Luckner born Liverpool (d. 1995). German pacifist resister against Hitler; Quaker convert to Catholicism; rescued Jews in Germany until sent to Ravensbrück 1943 for 19 months; honored by Yad Vashem.

  • 1946 Claudette Werleigh born Cap-Haïtien, Haiti. Lawyer and diplomat; peace advocate. Secretary General, Haiti National Caritas, 1976-87. Haitian Foreign Minister, 1993-95. Haiti's first woman Prime Minister, 1995-96. Secretary General and Envoy, Pax Christi International, 2007-10.

  • 1963 Carolyn Nordstrom born Metter, GA. Professor of anthropology, specializing in war and peace.

  • 1982 Serena Williams born Saginaw, MI. Tennis star named UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador 2011; supported Ghana health team 2006 and school in Kenya 2008; relief for Haiti earthquake 2010.

Women's peacemaking on this day

  • 1909 International Ladies’ Garment Workers Union (ILGWU) began strike at Triangle factory.

  • 1983 Five Puget Sound Women's Peace Camp women arrested for leafleting against cruise missile at Boeing Seattle.

  • 1995 Dominican nuns Gilbert and Platte sentenced 30 days for trespass at John Hopkins Physics Lab for leaflet against nuclear weapons.

  • 2011 UN Women held Open Day on Women, Peace and Security in Tbilisi, Georgia.

  • 2012 The Women PeaceMakers celebrated their tenth anniversary, San Diego, CA.

  • 2013 World premiere of Nobel Women’s film Partners For Peace, Ottawa, Canada.

  • 2016 Cheri Honkala arrested for protest at presidential debate Hofstra Univ. asking Jill Stein’s participation.