Elsa Knight Thompson (née Elsie Knight) born Bonner’s Ferry, ID April 6, 1906 (d. 1983). Trailblazing antiwar broadcaster with Pacifica Radio/KPFA, 1957-74. Produced programming on civil rights and the Vietnam War.
"The truth is always left of center!" (Wikipedia; photo maggiesfarm.eu)
Mildred Thompson born Atlanta, GA November 27, 1891 (d. 1975). Historian; internationalist; only woman delegate to London Allied Conference on Education, 1944; drafter of UNESCO Charter, 1945; Dean of Vassar College, 1923-1947.
"Any activity for the planning for peace has engaged the interest and devotion of women. Therefore a conference the purpose of which was to aid education in the countries to be liberated as a means toward building peace, would naturally fall within the province of women's interests and qualifications." (Litoff & Smith, What Kind of World Do We Want?, p. 116; photo Vassar Col.)
Sally-Alice Thompson born Missouri October 15, 1923. Peace activist. Member, Raging Grannies and Vets for Peace Albuquerque. Took part in Great American Peace March, 1986, US-Soviet International Peace Walk, 1987. Went on dozen marches against Iraq-Afghan wars. Protested at President Bush’s ranch, Crawford, Texas, 2005. Walked from Albuquerque to Sante Fe for campaign finance reform, 2014. Opposed Vietnam War.
“This atavistic practice [of war] has always been horrible, but technology makes it even more destructive and savage. It is time for humanity to become civilized.” (worldbeyondwar.org/quotes; photo commondreams.org)
Phebe Anna Thorne born Millbrook, NY February 10, 1828 (d. 1909). Quaker philanthropist. Absolute pacifist; opposed Spanish-American and Boer Wars. Advocate for international arbitration. Served as first directress of Friends Employment Society, providing work for the poor, 1902. (photo theoddbook.org)
Kip Tiernan born West Haven, CT June 17, 1926 (d. 2011). Pacifist civil rights leader; organized antiwar protest 1968; founded Rosie's Place 1974 in Boston, first American women's shelter; co-founded Boston Food Bank, Boston Women's Fund, Ethical Policy Institute; nominated for Nobel Peace Prize 2005.
"For all the women of all wars—Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Korea, Latin America, El Salvador, Africa, Ireland, North America, Asia, Sarajevo, Bosnia, Afghanistan and Baghdad, who have given up their sons and husbands to the war machinery of man, we pray to the Lord." (1975 Good Friday litany, updated 2003, Poor People's United Fund; photo gbfb.org)
Johnnie Tillmon born Scott, AR April 10, 1926 (d. 1995). Organizer and welfare rights advocate. Co-founded first welfare rights group ANC Mothers Anonymous of Watts, 1963; founded National Welfare Rights Association (NWRA), 1967. Opposed Vietnam War.
"I'm a woman. I'm a black woman. I'm a poor woman. I'm a fat woman. I'm a middle-aged woman. And I'm on welfare. In this country, if you're any one of those things, you count less as a person." (Ms., 1972; photo dailykos.com)
Katherine Tingley born Newbury, MA July 6, 1847 (d. 1929). Absolute pacifist; Theosophist leader who founded International Brotherhood League 1897, Parliament of Peace 1913.
"Yes, let us rise in protest and call on our American government to demand that this abominable war cease." ("An Appeal to the Soul-Life of America." Jan. 24, 1915, in Theosophy and Some of the Vital Problems of the Day; photo Wikipedia)
Katrina “Kate” Trask (née Nichols) born Brooklyn, NY May 30, 1853 (d. 1922). Pacifist and internationalist novelist and poet. Co-founded Yaddo artist center. Published poem “The Statue of Peace”, 1914; peace pamphlets “The Logic of War”, and “The Conquering Army”. Playwright of popular play “In the Vanguard”, 1913.
“Blow a man to pieces in the name of patriotism, and then try to patch the pieces together in the name of humanity. It’s really comic when you think about it.” (Maria Beach, Women Staging War, 2004, p. 49; photo Wikipedia)
Mary Travers born Louisville, KY November 9, 1936 (d. 2009). Antiwar singer; member of Peter, Paul & Mary; marched with Martin Luther King, Jr.; arrested in Apartheid protest with her mother and daughter, 1984.
On US war in Central America:
Killed the people to set them free
Who put this price on their liberty
Don't you think it's time to leave
El Salvador?
(song, "El Salvador"; photo with Salvadorean refugee, jdshigherground)
Brenda Travis born McComb, MS March 16, 1945. Civil rights activist; Joined SNCC, 1960. Arrested for walk-in, buying bus ticket and waiting for bus, 1961; jailed one month for trespassing. Arrested again when she tried to go back to school.
“I knew I could not sit still and be silent. . . So I volunteered to go to jail.” (quote and photo: Civil Rights Movement Veterans)
Margaret Ellen Traxler born St. Paul, MN March 11, 1924 (d. 2002). Prominent women’s rights activist; Catholic Sister of Notre Dame. At forefront of civil rights movement at Selma, AL, 1965; Pax Christi pacifist spoke against the Vietnam War at Paris peace talks; attended Women’s Peace Conference Cyprus, 1972. Promoted peace in Northern Ireland; opposed nuclear arms.
“[I]f you’re a woman, you must fight for women.” (quoted at memorial service, Call to Action News, Apr. 2002)
Marietta Peabody Tree born Lawrence, MA April 17, 1917 (d. 1991). American diplomat appointed by JFK; US representative to UN Human Rights Commission and Trusteeship Council, 1961; mother of Vietnam author Frances Fitzgerald.
"What role should women play in this society? What can we do to help solve great questions of the day—the great unanswered questions. . . of hunger midst plenty,—sickness and disease midst the great breakthrough of modern medicine,—illiteracy in the age of communication and the most important question of all, 'Shall we live in peace?'" (quotations from "Women at Penn"; photo archives.upenn.edu)
Katherine “Kit” W. Tremaine born New Orleans, LA January 9, 1907 (d. 1997). Author, poet; philanthropist who vigiled against Vietnam War; proud member on Pres. Nixon’s enemies list; boycotted Apartheid; advocate of homeless.
“I continued to demonstrate against the Vietnam War in front of the Santa Barbara Art Museum. Our protest consisted of a silent vigil for the hour noon and one.” (Fragments, p. 163)
“Love is the universal answer no matter what the question, and that we must seek to manifest it in all possible ways.” (ibid., 188; photo bluedolphin)
Corinne True (née Knight) born Oldham County, Kentucky November 1, 1861 (d. 1961). Bah'ai "Mother of the Temple"; internationalist; pacifist; established equality of women, the link to universal peace.
"Universal Peace will come out of all this destruction." (Rutstein bio, p. 127; photo Bah'ai)
Karen Tse born Cleveland, OH October 20, 1964. International human rights lawyer; UN Judicial Mentor to Cambodia, 1994; founded International Bridges to Justice, 2000.
"The hope for the human world lies in the human heart." (US News, July 30, 2006; photo Scripps College)
Barbara Wertheim Tuchman born Manhattan, NY January 30, 1912 (d. 1989). Pulitzer Prize-winning historian. Her book The March of Folly: From Troy to Vietnam examined the tragedy of war, 1984.
"War is the unfolding of miscalculations." (The Guns of August, 1962; photo Wikipedia)
C. Delores Tucker (née Nottage) born Philadelphia, PA October 4, 1927 (d. 2005). Civil rights leader; founded Martin Luther King, Jr. Association for Non-Violence, 1968; opponent of gangsta rap. (photo http://bit.ly/xHE01s)
Corin Tucker born Eugene, OR November 9, 1972. Antiwar singer-guitarist; formed indie rock band Sleater-Kinney, 1994; protested Iraq War.
Where is the questioning, where is your protest song?
Since when is skepticism unamerican?
Dissent's not treason but they talk like it's the same.
("Combat Rock" from Peace Not War, 2002; photo corinbio.)
Sarah Turner (née Manski) born Beloit, WI November 14, 1978. Pacifica Radio antiwar journalist; labor organizer; green advocate. (photo Wiki)
Florence Guertin Tuttle born Brooklyn, NY July 23, 1869 (d. 1951). Internationalist; feminist and suffragist; author of Alternatives to War 1931; Women’s Peace Party member opposing World War I; Chaired Women's Pro-League Council 1920; birth-control leader; popular speaker on disarmament and international organization; delegate to Geneva Disarmament Conference 1932.
"Women must create a new attitude toward war by refusing ever again to acquiesce in this evil—the desecration of motherhood and the pollution of the race at its fountain source." (Florence Tuttle, Women and World Federation, p. 187, 1919; 1909 photo Sophia Smith Coll.)
Women in Peace
is dedicated to highlighting the achievements of extraordinary, peacemaking women from around the world.
