Frances Witherspoon

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Overview

Frances Witherspoon born Meridian, MS July 8, 1886 (d. 1973). Absolute pacifist; Christian Socialist; suffragist; co-founded Anti-Enlistment League 1915, and War Resisters League 1923; poet and playwright. Lesbian partner of anti-war leader Tracy Mygatt; early member of Women's Peace Party, WILPF and FOR, SANE.

Quotations

"The state of gigantic armies and navies is the anti-social state. . . the anti-feminist state. . . an aristocracy of sex, bullets to back ballots." (New York Call, 1916 in Frances Early, A World Without War, p. 190, 1997; photo flickr.com)

Gertrud Woker

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Overview

Gertrud Woker born Bern, Switzerland December 16, 1878 (d. 1968). Swiss biochemistry professor; opponent of chemical weapons; WILPF founder and benefactor.

Quotations

"There can scarcely be a greater contradiction than that between the far-reaching protection which the state guarantees its citizens in their civil rights and the brutality with which the same state exposes the same citizens to absolute annihilation whenever it follows in its relations with other states the robber and murder-instincts of wild tribes." (The Next War, 1924; photo Danish Peace Acad.)

Emma Wold

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Overview

Emma Wold born Norway, SD September 29, 1871 (d. 1950). Internationalist expert on rights of women; Chair of WILPF 1921; founder Women's Committee on National Disarmament 1921; US technical adviser to Conference on Codification of International Law The Hague 1930.

Quotations

"[A]t a time when men felt the futility of doing anything on the question of disarmament, the women took hold. . . It rests with them to carry on the work so well begun." (to Emily Greene Balch, 1921; 1930 photo Library of Congress)

Christa Wolf

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Overview

Christa Wolf (née Ihlenfeld) born Landsberg an der Warthe, Poland March 18, 1929 (d. 2011). Leading German writer; philosopher; feminist. Awarded Geschwister-Scholl Prize, 1987; co-founded International Culture of Peace, 1988. Opposed Cold War and nuclear weapons.

Quotations

“You can tell when a war starts, but when does the prewar start?” (Cassandra; photo Vassar faculty)

Hazel Wolf

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Overview

Hazel Wolf born Victoria, Canada March 10, 1898 (d. 2000). Peace advocate; environmentalist; human rights activist. Communist party member unsuccessfully tried for deportation by INS, 1949-63. Opposed US war in Central America.

Quotations

"You can't solve all the world's problems. You have to guard against taking on more than you can do and burning out with frustration. But you can take on one project at a time, and then another. You can do that your entire life." (1998, in Paul Loeb, Free Press, Sept. 30, 2003; photo historylink.org)

Naomi Wolf

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Overview

Naomi Wolf born San Francisco, CA November 12, 1962. American Jewish author and social critic; third-wave feminist; Rhodes scholar. Warned of fascism in The End of America, 2007; arrested in Occupy protest, 2011.

Quotations

"I mourn genocide in Gaza because I am the granddaughter of a family half wiped out in a holocaust and I know genocide when I see it. . . I mourn all victims. But every law of war and international law is being broken in the targeting of civilians in Gaza." (Facebook, July 21, 2014; photo Wikipedia)

Mary Wollstonecraft

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Overview

Mary Wollstonecraft born Spitalfields, London April 27, 1759 (d. 1797). British feminist pioneer, anarchist who opposed all war and violence; author of radical Vindication of the Rights of Women (1792).

Quotations

"Slavery to monarchs and ministers, which the world will be long freeing itself from, and whose deadly grasp stops the progress of the human mind, is not yet abolished." (Vindication of the Rights of Women, pp. 89-90; 1797 portrait by Opie, Wikipedia)

Beatrice Wood

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Overview

Beatrice Wood born San Francisco, CA March 3, 1893 (d. 1998). “Mama of Dada.” American avant-garde artist and potter; theosophist.

Quotations

“A man from Mars would see that most of our economy goes to killing each other. That's why I think it's wonderful that so many people are going into the arts, and trying to make things of beauty instead of bombs to kill people they haven't met." (interview with Edward Sozanski, Nov. 1, 1987, Philly.com)

“[F]or me, that’s a secret of living. . . And that is: Violence never ends with violence. I’ve been in three critical situations where being non-violent I probably saved my life. I can’t prove it, but I say probably. . . I just see life. And take even war, each war has the seeds of a greater war. War seems never really to have brought peace. It just brought more and more war. But then I admit I’m anti-war, so what I say may not be logical.” (Paul Karlstrom interview, March 2, 1992, Archives of American Art)

Leanne Wood

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Overview

Leanne Wood born Rhondda, Wales December 13, 1971. Welsh antiwar politician; probation officer. Socialist; feminist. First woman head of Plaid Cymru, Welsh nationalist party, 2012.  Chaired Cardiff Stop the War Coalition, 2004-05. Arrested for protest against Trident missiles, Faslane Naval Base, 2007. Called for peace in Syria, 2013.

Quotations

“In Plaid, we are on the left; we're internationalist; we are anti-war and anti-privatisation.” (Economic and Social Research Council, “Nationalism and After”)

“Plaid Cymru consistently opposed the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan from the very start and we continue to maintain that troops should be brought home.” (blog, May 10, 2010; photo Wikipedia)

Alfre Woodard

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Overview

Alfre Woodard born Tulsa, OK November 8, 1952. African-American actress. Participated in 50,000-strong Iraq War rally, Los Angeles, 2003; took part in antiwar performance of “Lysistrata”, New York, 2003. Participated in Women’s Day of Peace, 2007. Made peace visit to Iran, 2009. Narrated episode of documentary series Women, War & Peace, 2011.

Quotations

“It is an ongoing privilege to stand up for peace and the practice of democracy, our actions are making a difference, no matter what George Bush does, we are making a difference, we have got to keep at it.” (March 15, 2003)

Mary Ann Woodbridge

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Overview

Mary Ann Woodbridge (née Brayton) born Nantucket, MA April 21, 1830 (d. 1894). American temperance leader; WCTU Peace Lecturer promoting arbitration; 17 years WCTU Secretary; Quaker mother; delegate to Peace & Arbitration Conference Rome 1891.

Quotations

“Arbitration is fast becoming a recognized duty. Humanity is loudly calling for its establishment as a permanent and authoritative part of the law of nations. . . The devotions to material interests which characterizes our age, exerts a powerful opposition to war—the great waster and destroyed of wealth. . . The glamour which was once over the eyes of men, blinding them to the folly and wickedness of war, is fast passing away.” (typical of 50+ peace speeches, Life, p. 217; photo ohiohistory.org)

Helen Dery Woodson

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Overview

Helen Dery Woodson born June 26, 1944. Longest serving antiwar prisoner 27 years; began resistance on seeing Vietnam War caskets 1964; founded Gaudete Peace and Justice Center, Madison WI 1984; damaged Minuteman missile at Whiteman AFB MO 1984, sentenced 18 years prison; walked out of prison 1988 protesting arms race; set fire to prison fence 1988.

Quotations

“Every single generation of parents had said to their children we will bring peace into the world. And every single generation—we sent them off to die in the battlefields. Now I had a son. Was he going to die 18 years from then? And what about his son?” (Lawrence Journal-World, Feb. 16, 1986; photo youtube)

Ellen S. Woodward

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Overview

Ellen Sullivan Woodward born Oxford, MS July 11, 1887 (d. 1971). Social security expert for Roosevelt's New Deal; US delegate to founding of UNRRA 1943-6 and UNESCO 1947; led effort to introduce welfare in postwar international relief.

Quotations

"[US contribution to the] sum of human knowledge. . . has been the development of social welfare programs." (to Dean Acheson, Nov. 23, 1943, in Martha Swain, Ellen S. Woodward, 2005)

"Women are prepared to assist in reconstructing a broken world and in helping to build a better civilization. . . because we have tremendous faith and confidence in American women...for we know that the policies and plans adopted in the post-war planning conferences will affect human life for centuries to come." ("My Experience at UNESCO." Judy Litoff & David Smith, What Kind of World Do We Want?, p. 115, 2000; photo ssa.gov)

Joanne Woodward

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Overview

Joanne Woodward born Thomasville, GA February 27, 1930. Academy Award-winning actress; peace activist. Co-founded non-profit organization Another Mother for Peace in opposition to the Vietnam War, 1967.

Quotations

“[M]any people don’t seem to observe what’s happening to the environment, what’s happening in terms of global warming, the loss of habitats and wild things.” (Earth Day, 2006)

“An activist is someone who makes an effort to see problems that are not being addressed and then makes an effort to make their voice heard.” (Nature Conservancy interview; 1960 photo Wikipedia)

Mary Emma Woolley

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Overview

Mary Emma Woolley born South Norwalk, CT July 13, 1873 (d. 1947). First American woman diplomat at major international conference, Geneva Disarmament 1932; President of Mt. Holyoke 1900-1932; Vice President American Peace Society 1907-1913; prophesied atom bomb.

Quotations

"[Major world powers agreed] to develop a good understanding and mutual respect among peoples by all methods of education available, particularly through the work of educational institutions. . . The study of the principles and application of pacific settlement of international disputes and of the renunciation of war as an instrument of national policy." (1932 resolution, Geneva; photo Wikipedia)

Lynn Woolsey

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Overview

Lynn Woolsey born Seattle, WA November 3, 1937. US Representative; introduced first resolution to bring Iraq troops home and first hearing on leaving Iraq, 2005; arrested for Darfur protest, 2009.

Quotations

"We got ourselves into this mess. . . Now it's time to support American troops by bringing them home." (press release, Jan. 28, 2005; photo Huff Post 2011)

Sarah Chauncey Woolsey

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Overview

Sarah Chauncey Woolsey (AKA Susan Coolidge) born Cleveland, OH January 29, 1835 (d. 1905). Civil War nurse, poet, and writer of children's literature.

Quotations

On the Spanish-American War:

Who serves his country best?
Not he who, for a brief and stormy space,
Leads forth her armies in the fierce array.
Short is the time of turmoil and unrest,
Long years succeed it and replace:
There is a better way.

He serves his country best
Who joins the tide that lifts her nobly on,
For speech has myriad tongues for every day
And song but one; and law within the breast
Is stronger than the graven law on stone;
This is a better way.

(“The Better Way”; photo freepages.genealogy.rootsweb)