On the March

Women of the Peace Movement
On the March
Anti vietnam war protest Anti-Vietnam war protest and demonstration in front of the White House (1968)
by Library of Congress
National Women's History Museum

American women's peace advocacy has roots in 19th century US and European abolitionist, suffrage, and peace movements. Throughout the last century, women peace advocates have worked inside and outside the political system to end war and promote a more just American international policy.


Jane Addams Jane Addams / Library of Congress (1914)
by Gerhard Sisters, photographer
National Women's History Museum

Nobel Prize winner Jane Addams worked for international disarmament during World War I. A pioneering reformer, Addams believed bringing people together to collaborate in local communities could be a model for international peace.


Helen Keller Helen Keller
by Library of Congress
National Women's History Museum

Helen Keller was recognized for her work to promote universal brotherhood and greater understanding between the races. Keller supported woman suffrage and child and adult workers’ rights.


Ida B Wells Ida B. Wells (1891)
by Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
Division Washington, D.C.
National Women's History Museum

At the turn of the 20th-century, journalist Ida B. Wells-Barnett denounced lynching against African Americans as an attack against African American economic and political advancement.


Emily Green Balch Miss Emily Greene Balch
by Harris & Ewing, photographer
National Women's History Museum

Internationalist Emily Greene Balch led an interracial delegation to Haiti in 1925 that criticized the American occupation’s impact on race relations and civil liberties and encouraged greater democracy.


Peace Pilgrim Peace Pilgrim (1972)
by Ray Berry
National Women's History Museum

Peace Pilgrim walked more than 25,000 miles not only to oppose war and the arms race, but also to demonstrate peace could arise from the goodwill of people, such as those who helped her on her journey.


Dagmar Wilson Dagmar Wilson (1963)
by Paul Schmick, Reprinted with permission of the DC Public Library, Star Collection © Washington Post
National Women's History Museum

Anti-nuclear activist Dagmar Wilson co-founded a 1960s women’s peace movement that mentored a generation of women activists and argued women had a role to end war and atmospheric nuclear testing that endangered children’s health.


Barbara Deming Barbara Deming
by Consuelo Kanaga
National Women's History Museum

Writer and nonviolence activist and practitioner, Barbara Deming believed violence and racism had common roots. A lesbian and feminist, Deming devised a secular model of nonviolence based on respect.


Marii Hasegawa Marii Hasegawa (1966)
by Irving Wagman
National Women's History Museum

Marii Hasegawa and her family were interred during World War II. Hasegawa was President of WILPF during the Vietnam War where she organized protests and led a delegation to North Vietnam.


Elise Boulding Elise Boulding (1999)
by Ikeda Center
National Women's History Museum

Elise Boulding, a Quaker, was an early sociologist of peace and conflict. She envisioned a holistic approach to peace: that a peace culture could emerge through spirituality, family dynamics, and peace education.


Bella Abzug Bella Abzug
by Library of Congress
National Women's History Museum

A Jewish American lawyer and U.S. Representative, Bella Abzug worked for peace, women’s rights, racial justice and workers’ rights as a lawyer, politician, and grassroots activist.


Coretta Scott King Coretta Scott King (1976)
by Library of Congress
National Women's History Museum

Coretta Scott King played a prominent role as a speaker, citizen diplomat, and political strategist in the 1960s women’s peace movements WILPF and the anti-nuclear and anti-war women’s movement Women Strike for Peace.


Joan Baez Joan Baez (1963)
by NARA
National Women's History Museum

Folk music icon, peace educator, founder of the human rights group Amnesty International, Joan Baez has led campaigns against the Vietnam war, the death penalty, U.S. policy in Central American and domestic civil rights.


Holly Near Holly Near
by Irene Young
National Women's History Museum

Holly Near is an activist folk-singer and pioneering woman record-label owner. Through her music and her organizing Near linked international feminism and anti-war activism.


Jody Williams Jody Williams
by Nobel Women's Initiative
National Women's History Museum

Jody Williams saw the need to coordinate non-governmental organizations in an international protest against landmines. The International Campaign to Ban Landmines successfully drafted a treaty to ban anti-personnel mines.


Kathy Kelly Kathy Kelly (Dec 1998)
by Alan Pogue
National Women's History Museum

Nonviolence practitioner, author, and teacher, Kathy Kelly is a founder of Voices for Creative Nonviolence, a group that works in conflict areas to de-escalate violence and build foundation for alternatives to war.


Samantha Smith Samantha Smith
National Women's History Museum

At a time of large anti-nuclear protests, Samantha Smith, a young citizen diplomat, wrote to Soviet leader Yuri Andropov to understand the Soviet view and spark dialog. She also visited the Soviet Union to promote easing of relations.


800 women strikers for peace 800 women strikers for peace (1961)
by Phil Stanziola
National Women's History Museum

American women have displayed great creativity to promote more peaceful international and domestic relations over the last century; consistent throughout is the vision that the foundations of a peaceful world are based in cooperating to address the root causes of violence and injustice.


Credits

National Women's History Museum https://www.womenshistory.org/

Amy Schneidhorst, Ph.D.

Jeanette Patrick
Program Assistant