A Way of Life:
Celebrating Sustained Activism
1991 WRL Peace Calendar
Preface, Intro & List of Activists Profiles
Preface
Wars and rumors of war have plagued the world since the beginning of time. War Resisters have opposed war and all forms of violence, and worked without ceasing as advocates and activists for social justice to end conflict.
Today, with such amazing developments as the ending of the Cold War, the crumbling of the Berlin Wall, political reform in Poland, the dismantling of Contra terror in Nicaragua, War Resisters celebrate peace. War Resisters also sustain opposition to the build-up of nuclear arsenals, and U.S. low-intensity conflict and violence in Central America and the Middle East.
This 1991 Calendar celebrates the sustained advocacy of more than fifty older activists who have committed their lives to nonviolent social change. They have taken risks, endured criticism and sustained their activist roles.
These individuals and many others continue to contribute, brining a richness of experience and an unquenched thirst for justice. They are among those citizens who breathe life into democracy. They have acquired enough wisdom about this society to know what is lacking and what we can do about it. Like many Gray Panthers, and others, they have not become self-absorbed in their "retirement years," but remain engaged, using their creative energy to make a difference. The brief anecdotes they offer suggest other stories, brave, compelling, and not yet spoken. In fact, they imply dramatic events still to be acted out.
We are inspired and emboldened by their example. With their lead, we press on for peace.
Maggie Kuhn
Gray Panther Founder
Introduction
Keep the faith… Keep on truckin'… Keep on keepin' on…
Activists encourage one another to persist in nonviolent social change work, knowing that successful movements are built not with compassion alone but through long-haul education, organization and agitation.
Finding the energy to sustain activism long enough to become skilled at it, long enough to make a real differenxe in this impervious, consuming society - to be able to avoid burn-out and yet not simply to go through the motions - is an art.
This calendar celebrates people who have made nonviolence a way of life. our grassroots movements are everywhere, hence we highlight veterans of social chance from each of the 50 states. Adding to these a resident of the District of Columbia and one member of the Native American community, we offer one inspiring profile for each week of the year.
The elder activists, aged 50 or older, were nominated by movement people from around the country. Suggestions were sought from activist groups and individuals, and through progressive periodicals. More than 550 people were nominated. Nominees were then asked about their work. Selections were made by the editor and representatives of the War Resisters League adn New Society Publishers, attempting to be as reflective as possible of the rainbow of U.S. social change. The process made it clear how profoundly inspiring our socially active elders are - and it made us wish we had space enough to profile at least one of them per day instead of only one per week.
Honored here are not the activist luminaries closest to being household names in our movements - although they deserve far more respectful recognition than they are accorded. We focus rather on lesser-known social changers, persons deeply respected in their regions and within their chosen fields. In highlighting only a few, we are mindful that they represent tens of thousands of others. We celebrate all the persistent activists not mentioned here, whose primary support outside a circle of family, friends and colleagues comes from within: from the feeling of taking a stand when it counts, of serving the people, of resisting injustice. They are as worthy of our admiration as those included here.
Social change comes from the bottom up - from people resisting oppression and from those who act in solidarity with them. In all our campaigns we find activists faithful to their principles, following the path of nonviolence, modestly shaping history.
They are engaged in our evolving struggles - around civil rights and lesbian and gay liberation, Vietnam and Central America, environmental issues and family violence, nuclear weapons and nuclear power, for better treatment of the very young and the very old. These are people willing to stand up and be counted at meetings, demonstrations and before the community, making the links between issues. They know that democracy without activism is hollow. They see the big picture yet act concretely on the next item: how to approach the town council on an environmental question, how to resolve an impass in a meeting, or how to choose the most effective wording for a picket sign or a leaflet.
Older radicals are at the center of social change work, linking the past with the present to create a future of justice and peace. The vast majority have not earned their living from their politics, but have made a place for it in busy lives. Many have been thinking globally and acting locally since their 20s, in the '30s. Teachers by example, leaders in quiet ways, they help us gain perspective and avoid reworking plowed ground. Seeing them move, moves us. Witnessing their witness, season after season, can be a powerful impetus for change. If they can do it, so can we.
We can learn a great del from our elders in activism. Most have discovered how to maintain vision and personal equilibrium: how to establish a balance between social involvement and the demands of job, family, community and personal life. Some of us are fortunate enough to know a few of these people. The opportunity to converse with long-term activists - at a demonstration or around a kitchen table - can help us understand our own activism as a way of life. When I was growing up, my Catholic Worker parents frequently welcomed Dorothy Day into our home in upstate New York. Another major inspiration for me, and for a multitude of New Englanders, has been the exemplary work of Frances Crowe, who is profiled on the final weekly calendar page.
Those who have gone before us in the nonviolence movement are people to be remembered and revered. With them, we form a river of loving action. It flows through all lands, even as we focus on our own. We can see where that river comes from more easily than where it is going. Its source is in ancient time, among people whose names have been lost but who affirmed life and refused to act in hurtful ways. In our country, it runs through people like Henry David Thoreau and Sojourner Truth, Frederick Douglass and Jane Addams, Jessie Wallace Hughan and A.J. Muste. Nonviolent witness will continue to flow through the areas of suffering and struggle, as we become elder activists ourselves. The activists cited here, the multitude not named, those who were their elders, and we and our children and grandchildren are part of its healing waters.
Pat Farren
Editor, Peacework Magazine
Activist Profiles
Colonel Stone Johnson - Birmingham, Alabama
Celia Hunter - Fairbanks, Alaska
Mary Maffeo - Phoenix, Arizona
Bob Bland - Little Rock, Arkansas
Morris Knight - Los Angeles, California
Harrieta Duty - Denver, Colorado
Marj Swann - Voluntown, Connecticut
Joe MGivney - Wilmington, Delaware
Casilda Luna - District of Columbia
William Gandall - West Palm Beach, Florida
Nan and Britt Pendergrast - Atlanta, Georgia
Bill Reich - Pahoa, Hawaii
Opal Wyatt Brooten - Coeur d'Alene, Idaho
Ruth Dear - Oak Park, Illinois
Nancy Savage Coyle - Crawfordsville, Indiana
Dorothy Marie Hannessey - Dubuque, Iowa
Mary Harren - Wichita, Kansas
Anne Braden - Louisville, Kentucky
Mary Grace Stelly, O.P. - New Orlenas, Louisiana
John Rensenbrink - Topsham, Maine
Jewel Webb Scott - Havre De Grace, Maryland
Wally and Juanita Nelson - Deerfield, Massachusetts
Jim and Jo Bristah - Detroit, Michigan
Polly Mann - St. Paul, Minnesota
Eddie Sandifer - Jackson, Mississippi
Hershel Walker - St. Louis, Missouri
Paul Carpino - Ovando, Montana
Mary Louise Defender-Wilson - Shields, North Dakota
Marge and Bill Farmer - Omaha, Nebraska
Louis Vitale - Las Vegas, Nevada
Macy Morse - Portsmouth, New Hampshire
Lillian and George Willoughby - Deptford, New Jersey
Dorie Bunting - Albuquerque, New Mexico
Conrad Lynn - Pomona, New York
Clyde Appleton - Charlotte, North Carolina
Larry Lange - Devils Lake, North Dakota
Ernest and Marion Bromley - Cinncinati, Ohio
Doris Gunn - Muskogee, Oklahoma
Hideo Hashimoto - Portland, Oregon
Bent Andresen - Newtown, Pennsylvania
Willam and Shirley Barbour - Bristol, Rhode Island
Edith Dabbs - Mayesville, South Carolina
Marv Kammerer - Rapid City, South Dakota
Hector Black - Cookeville, Tennessee
Casey (Kay Carpenter) Davis - Houston, Texas
Bob Goff - Salt Lake City, Utah
Fay Honey Knopp - Orwell, Vermont
Louise Franklin-Ramirez - Manassas, Virginia
Margaret Lueders - Seattle, Washington
Elinore Taylor - Huntington, West Virginia
Hania W. Ris, M.D. - Madison, Wisconsin
William Young - Casper, Wyoming
Frances Crowe - Northampton, Massachusetts
