Julia Ward Howe
Emily Greene Balch
Rev. Marie deYoung
Unitarian Universalist Women in Times of War and Peace
March 5, 2008
International Women's Day, celebrated on March 8th, offers us an opportunity to reflect on the role Unitarian and Universalist women have played in times of war and peace over many generations. International Women's Day takes place just days before the fifth anniversary of the start of the war in Iraq, a war that has so far cost almost 4000 American lives and perhaps hundreds of thousands of Iraqi deaths.March 19th, the 5th anniversary of the U.S. war with Iraq, will be marked by a rising U.S. death toll (3,972 U.S. deaths as of February 25, 2008), with many more Iraqi fatalities. March 8, International Women's Day, provides an opportunity for reflection on the role Unitarian and Universalist women have played in times of war and peace over many generations.
Unitarian Julia Ward Howe (1819-1910), best known for composing "The Battle Hymn of the Republic," dedicated her life to pacifism and women's suffrage. Said to be a believer in a loving God who cared about humankind who was married to Samuel Howe, director of the Perkins Institute for the Blind, Howe felt that women should take a strong role in shaping society through politics.
In 1870, she wrote the famous Mother's Day Proclamation as a pacifist reaction to the Civil War and Franco-Prussian War. Mother's Day, designed to honor the role of mothers in creating peace, was eventually adopted as a national holiday by President Woodrow Wilson in 1914. As Howe wrote,
"Arise, then, women of this day!
Arise, all women who have hearts,
Whether our baptism be of water or of tears!"
Clarissa (Clara) Harlowe Barton was born on Christmas Day, 1821, in Oxford, MA, the youngest of five children of abolitionists Stephen and Sarah Barton, founders of the Universalist Church in Oxford. When her brother David fell from a rafter in their barn, he became eleven-year-old Clara's first patient. Clara stayed by his side for two years and learned to administer all his medicines. Barton recalled that her father provided the model for her later service:
"As a patriot, he had me serve my country with all I had, even with my life if need be; as the daughter of an accepted Mason, he had me seek and comfort the afflicted everywhere, and as a Christian he charged me to honor God and love mankind."
During the Civil War, in April 1862 after the First Battle of Bull Run, Barton, determined to help administer aid, established an agency to obtain and distribute supplies to wounded soldiers. She was given a pass by General William Hammond to ride in the army ambulances to provide comfort to the soldiers—becoming known as the "Angel of the Battlefield"—and nurse them back to health. She lobbied the U.S. Army bureaucracy, at first without success, to bring her own medical supplies to the battlefields. Finally, in July 1862, she obtained permission to travel behind the lines, eventually reaching some of the grimmest battlefields of the war and serving during the sieges of Petersburg, VA, and Richmond, VA.
In 1864 Barton was appointed by Union general Benjamin Butler as the "lady in charge" of the hospitals at the front of the Army of the James. In 1865, President Abraham Lincoln gave her the role of searching for the missing men of the Union army. While engaged in this work, she traced the fate of 30,000 men. When the war ended, she was sent to Andersonville, GA, to set up and mark the graves of Union soldiers buried there.
Barton delivered lectures on her war experiences, and later met Susan B. Anthony and began a long association with the suffrage movement. She became acquainted with Frederick Douglass, which encouraged her work as a crusader for civil rights for African Americans. Barton went on to found the American Red Cross (1881), modeled on the International Red Cross.
Emily Greene Balch (1867-1961) was an activist for many issues, and none more than the work of creating peace. Balch, a professor of economics and sociology at Wellesley College, had carefully followed the work of the two peace conferences of 1899 and 1907 at The Hague. She became convinced, after the outbreak of World War I in 1914, that her life's work lay in furthering humanity's effort to rid the world of war.
In 1915 she attended the International Congress of Women at The Hague and went on to found the Women's International Committee for Permanent Peace which later became the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF). Balch worked with many different peace organizations and oversaw a variety of projects for the League of Nations. An associate of Unitarian social reformer Jane Addams, she received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1946 for her dedication to her work with the WILPF.
In 1955 the American Unitarian Association conferred its highest honor on her, presenting her with its Distinguished Service Award. The award citation acclaimed, "Those about her, from her, shall read the perfect ways of honour."
The involvement of Unitarian Universalist (UU) women in times of war continues. Rev. Marie deYoung is a UU Community Minister based in Lansdowne, PA. DeYoung served as the first woman UU chaplain in the U.S. Army in the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment; 19th TAACOM; and 44th Engineer, 2nd Infantry Division. She is the author of two books, Women in Combat (with Lorry Fenner), and This Woman's Army: The Dynamics of Sex and Violence in the Military. In her "Veteran's Day Prayer in Times of War," prepared for UUA.org, she wrote:
"Teach us how to reverence those who sacrifice their dreams to secure freedom for unknown peoples.
Teach us how to comfort those who lost spouses, children, lovers, friends—when their sense of duty wrought eternal grief.
Teach us to understand when peace-loving people take up arms—
Hoping beyond hope to end violent strife.War is never holy, yet the holy are called to do war's bidding."
Over the generations, the commitment of Unitarian and Universalist women to work for peace during times of war has been remarkable. During the nineteenth century, moving past social boundaries, Julia Ward Howe, Clara Barton, and Emily Greene Balch became activists, changing our culture while nurturing peace. Marie deYoung, along with Rev. Cynthia Kane (UU Navy Chaplain) and other Unitarian Universalist military chaplains serving with distinction, have risked their lives so that this generation, and those to come, can know a life rooted in peace, not war.
The consequences of war follow us, both physically and emotionally. As the Iraq War rages on, we hold up these women as examples of courage and commitment, and, inspired by their legacies and ministries, focus on new ways to turn our thoughts into action. During the month of March we call on Unitarian Universalist congregations to join together in an unprecedented March to Peace. As we mark the fifth anniversary of the Iraq war, we hope to register the commitment of 250 of our congregations, nearly 25%, to bring peace into their worship and their worship into the world. Visit the Social Justice area of our website for more information on the March to Peace and actions you can take to create peace in this time of war.
For more information contact la_womensissues @ uua.org.
Last updated on Wednesday, March 5, 2008.
