Branch Happenings: Burlington, Pittsburgh, & Peninsula/Palo Alto

Left: Burlington WILPF members Jean Hopkins, Marguerite Adelman, and Jane Hendley, together with Molly Gray, candidate for Vermont’s Lt. Governor, at an August 26 Women’s Suffrage Centennial event. Photo credit: Robert Ackland. Right: Pittsburgh Branch member Susan Smith at protest to ban nuclear weapons held on August 6. 

September 2020

Burlington (VT) Branch Honors Suffragists

By Marguerite Adelman
Burlington Branch

For the past year, WILPF Burlington has been an active member of the Vermont Suffrage Centennial Alliance. Since the planned August parade for Montpelier celebrating the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment could not be held due to COVID-19, WILPF Burlington did not want to see August 26th go by with no recognition of this important day.

So our WILPF branch took the lead in planning an hour of speeches on suffrage, voting rights, women's equality, and more, featuring 13 speakers in front of Burlington’s City Hall. The event was featured on a number of television stations and is available for viewing at this public access link.

WILPF members Marguerite Adelman, Robin Lloyd, Jean Hopkins, Robert Ackland, and Peggy Luhrs all spoke during this exciting, non-partisan event that featured women candidates for office and women in office, as well as other well-known leaders in our state. We even had voting information and voter registration available.

Pittsburgh Remembers Hiroshima with Ban Nuclear Weapons Protest

By Susan Smith
WILPF Pittsburgh

WILPF Pittsburgh and Remembering Hiroshima, Imaging Peace gathered (at a distance with masks) along the street to encourage passers-by to support the ban on all nuclear weapons. The protest happened on August 6, the day 75 years ago that the US dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. Passing drivers honked their support. 

Photo: Pittsburgh Branch members Peg Cammarata (left) and Mary King (right). 

In addition, on August 5 these two organizations sponsored a watch party for “The Beginning of the End of Nuclear Weapons” which tells the history of the UN treaty to ban nuclear weapons into international law and the role of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN). After the movie, at 8:15 a.m. Japanese time, Pittsburghers talked to people in Japan to remember the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. Our contact in Kobe, Japan, was Professor Ronni Alexander (sister of a member of Remembering Hiroshima, Imaging Peace), and some students also participated. About 30 people were on the call, including participants from Guam, Mexico, Japan, and the United States.

This annual event was modified to be fully online this year because of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

For more information, see https://www.rememberinghiroshima.org and https://www.facebook.com/WILPFPittsburgh

Check Out Peninsula/Palo Alto Videos on Vimeo

The Peninsula/Palo Alto, California WILPF branch now has three videos on Vimeo with easy access by the public. Be sure to turn your volume up for the selections.

When you select the Paper Cranes video first (our Solidarity project for the 75th Anniversary of Hiroshima/Nagasaki, the Menlo Park art installation of over 1,000 paper cranes), the other two will automatically follow. Or select an individual video.

Please tell your friends and neighbors about the videos!

1. Paper Cranes Menlo Park August 2020:  https://vimeo.com/452923974
   The art gallery outside of which we installed over 1,000 paper peace cranes made by volunteers (Art Ventures) has arranged for our branch to co-sponsor a competition to design a sculpture that relates to the peace cranes. Towards the end of September, Menlo College has arranged an outdoor Sculpture Fair where we will hand out some of the paper cranes from our installation. The gallery director founded the Menlo Park Public Art nonprofit so it will give good publicity to WILPF.
2. WILPF Peninsula/Palo Alto 2015 Centennial Exhibit talk by Millee Livingston: https://vimeo.com/201380126
3. Listen to Women for a Change: https://vimeo.com/147970792