Betty Williams
Betty Williams (born 22 May, 1943) was a co-recipient with Mairead Corrigan of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1976 for as a cofounder of Community of Peace People, an organization dedicated to promoting a peaceful resolution to The Troubles in Northern Ireland.
Biography
Born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and baptized a Roman Catholic despite the fact that 3 of her 4 grandparents were not Catholic. She was introduced into a family of mixed religions. Her maternal grandfather was Jewish, her maternal grandmother Catholic, and her father Protestant; at an early age she learned of relatives who had been murdered during The Holocaust (see [[1]]).
Her mother was left incapacitated by a stroke and she took the role of raising her younger sister. She attended a Catholic school and later a trade school where she worked as office receptionist, and raised two children (from her 1961 marriage to Ralph Williams, a Protestant).
She joined the Irish Republican Army in 1972, but "didn't remain a member long (see[[2]]), and after witnessing a British soldier shot in front of her in 1973, she knelt and prayed beside him. She was criticized by Catholic neighbors for showing sympathy for "the enemy" (see [[3]]).
Peace petition
She was drawn into the public arena after witnessing the death of three Catholic children on 10 August, 1976 when they were hit by a car whose driver, an IRA fugitive named Danny Lennon, was fatally shot by British authorities (see[[4]]). Williams was walking nearby, heard the crash, and was the first on the scene. Their mother, Anne Maguire, who was with them, eventually committed suicide in 1980 after a failed attempt to start a new life in New Zealand.
Within two days of the tragic event, she had obtained 6,000 signatures on a petition for peace and gained media attention. Together with Mairead Corrigan, Anne Maguire's sister, she cofounded the Women for Peace which later, with co-founder Ciaran McKeown became The Community for Peace People.
The two organized a peace march to the graves of the children, which was attended by 10,000 Protestant and Catholic women — the peaceful march was disrupted by members of the Irish Republican Army, who accused them of being "dupes of the British" (see[[5]]). The following week, Williams and Corrigan again led a march — this time with 35,000 participants.
On 13 August, the day of the Maguire children's funeral, Betty Williams and Mairead Corrigan were to appear with journalist Ciaran McKeown, on a current affairs television program, and although they arrived too late, they met McKeown, who joined the two women in founding the Peace People. McKeown wrote the original Declaration and organized the rally supporting it (see[[6]]).
Declaration of the Peace People
First Declaration Of The Peace People
- We have a simple message to the world from this movement for Peace.
- We want to live and love and build a just and peaceful society.
- We want for our children, as we want for ourselves, our lives at home, at work, and at play to be lives of joy and Peace.
- We recognise that to build such a society demands dedication, hard work, and courage.
- We recognise that there are many problems in our society which are a source of conflict and violence.
- We recognise that every bullet fired and every exploding bomb make that work more difficult.
- We reject the use of the bomb and the bullet and all the techniques of violence.
- We dedicate ourselves to working with our neighbours, near and far, day in and day out, to build that peaceful society in which the tragedies we have known are a bad memory and a continuing warning.[7]
(signature)
Nobel prize
The dramatic display of support for peace that the two women had organized led to their joint receipt of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1976.
In her acceptance speech, Williams said,
"That first week will always be remembered of course for something else besides the birth of the Peace People. For those most closely involved, the most powerful memory of that week was the death of a young republican and the deaths of three children struck by the dead man's car. A deep sense of frustration at the mindless stupidity of the continuing violence was already evident before the tragic events of that sunny afternoon of August 10,1976. But the deaths of those four young people in one terrible moment of violence caused that frustration to explode, and create the possibility of a real peace movement...As far as we are concerned, every single death in the last eight years, and every death in every war that was ever fought represents life needlessly wasted, a mother's labour spurned" (see[[8]]).
Personal life
At the time she received the Nobel Prize, she was working as a receptionist and raising the two children she had had with Ralph Williams. They divorced, and she married James Perkins in 1982, and moved to the United States, where she toured and lectured extensively.
In 1992 she was appointed to the Texas Commission for Children and Youth by then Texas Governor, Ann Richards.
She spent time as a visiting professor at Sam Houston State University, in Huntsville, Texas and now lives in Huntsville and heads the Global Children's Foundation and is President of the World Centers Compassion for Children. She is also the Chair of Instittute for Asian Democracy in Washington D.C. and a Distinguished Visiting Professor at Nova Southeastern University.
Awards
Since winning the Nobel Peace Prize Williams has received the People's Peace Prize of Norway in 1976 , the Schweitzer Medallion for Courage, the Martin Luther King, Jr. Award, the Eleanor Roosevelt Award in 1984, and the Frank Foundation Child Care International Oliver Award. In 1995 she was awarded the Rotary Club International "Paul Harris Fellowship: and the Together for Peace Building Award.
External links
- [9] Nobel Committee information on 1976 Peace Laureates
- [10] brief bio
- [11] A biography of Mairead Corrigan and Betty Williams
