Women's Peace Union

Women's Peace Union (WPU) was organized by Caroline Lexow Babcock and Elinor Byrns in 1921 with the outset to work within the United States political system to outlaw war. WPU campaigned steadily and single-mindedly from 1923 to 1939, along with Senator Lynn Joseph Frazier of North Dakota, for a constitutional amendment that would outlaw war and the preparation for war in the United States and all its territories.^[1] WPU refused to negotiate when it came to partial disarmament methods as they completely condemned all acts of violence.^[2]

Although the group's ideas and strives were extreme, they were still very reflective of the attitudes of masses during that time period. A great accomplishment for the group came in the form of the Kellogg-Briand Pact of 1928 in which sixty-two nations agreed to renounce war as a way to advance national designs and as a solution to international squabbles. They were able to make their advances through their philosophy of non-violence and their push for suffrage. Their nonviolent tactics included lobbying, letter-writing campaigns and public meetings. They also adopted the principle of praising women and criticizing men. Their feminist philosophy led them to adopt the idea that it would be women who would save the United States and end all wars. Their destruction came from a narrow focus, which was mostly centered on passing the amendment against war. And they were not particularly welcoming of peace organizations that included men or encompassed popular thoughts of men which caused the WPU to be extremely isolated. By 1940, WPU was almost completely non-operable and not functioning as it was no longer in effect, but it actually started to dismantle in the mid to late 1930s.^[2]

Notes and references

^ Amy Swerdlow.Women Strike for Peace: Traditional Motherhood and Radical Politics in the 1960s. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1993.
^ ^a ^b EBSCOhost archives on the site of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Accessed November 24, 2008.

v t e Feminist art movement in the United States
Feminist art Feminist art movement Women artists
Precursors	American Association of University Women (1881) National Association of Women Artists (1889) New York School of Applied Design for Women (1892)
Venues or organizations	A.I.R. Gallery Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art (Brooklyn Museum) Feminist Art Coalition Hera Gallery Lesbian Art Project National Museum of Women in the Arts New York Feminist Art Institute SOHO20 Gallery tArt Collective Washington Women's Art Center Women Artists in Revolution (WAR) Women's Art Resources of Minnesota Woman's Building (Los Angeles) The Women's Building (San Francisco) Women's Interart Center Women's Studio Workshop
Exhibitions or installations	Womanhouse (1972) Three Weeks in May (1977) The Sister Chapel (1974–1978) The Dinner Party (1979) WACK! Art and the Feminist Revolution (2007)
Films or documentaries	!Women Art Revolution
Publications	Heresies: A Feminist Publication on Art and Politics (1977–1992) The Feminist Art Journal (1972–1977) Women Artists News {1975-1992) "Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?" (1971)
Groups	subRosa Guerrilla Girls The Waitresses Women Artists in Revolution Women's Caucus for Art Where We At
Notable women	Alison Bechdel Lynda Benglis Louise Bourgeois Norma Broude Judy Chicago Elaine de Kooning Mary Beth Edelson Suzi Ferrer Helen Frankenthaler Mary Garrard Nancy Graves Eva Hesse Lila Katzen Jane Kaufman Lee Krasner Georgia O'Keeffe Barbara Kruger Louise Nevelson Yoko Ono M. C. Richards Rachel Rosenthal Carolee Schneemann Cindy Sherman Alma Thomas June Wayne
Lists	List of feminist artists Women in the art history field
Feminist movements and ideologies

Women's Peace Union

See also

Notes and references

Further reading