Virginia Baron

My grandmother marched for the women’s vote carrying a sign made by my grandfather, which helps explain why I have been on the march so many times in my life. I worked against the Vietnam War so my children wouldn’t go off to fight yet another senseless war, worked with Women Strike for Peace, marched with Martin Luther King Jr. in Montgomery and DC, joined NOW, consciousness-raising groups, the Women’s Liberation March down Fifth Avenue—women and peace often melding. At Save the Children, the Fellowship of Reconciliation, and the Life and Peace Institute (Sweden), the focus was always on nonviolence, human rights, peace, and equal rights, as it was on forty-some trips to Israel/Palestine and countless articles and actions. There was also citizen diplomacy in the USSR, Poland, Libya, Nicaragua (Iran–Contra War), and demonstrations. Thinking over a long life of speaking out and still having more to do, I can say that I would only switch passions if peace were to break out and women had no reason to march again.