Norma Becker
Encyclopedia
Norma Becker was a founder of the Fifth Avenue Vietnam Peace Parade Committee
, which drew tens of thousands to protest the Vietnam War
, and of the Mobilization for Survival coalition. She served as chairperson of the pacifist War Resisters League
from 1977 to 1983.
Born in the Bronx in 1930, Becker graduated from Hunter College
in 1951. She began teaching social studies at a Harlem junior high school and received her master's degree in education from Columbia University
in 1961. In 1963, as she said later, she was “recruited into the civil rights movement by Sheriff ‘Bull’ Connor of Birmingham [Alabama].” Appalled by media accounts of Connor’s use of dogs to subdue civil rights demonstrators, Becker went South to teach in the summer Freedom Schools. Over the next years, she rose to leadership in the burgeoning movement against the war in Vietnam. In 1965, she helped to start the Peace Parade Committee.
In 1977, after the Vietnam War ended, Becker helped create the Mobilization for Survival, which linked the emerging movement against nuclear power
to opponents of nuclear weapons and the wider antiwar movement. On June 12, 1982, the "Mobe" drew some 700,000 people to Central Park, in what The New York Times
later described as "a boisterous and festive call for the end of the nuclear arms race."
She died in 2006 of lung cancer due to a habit of smoking.
Fifth Avenue Vietnam Peace Parade Committee
During the mid-1960s, the New York Fifth Avenue Vietnam Peace Parade Committee coordinated anti-war parades which involved perhaps hundreds of organizations.Leader Norma Becker was a member of the established War Resisters League....
, which drew tens of thousands to protest the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
, and of the Mobilization for Survival coalition. She served as chairperson of the pacifist War Resisters League
War Resisters League
The War Resisters League was formed in 1923 by men and women who had opposed World War I. It is a section of the London-based War Resisters' International.Many of the founders had been jailed during World War I for refusing military service...
from 1977 to 1983.
Born in the Bronx in 1930, Becker graduated from Hunter College
Hunter College
Hunter College, established in 1870, is a public university and one of the constituent colleges of the City University of New York, located on Manhattan's Upper East Side. Hunter grants undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate degrees in more than one hundred fields of study, and is recognized...
in 1951. She began teaching social studies at a Harlem junior high school and received her master's degree in education from Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
in 1961. In 1963, as she said later, she was “recruited into the civil rights movement by Sheriff ‘Bull’ Connor of Birmingham [Alabama].” Appalled by media accounts of Connor’s use of dogs to subdue civil rights demonstrators, Becker went South to teach in the summer Freedom Schools. Over the next years, she rose to leadership in the burgeoning movement against the war in Vietnam. In 1965, she helped to start the Peace Parade Committee.
In 1977, after the Vietnam War ended, Becker helped create the Mobilization for Survival, which linked the emerging movement against nuclear power
Anti-nuclear movement in the United States
The anti-nuclear movement in the United States consists of more than 80 anti-nuclear groups which have acted to oppose nuclear power or nuclear weapons, or both, in the United States. These groups include the Abalone Alliance, Clamshell Alliance, Institute for Energy and Environmental Research,...
to opponents of nuclear weapons and the wider antiwar movement. On June 12, 1982, the "Mobe" drew some 700,000 people to Central Park, in what The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
later described as "a boisterous and festive call for the end of the nuclear arms race."
She died in 2006 of lung cancer due to a habit of smoking.