Rhode Island’s Nobel Connection

Today is a great day for women’s rights as the Nobel Peace Prize is awarded to three courageous women…

OSLO, Norway (AP) — Africa’s first democratically elected female president, a Liberian campaigner against rape and a woman who stood up to Yemen’s autocratic regime won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday in recognition of the importance of women’s rights in the spread of global peace.

The 10 million kronor ($1.5 million) award was split three ways between Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, women’s rights activist Leymah Gbowee from the same African country and democracy activist Tawakkul Karman of Yemen — the first Arab woman to win the prize.

President Johnson Sirleaf visited Rhode Island this May and was honored at the State House by Governor Chafee. Ten thousand Rhode Islanders are from Liberia, many of them are working in the health professions.

Congratulations to the winners, and all who work for women’s rights and justice.

4 thoughts on “Rhode Island’s Nobel Connection”

  1. Wow — a bona fide good news story on my birthday, what a great present! Thanks, Nancy!

    This is wonderful news that we are beginning to acknowledge how more women in leadership roles can change the course of history.

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  3. Hey-the President of Liberia is supposedly the first female elected head of state in Africa.The men sure have made a mess of things there,with some notable exceptions(Mandela,Kaunda,Nkrumah,Houphuet-Boigny,Rawlings,and Mboya)but I believe Mozambique had a female elected head of state as did either Rwanda or Burundi(can’t recall which)who was murdered at the start of the Rwanda horror.
    In Mozambique it was the widow of a head of state killed in an accident,so I’m not sure if she was elected,but I think so.
    I don’t have the time to research this right now.
    As a side note,one of the most notorious war criminals in Liberia lievd in RI at one time-we have quite a large Liberian community of longstanding here.A lot of them use arcahic names from the early days of the US-cool.

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  4. Factual error alert-Samora Machel’s(Mozambique head of state)widow never replaced him-she married Nelson Mandela and thus was First Lady of two African countries,but never head of state.
    There was a modern era Queen of Ethiopia,by the way.

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