“It provoked the question: Did women do anything for peace before?”: Historical Amnesia and the Disappearing Memory of Women’s Antinuclear Activism

This article examines the often-overlooked history of American women’s antinuclear activism, revealing its unique position on the margins of the feminist and peace movements. Women’s significant leadership of peace and antiwar causes leads historians and activists to identify a distinct and cohesive women’s peace movement separate from other social movements. Yet the history of these efforts was underexplored to such an extent that historian and peace leader Amy Swerdlow observed an “historical amnesia” surrounding this past. This article draws focus towards the memory and historicism of two key antinuclear campaigns – the organizational efforts of Women Strike for Peace and the 1980s women’s peace camp movement – to illustrate how women activists have situated themselves within social movement history. By analyzing activists' own historical consciousness, the article reveals the continuing theoretical and methodological value of memory studies as a tool for understanding the nature of social movement communities, despite the fragmented history of women’s antinuclear efforts.