In the 1960s, dozens of hibakusha — people affected by the atomic bomb — traveled around the world to tell their stories and plead for peace. The earliest of these trips were organized primarily by Barbara Reynolds who had moved from the United States to Hiroshima in the 1950s and who had become profoundly affected by the stories of hibakusha. From 1958 on, Barbara Reynolds committed her life to helping hibakusha share their experiences of the bomb to the world in order to prevent more suffering from nuclear weapons. Not only did she organize world speaking tours for hibakusha, but she also founded the Hiroshima World Friendship Center in 1965 to form a permanent site for hibakusha to educate the world about what happened to them. But many thousands more had suffered the effects of the a-bomb and kept their traumatic stories private for years. Some didn’t share their stories for decades. Sadae Kasaoka was one of those who suffered in silence until 2000, when she happened to be invited to her grandchildren’s elementary school as one of the local hibakusha. She shared her story with the students and was very moved at the theatrical performance the students made based on what she told them. After that, it was like a dam had broken: after she retired in 2005, Kasoaka devoted much of her time to sharing her story to Japanese and foreign visitors through the Peace Memorial Museum, the Hiroshima World Friendship Center, and other similar organizations. Kasaoka also traveled to other countries to tell her story, including the United States, and has become a prolific public speaker about the atomic bomb. Below is a collection of excerpts from Kasoaka’s writings and interviews about her experience in 1945 during and immediately after the bombing of Hiroshima, as well as a brief explanation of her motivation for sharing her story so widely and with such vigor so late in her life. Warning: the following includes graphic descriptions of extreme burns and other injuries, as well as other upsetting imagery. You may read the accounts of other hibakusha at the link below. https://www.wfchiroshima.org/english/hibakusha-stories/ —
In June, the Golden Rule ship, which first inspired Barbara Reynolds to begin her “forbidden voyage” into antiwar activism, will be visiting New London, CT. As the world’s first modern protest ship and a vessel originally operated by the CNVA, the Golden Rule has strong historical ties to VPT. To stay in the loop about events related to the coming of the Golden Rule, sign up for our newsletter: http://eepurl.com/Oqf99 — Support Us We commit a significant amount of research and writing to produce A Peace of History each week. If you like our weekly posts, please consider supporting this project with a one-time or recurring donation. Your gift will be used to continue producing more A Peace of History posts as well as the greater mission of VPT. You may type in however much you would like to give; contributions of all sizes are appreciated. Click this link to learn more about what we do and how you can donate: https://www.mightycause.com/organization/Voluntown-Peace-Trust — Sources Kasaoka, Sadae. “Losing both my parents all at once, I had no words to describe my loss.” Hiroshima Speaks Out. https://h-s-o.jp/kasaoka/post_en/05/ Kasaoka, Sadae. “The A-bombing — Evil Itself.” World Friendship Center. https://www.wfchiroshima.org/english/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/KasaokaStoryE.pdf Barbara Reynolds began her activism with “the forbidden voyage” she took with her family into the US Pacific Proving Grounds, disrupting the nuclear weapons testing there as she and her family returned to Hiroshima from a trip around the world. They had been inspired by the Golden Rule ship and the four Quaker antiwar activists who had intended to sail it to disrupt the weapons testing themselves. But with the Golden Rule crew monitored and twice arrested by the US Coast Guard, it was Barbara and her family who completed the mission and made news around the world for their daring act of protest. But their renown was especially strong in Hiroshima, which the family learned when they finally returned to the city. Over the next few years, Barbara Reynolds organized the 1962 Peace Pilgrimage and the 1964 World Peace Study Mission, which brought hibakusha atomic bomb survivors around the world to share their stories and sue for peace. In 1965, Barbara Reynolds founded the World Friendship Center in Hiroshima, in part to share the stories of hibakusha first-hand. Now a part of a greater network of organizations in Japan and around the world, the World Friendship Center in Hiroshima is still in operation. While the number of surviving hibakusha dwindles, there is still much to learn from the personal testimonies they have left. Below is the account of one hibakusha, Miyoko Matsubara, who traveled with Barbara Reynolds around the world for both the 1962 Peace Pilgrimage and the 1964 World Peace Study Mission. Miyoko Matsubara was a young student at the time of the bombing. She passed away in 2018. Warning: the following includes graphic descriptions of extreme burns and other injuries, as well as other upsetting imagery. https://www.wfchiroshima.org/english/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/MatsubaraStoryE.pdf You may read the accounts of other hibakusha at the link below. https://www.wfchiroshima.org/english/hibakusha-stories/ —
We at VPT are planning for the arrival of the Golden Rule in New London, CT in June. As the world’s first modern protest ship and a vessel originally operated by the CNVA, the Golden Rule has strong historical ties to VPT. To stay in the loop about these events, sign up for our newsletter: http://eepurl.com/Oqf99 — Support Us We commit a significant amount of research and writing to produce A Peace of History each week. If you like our weekly posts, please consider supporting this project with a one-time or recurring donation. Your gift will be used to continue producing more A Peace of History posts as well as the greater mission of VPT. You may type in however much you would like to give; contributions of all sizes are appreciated. Click this link to learn more about what we do and how you can donate: https://www.mightycause.com/organization/Voluntown-Peace-Trust — Source Matsubara, Miyoko. “The Appeal of a Girl Survivor.” World Friendship Center. https://www.wfchiroshima.org/english/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/MatsubaraStoryE.pdf The first modern protest ship, the Golden Rule, is set to visit New London, Connecticut on June 9 and 10 of this year. The ship almost immediately inspired others to emulate the tactic when it first made waves in 1958 — the first of which was the Reynolds family aboard the yacht Phoenix of Hiroshima, who ended up completing the Golden Rule’s original mission to disrupt the US nuclear weapons testing operations in the Pacific. But after her adventures defying both the United States and Soviet nuclear weapons testing out on the high seas, Barbara Reynolds shifted her attention to the victims of the bomb. Back in Japan, she organized the 1962 Peace Pilgrimage of two hibakusha (“blast-affected people”) women, and then again the 1964 World Peace Study Mission which took 25 hibakusha to 150 cities around the world to share their stories. (Read about the 1962 Peace Pilgrimage in Barbara Reynolds’ own words here). Following these two world tours, Barbara returned to Hiroshima and continued her work promoting peace. In 1965, she became the first director of the World Friendship Center (WFC) in Hiroshima, Japan, which was established as a hub for international exchange and dialogue on peace-related issues. The center invited visitors from around the world to come learn about the lingering effects of the atomic bombings and to hear firsthand the experiences of the hibakusha. The WFC quickly became a symbol of hope and reconciliation in the aftermath of the atomic bombing, and it still continues its mission to share the stories of the atomic bomb survivors and to foster peace between nations today. Ten years later, in 1975, Barbara Reynolds also founded the Wilmington Peace Resource Center at Wilmington College in Ohio, including the Hiroshima/Nagasaki Memorial Collection, an archive of materials related to the atomic bombings and their aftermath. Most of the contents were donated by Barbara Reynolds herself — documents and other materials that she had collected over her decades working with hibakusha, doctors, and peace activists. The center provides educational resources to students and researchers as well as space for activists to gather and organize. Throughout her life, Reynolds remained committed to the principles of nonviolence and peaceful conflict resolution, and she continued to work for social justice until her death in 1990. Her legacy serves as a reminder of the power of ordinary individuals to effect change and promote peace in the face of adversity. And it all started with a chance meeting with a few radical Quakers — it was the Golden Rule and the CNVA that put Barbara on the path to accomplish all that she did for the hibakusha and the cause of world peace. The Golden Rule sails again to bring attention to the new arms race and the recent international ban on nuclear weapons. As they travel around the United States, the crew hopes to inspire more action with innovative strategies, much like the ship inspired Barbara and others decades ago. When the Golden Rule enters the Thames River in June, it will be a tribute not only to the ship's historic journey but also to the legacy of Barbara Reynolds and others like her. See below the brief profile for Barbara Reynolds prepared for the 1964 World Peace Study Mission, one of the ambitious projects that the Golden Rule inspired. Then, follow the link to read the profiles of the other participants of the project, including the hibakusha who were the main subjects of the mission. See more profiles here: https://digital.opal-libraries.org/digital/collection/p17342coll12/id/11/rec/1 —
We at VPT are planning for the arrival of the Golden Rule in New London, CT in June. As the world’s first modern protest ship and a vessel originally operated by the CNVA, the Golden Rule has strong historical ties to VPT. To stay in the loop about these events, sign up for our newsletter: http://eepurl.com/Oqf99 — Support Us We commit a significant amount of research and writing to produce A Peace of History each week. If you like our weekly posts, please consider supporting this project with a one-time or recurring donation. Your gift will be used to continue producing more A Peace of History posts as well as the greater mission of VPT. You may type in however much you would like to give; contributions of all sizes are appreciated. Click this link to learn more about what we do and how you can donate: https://www.mightycause.com/organization/Voluntown-Peace-Trust — Sources “Barbara Reynolds and World Friendship Center – An American Woman who Conveyed Hibakusha Voices to the World-” Hiroshima for Global Peace. https://hiroshimaforpeace.com/en/world-friendship-center/ “Biographical Sketches of the Goodwill Ambassadors,” 1963, Wilmington - Barbara Reynolds Archives - The World Peace Study Mission 1964. The Barbara Reynolds Memorial Archives of the Peace Resource Center at Wilmington College, 1870 Quaker Way, Wilmington, OH. https://digital.opal-libraries.org/digital/collection/p17342coll12/id/0/rec/1 Wilmington Peace Resources Center. https://www.wilmington.edu/prc/ In June 2023, the first modern protest ship, the Golden Rule, will visit southeastern CT on its Great Loop journey. In past decades, this ship inspired many groups to use ships for political direct action – most famously Greenpeace. We have written much about VPT's connections to the Golden Rule and the team from the Committee for Nonviolent Action (CNVA) who first sailed the important ship (see our previous posts: "The Golden Rule", "The Forbidden Voyage of the Phoenix"). We have also shared stories about the Reynolds family, who completed the Golden Rule's original mission when the Golden Rule could not continue, and especially Earle Reynolds who captained the replacement ship, the Phoenix. But it was Barbara Reynolds who went on to become an even more important peace activist. From 1951 to 1954, Barbara lived in Hiroshima while her then-husband Earle conducted a study on radiation-affected children for the United States government. There, she witnessed firsthand the devastating effects of nuclear war including the hibakusha ("blast-affected people"), survivors of the atomic bombings who had been disfigured from the attacks. From 1954 to 1960, Barbara and the family sailed around the world, during which time they met the crew of the Golden Rule in Hawai’i and decided to take on the mission to disrupt the US nuclear weapons testing in the Pacific. Soon after the family returned to Hiroshima, Barbara and the rest of the family made a similar protest on the Phoenix, this time in Soviet territory. Then, in 1962, Barbara organized the Peace Pilgrimage to educate the world about the bombs. She accompanied two young hibakusha women, Miyoko Matsubara and Hiromasa Hanabusa, around the world to demand “no more Hiroshimas.” Two years later, Barbara would organize the World Peace Study Mission — a similar but even bigger world tour. Below is a report about the 1962 Peace Pilgrimage from Barbara Reynolds herself. In it, she discusses the challenges and the rewards of such a venture. Her words reveal a sensitivity to people’s needs, strong strategic thinking, and a little bit of humor. For those of us who have seen hatred stoked so easily, Barbara’s reflection on the Peace Pilgrimage’s warm reception in Hawai’i is especially gratifying. —
We at VPT are planning for the arrival of the Golden Rule in New London, CT in June. As the world’s first modern protest ship and a vessel originally operated by the CNVA, the Golden Rule has strong historical ties to VPT. To stay in the loop about these events, sign up for our newsletter: http://eepurl.com/Oqf99 — Support Us We commit a significant amount of research and writing to produce A Peace of History each week. If you like our weekly posts, please consider supporting this project with a one-time or recurring donation. Your gift will be used to continue producing more A Peace of History posts as well as the greater mission of VPT. You may type in however much you would like to give; contributions of all sizes are appreciated. Click this link to learn more about what we do and how you can donate: https://www.mightycause.com/organization/Voluntown-Peace-Trust — Source Reynolds, Barbara. “Report of Peace Pilgrimage,” San Francisco, 1962. https://digital.opal-libraries.org/digital/collection/p17342coll11/id/5/rec/27 In 1970, renowned lesbian antiwar activist and journalist Barbara Deming gave a talk in Palo Alto. By then, the antiwar movement that took off in the 1950s had inspired and influenced many more progressive social movements, but had also attracted much criticism. This speech addresses some of the nuances of nonviolent action, putting forth a practical argument for the strategy. The talk speaks for itself, but a few parts may stick out as particularly familiar to the modern reader. For example, Barbara Deming points out how easy it is in modern society to commit sabotage and severely disrupt the normal flow of public life. In fact, disruption has only become easier since this talk was first given — a central ethos of the modern tech industry is to “disrupt” traditional industries with the combination of new technologies and a flood of capital. Famously, the internal motto for Facebook has been “move fast and break stuff,” representing a wildly careless and irresponsible attitude about their actions. Indeed, we have already seen the deleterious effects of the tech industry’s arrogance on our society, our economy, and even our politics. According to Deming, however, societal disruption for the direct actionist should be intentional and well-thought out — the exact opposite of the tech industry’s mentality. Easier said than done. Intentionality and careful consideration are difficult in a society that often encourages participation without comprehension — no one really reads the Terms of Service on new digital products before purchasing or signing up, and very few refuse a new iPhone specifically because of the unethical supply chain involved in its manufacture. We tend to excuse all kinds of atrocious acts if we’ve participated in them. And those who do manage to stick to their independent convictions often tend to face challenges from within and from without. Barbara Deming gives a short anecdote about a young US soldier in Vietnam who — after refusing to participate in a massacre — felt “left out” of some secret or implicit understanding about the truth of war. His mental health suffered, leaving him confused and disoriented, unsure of himself, perhaps even paranoid. Sometimes, it seems easier to just go along with things. But that’s exactly how we got here, isn’t it? A world with not just the old universal threat of our own design (thermonuclear war), but with a new one in climate change, too. In a world with so much danger and such carelessness, the thoughtfulness and discipline of nonviolent action is both a means to an end as well as a representation of the end itself. The urgency for such action is as great as it has ever been. Technology may have advanced, social values and politics may have evolved, and the geopolitical situation may have changed — but the basic, practical logic of nonviolent action remains. (Click on any of the images below to view the full PDF) -- --
We at VPT are already starting to plan some summer events, including the arrival of the Golden Rule in New London, CT in June. As the world’s first modern protest ship and a vessel originally operated by the CNVA, the Golden Rule has strong historical ties to VPT. We at VPT will put on some public events related to the ship in the months before it arrives as well as when the ship is here. To stay in the loop about these events, sign up for our newsletter: http://eepurl.com/Oqf99 — Support Us We commit a significant amount of research and writing to produce A Peace of History each week. If you like our weekly posts, please consider supporting this project with a one-time or recurring donation. Your gift will be used to continue producing more A Peace of History posts as well as the greater mission of VPT. You may type in however much you would like to give; contributions of all sizes are appreciated. Click this link to learn more about what we do and how you can donate: https://www.mightycause.com/organization/Voluntown-Peace-Trust — Source Deming, Barbara. “On the Necessity to Liberate Minds,” We Are Apart of One Another. New Society Publishers: Philadelphia, PA, 1984. |
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