In San Francisco, on August 6, 1962, Harvey Richards photographed the Women for Peace march to commemorate the anniversary of the U.S. dropping of the atom bomb on Hiroshima. Marching in a time of complacency and ubiquitous anti-communist media bias, these demonstrators received little or no publicity from the established media. Calling for “No More War”, protesters marched around an area in San Francisco equal in size to the area destroyed in Hiroshima by the bomb. Eva Helen Pauling spoke at the rally at Civic Center in San Francisco where the march ended. Alice Richards, one of the founders, and also spoke at the rally.
Women for Peace Demonstrations
Out of these demonstrations came the peace organization Women for Peace. Harvey Richards documented the west coast activities and formation of this group in his film Women for Peace, with the script written by his wife, Alice Richards and narrated by her friend Francis Herring, both co founders of the group. One of the first actions of Women for Peace was the protest against nuclear testing outside the testing zone in Mercury, Nevada where women picketed openly with helicopter surveillance flying over them. Still photo images of these demonstrations are available on this web site.
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