Emily Greene Balch (January 8, 1867 – January 9, 1961) was an American

economist An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social sciences, social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this ...

, sociologist and

pacifist Pacifism is the opposition or resistance to war, militarism (including conscription and mandatory military service) or violence. Pacifists generally reject theories of Just War. The word ''pacifism'' was coined by the French peace campaign ...

. Balch combined an academic career at

Wellesley College Wellesley College is a private women's liberal arts college in Wellesley, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1870 by Henry and Pauline Durant as a female seminary, it is a member of the original Seven Sisters Colleges, an unofficial g ...

with a long-standing interest in social issues such as

poverty Poverty is the state of having few material possessions or little income. Poverty can have diverse social, economic, and political causes and effects. When evaluating poverty in ...

child labor Child labour refers to the exploitation of children through any form of work that deprives children of their childhood, interferes with their ability to attend regular school, and is mentally, physically, socially and morally harmful. Such e ...

, and

immigration Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, and ...

, as well as settlement work to uplift poor immigrants and reduce juvenile delinquency. She moved into the peace movement at the start of World War I in 1914, and began collaborating with

Jane Addams Laura Jane Addams (September 6, 1860 May 21, 1935) was an American settlement activist, reformer, social worker, sociologist, public administrator, and author. She was an important leader in the history of social work and women's suffrage ...

of Chicago. She became a central leader of the

Women's International League for Peace and Freedom The Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) is a non-profit non-governmental organization working "to bring together women of different political views and philosophical and religious backgrounds determined to study and make kno ...

(WILPF) based in Switzerland, for which she won the

Nobel Peace Prize The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Swedish industrialist, inventor and armaments (military weapons and equipment) manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Chemi ...

in 1946.

Life

Balch was born to a prominent Yankee family in

Jamaica Plain Jamaica Plain is a neighborhood of in the City of Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Settled by Puritans seeking farmland to the south, it was originally part of the former Town of Roxbury, now also a part of the City of Boston. The commun ...

, Massachusetts, a neighborhood of Boston, the daughter of Francis V. and Ellen (née Noyes) Balch. Her father was a successful lawyer and one time secretary to United States Senator

Charles Sumner Charles Sumner (January 6, 1811March 11, 1874) was an American statesman and United States Senator from Massachusetts. As an academic lawyer and a powerful orator, Sumner was the leader of the anti-slavery forces in the state and a leader of th ...

. She graduated from

Bryn Mawr College Bryn Mawr College ( ; Welsh: ) is a women's liberal arts college in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. Founded as a Quaker institution in 1885, Bryn Mawr is one of the Seven Sister colleges, a group of elite, historically women's colleges in the United St ...

in 1889 after reading widely in the classics and languages and focusing on economics. She did graduate work in Paris and published her research as ''Public Assistance of the Poor in France'' (1893). She did settlement housework in Boston before deciding on an academic career. She then studied at Harvard University, the University of Chicago, and the University of Berlin, and began teaching at

in 1896. She focused on immigration, consumption, and the economic roles of women. In 1913, she was appointed to serve as Professor of Economics at Wellesley, following the resignation of political economist

Katharine Coman Katharine Ellis Coman ( – ) was an American social activist and professor. She was based at the women-only Wellesley College, Massachusetts, where she created new courses in political economy, in line with her personal belief in social change ...

, who had founded the Department. That same year, Balch was promoted from Associate Professor to Professor of Political Economy and of Political and Social Science. Balch served on numerous state commissions, such as the first commission on minimum wages for women. She was a leader of the

Women's Trade Union League The Women's Trade Union League (WTUL) (1903–1950) was a U.S. organization of both working class and more well-off women to support the efforts of women to organize labor unions and to eliminate sweatshop conditions. The WTUL played an important ...

, which supported women who belonged to labor unions. She published a major sociological study of ''Our Slavic Fellow Citizens'' in 1910. including the Nobel Lecture, April 7, 1948 ''Toward Human Unity or Beyond Nationalism'' She was a longtime pacifist, and was a participant in Henry Ford's International Committee on Mediation, the follow-up organization to the

Neutral Conference for Continuous Mediation The Peace Ship was the common name for the ocean liner ''Oscar II'', on which American industrialist Henry Ford organized and launched his 1915 amateur peace mission to Europe; Ford chartered the ''Oscar II'' and invited prominent peace activists t ...

. When the United States entered the war, she became a political activist opposing conscription in espionage legislation, and supporting the civil liberties of conscientious objectors. She collaborated with

in the Women's Peace party and numerous other groups. In a letter to the president of Wellesley, she wrote we should follow "the ways of Jesus." Her spiritual thoughts were that American economy was "far from being in harmony with the principles of Jesus which we profess." Wellesley College terminated her contract in 1919. Balch served as an editor of ''

The Nation ''The Nation'' is an American liberal biweekly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper tha ...

'', a well-known magazine of political commentary. Balch converted from

Unitarianism Unitarianism (from Latin ''unitas'' "unity, oneness", from ''unus'' "one") is a nontrinitarian branch of Christian theology. Most other branches of Christianity and the major Churches accept the doctrine of the Trinity which states that there i ...

and became a

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belie ...

in 1921. She stated, "Religion seems to me one of the most interesting things in life, one of the most puzzling, richest and thrilling fields of human thought and speculation... religious experience and thought need also a light a day and sunshine and a companionable sharing with others of which it seems to me there is generally too little... The Quaker worship at its best seems to me give opportunities for this sort of sharing without profanation." Her major achievements were just beginning, as she became an American leader of the international peace movement. In 1919, Balch played a central role in the International Congress of Women. It changed its name to the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom and was based in

Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...

. She was hired by the League as its first international Secretary-Treasurer, administering the organization's activities. She helped set up summer schools on peace education and created new branches in over 50 countries. She cooperated with the newly established

League of Nations The League of Nations (french: link=no, Société des Nations ) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference that ...

regarding drug control, aviation, refugees, and disarmament. In World War II, she favored Allied victory and did not criticize the war effort, but she did support the rights of

conscientious objector A conscientious objector (often shortened to conchie) is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of thought, conscience, or religion. The term has also been extended to object ...

s.Suzanne Niemeyer, editor, ''Research Guide to American Historical Biography: vol. IV'' (1990) pp. 1806–14

Nobel prize

She was nominated by

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, John Sturge Stephens,

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Lucy Noel-Buxton Lucy Edith Noel-Buxton, Baroness Noel-Buxton (née Pelham Burn; 1888 – 9 December 1960) was a British Labour Party politician. Life She studied at Malvern St James then at Westfield College. She married Noel Edward Buxton MP in London ...

Judah Leon Magnes Judah Leon Magnes ( he, יהודה לייב מאגנס; July 5, 1877 – October 27, 1948) was a prominent Reform rabbi in both the United States and Mandatory Palestine. He is best remembered as a leader in the pacifist movement of the World War ...

, Agnus MacInnis,

Lucas Middleton Lucas or LUCAS may refer to: People * Lucas (surname) * Lucas (given name) Arts and entertainment * Luca Family Singers, also known as "lucas ligner en torsk" * Lucas (album), ''Lucas'' (album) (2007), an album by Skeletons and the Kings of All C ...

and sixteen Finnish law professors and MPs. She won the 1946

for her work with the

(WILPF). She donated her share of the prize money to the WILPF. Her acceptance speech highlighted the issues of nationalism and efforts for international peace.

Personal life

Balch never married. She died the day after her 94th birthday.

References

Bibliography

Emily Greene Balch, ''Public Assistance of the Poor in France''
Vol. 8, Nos. 4 & 5, ''Publications of the American Economic Association.''
Emily Greene Balch, "A Study of Conditions of City Life: with Special Reference to Boston, A Bibliography"
1903, 13 pages
''Our Slavic Fellow Citizens''
By Emily Greene Balch, 1910, 536 pages.
''Women at the Hague: the International Congress of Women and its Results''
By Jane Addams, Emily Greene Balch, and

Alice Hamilton Alice Hamilton (February 27, 1869Corn, JHamilton, Alice''American National Biography'' – September 22, 1970) was an American physician, research scientist, and author. She was a leading expert in the field of occupational health and a pioneer ...

. 171 pages, New York: MacMillan, 1915.
''Approaches to the Great Settlement''
By Emily Greene Balch, Pauline Knickerbocker Angell, 351 pages, published 1918.

External links

* including the Nobel Lecture, April 7, 1948 ''Toward Human Unity or Beyond Nationalism''
Tribute to Emily Greene Balch
by John Dewey, pages 149–150 in ''Later Works of John Dewey'' volume 17. First published in Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, 1946 page 2. {{DEFAULTSORT:Balch, Emily Greene 1867 births 1961 deaths American anti-war activists American Christian pacifists American magazine editors American Nobel laureates American Quakers Bryn Mawr College alumni Converts to Quakerism American women economists Economists from Massachusetts Nobel Peace Prize laureates Writers from Boston Wellesley College faculty Women Nobel laureates American women sociologists American sociologists American anti–World War I activists Women's International League for Peace and Freedom people Women's Trade Union League people Women magazine editors People from Jamaica Plain American women's rights activists Quaker feminists The Nation editors