Genevieve Fiore
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Genevieve Fiore (1912–2002) was an American women's rights and peace activist, who was the founder, and served as the executive director, of the Colorado Division of United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Her UNESCO Club was founded in the year the clubs were first conceived and was the third organization established in the world. In 1967 she was honored as one of the inductees for the Colorado Women of Achievement Award. She was knighted by Italy in 1975 receiving the rank of Cavaliere dell'Ordine della Stella d'Italia. In 1991, she was inducted into the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame for her many years of peace activism and work with women's rights issues.


Early life

Genevieve Natalina D’Amato was born January 20, 1912, in Sunrise, Wyoming, to Italian immigrants, Lorenzo and Anna D'Amato. Her parents had immigrated to the United States in 1908 from
Petina, Italy Petina (Campanian: ) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Salerno in the Campania region of south-western Italy. Geography The town is located on the Alburni mountain range, close to Basilicata region, and borders with the municipalities ...
. Her father was a miner, who taught himself blacksmithing and in 1919, moved with his family to Welby, Colorado. Initially, D'Amato attended a Catholic
parochial school A parochial school is a private primary or secondary school affiliated with a religious organization, and whose curriculum includes general religious education in addition to secular subjects, such as science, mathematics and language arts. The ...
, but when she learned the school was not accredited, she campaigned for the Adams County School Board to allow she and her brother to attend a school outside of their district. The Board eventually paid half of the children's tuition and allowed them to attend Union High School #1, where they were ostracized as the first
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in the school. D'Amato worked to overcome the stereotyping of her classmates and became senior class president and the
salutatorian Salutatorian is an academic title given in the United States, Armenia, and the Philippines to the second-highest-ranked graduate of the entire graduating class of a specific discipline. Only the valedictorian is ranked higher. This honor is tradi ...
of her class. Her graduation with honors enabled D'Amato to earn a tuition waiver scholarship at the
University of Colorado The University of Colorado (CU) is a system of public universities in Colorado. It consists of four institutions: University of Colorado Boulder, University of Colorado Colorado Springs, University of Colorado Denver, and the University of Co ...
, but as her family could not afford her
room and board Room and board is a phrase describing a situation in which, in exchange for money, Manual labour, labor or other considerations, a person is provided with a place to live as well as meals on a comprehensive basis. It commonly occurs as a fee at h ...
, she did not accept the scholarship. On June 25, 1933, D'Amato married the printer John R. Fiore and they subsequently had three children: David, Phillip Dominic and Roxanna.


Community service

Having experienced personal discrimination, and losses of family members in both
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
and
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, Fiore was passionate about creating a world focused on
peace Peace is a concept of societal friendship and harmony in the absence of hostility and violence. In a social sense, peace is commonly used to mean a lack of conflict (such as war) and freedom from fear of violence between individuals or groups. ...
and
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. From the formation of the Steele Community Center in north Denver in 1937, Fiore worked as a volunteer. While serving as a board member of the Steele Center in 1947, Fiore learned that Denver was to host a regional United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) conference. The first UNESCO Club had been established a few months earlier by Koichi Ueda in Japan. Using the center’s registration, she attended the conference as an official observer and collected literature at the event to begin a UN library. She founded a UNESCO group at the Steele Center, though she initially had trouble getting others to support her pacifist views. When no one else would accept the chairmanship, Fiore took the role, planning to hire an executive director. The founding of the organization in 1947, marked only the third UNESCO club in the world, preceded by Ueda's group in
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and one founded in
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. Urged to stay on and supported by family members Fiore became the executive director and worked an average of 70 hours per week as a volunteer. Through a school adoption program, Fiore and her club members provided clothing and school supplies to a school in Siculiana,
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as their first project and a few months later, adopted a school on the outskirts of
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. Fiore presented programs on radio and television, at schools and organizations, discussing UNESCO’s projects and relief programs. Her presentations, totaling over 4,000, included her being on agendas with governors, congressmen, government officials, and businesswomen, urging international goodwill and cooperation. She traveled throughout the state, and attended conferences in
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, as well as internationally, including British Columbia, Canada; Italy; Japan; and Mexico. In 1953, Fiore helped create Il Circolo Italiano (The Italian Circle) to promote friendship and understanding for the Italian-American community of Denver. The organization offered free Italian lessons. In 1955, she became a supporter of Japan's Peace Pole Project and in 1984 attended the World Federation of UNESCO Clubs, Centres and Associations (WFUCA) World Congress, held in
Sendai is the capital Cities of Japan, city of Miyagi Prefecture, the largest city in the Tōhoku region. , the city had a population of 1,091,407 in 525,828 households, and is one of Japan's 20 Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, desig ...
. Until 1959, the Denver UNESCO organization was operated out of the Fiore family's basement. In that year, she moved the office and International Hospitality Center to the Denver International House and continued as executive director for another fourteen years. Fiore retired in 1974, but she continued her involvement with the International Hospitality Center, hosting foreign visitors and encouraging others to participate. She also attended the International Women's Conference and Tribunal held in
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in 1975. The tribunal was a non-governmental meeting, while the conference was the official government meeting. Both sessions were held at the same meeting so that delegates participated in discussions on official policy and program implementation to improve women's educational opportunities, equality, economic position and collaboration. The 1975 UN World Conference on Women, which was part of the
International Women's Year International Women's Year (IWY) was the name given to 1975 by the United Nations. Since that year March 8 has been celebrated as International Women's Day, and the United Nations Decade for Women, from 1976 to 1985, was also established. Hist ...
focus, was a precursor in the development of the provisions of Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). Fiore felt invigorated by the experience and pledged to continue to work for women's empowerment. In 1977, Fiore chaired the Colorado Women’s Conference plan of action committee and received top votes to go as the state delegate to the National Women’s Conference in Houston. In 1979, she established the Genevieve Fiore Educational Trust Fund which provides awards annually to high school students who write essays about the
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. In 1983, the United States withdrew its UNESCO membership, citing mismanagement of funds, but Fiore argued for Denver's group, which had never utilized government funds, to continue its independent status. Her campaign was successful and in 1986, the organization changed its name to the UNESCO Association of Colorado. In 1994, Fiore began producing and hosting a weekly radio program called "Focus International", which examined international educational projects and UNESCO initiatives. Fiore died March 10, 2002, in Denver and was buried in Mount Olivet Cemetery.


Awards and honors

In 1967 Fiore was honored as one of the inductees for the 1966 Colorado Women of Achievement Award along with Elizabeth McAulliffe Calabrese and Sabina O’Malley. She was recognized nationally when she received the
Freedoms Foundation The Freedoms Foundation is an American non-profit, non-partisan, non-sectarian educational organization, founded in 1949. The foundation is located adjacent to the Valley Forge National Historical Park, near Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. Bill of R ...
's George Washington Medal and received the international Michelangelo Medal from UNESCO. On 15 October 1975, she was knighted by Italy receiving the Order of the Star of Italian Solidarity. She was inducted into the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame in 1991.


See also

*
List of peace activists This list of peace activists includes people who have proactively advocated diplomatic, philosophical, and non-military resolution of major territorial or ideological disputes through nonviolent means and methods. Peace activists usually work ...


References


Citations


Biography

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External links


Oral History Project: Interview with Fiore by Laura McKinley, July 22, 1989.Colorado Women's Hall of Fame
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fiore, Genevieve 1912 births 2002 deaths People from Platte County, Wyoming American women's rights activists Pacifist feminists