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[[Image:Bettywilliams1976.jpg|frame|right]]
'''Betty Williams''' (born [[22 May]], [[1943]]) was a co-recipient with [[Mairead Corrigan]] of the [[Nobel Peace Prize]] in [[1976]] for as a cofounder of [[Community of Peace People]], an organization dedicated to promoting a peaceful resolution to [[The Troubles]] in [[Northern Ireland]].
==Biography==
[[Image:Deaths in The Troubles by area.PNG|thumb|right|250px|[[The Troubles]] has claimed the lives of thousands in [[Northern Ireland]].]]
Born in [[Belfast]], [[Northern Ireland]] she was introduced into a family of mixed religions. Her maternal grandfather was [[Jew]]ish, her mother [[Catholic]], and her father [[Protestant]], and at an early age she learned of relatives who had been murdered during [[The Holocaust]].[http://www.salsa.net/peace/timeline/nobelsigners.html]
Her mother was left incapacitated by a [[cerebrovascular accident|stroke]] and she took the role of raising her younger sister. She attended a Catholic school and later a trade school where she worked as office [[receptionist]], and raised two [[child]]ren (from her [[1961]] [[marriage]] to Ralph Williams).
She joined the [[Irish Republican Army]] in [[1972]], but "didn't remain a member long,"[http://www.salsa.net/peace/timeline/nobelsigners.html], and after witnessing a [[United Kingdom|British]] soldier shot in front of her in [[1973]], she knelt and prayed beside him. She was criticized by Catholic neighbors for showing sympathy for "the enemy."[http://www.salsa.net/peace/timeline/nobelsigners.html]
==Peace petition==
She was drawn into the public arena after witnessing the death of three children and their mother, [[Anne Maguire]], on [[August 10]], [[1976]] when they were hit by a car whose driver, an [[IRA]] fugitive named Danny Lennon, was fatally shot by British authorities.[http://www.virginia.edu/nobel/laureates/bios/williams_bio.html] Williams was walking nearby, heard the crash, and was the first on the scene.
Within two days of the tragic event, she had obtained 6,000 signatures on a [[petition]] for peace and gained media attention. Together with [[Mairead Corrigan]], Anne Maguire's sister, she cofounded the [[Women for Peace]] which later, with co-founder [[Ciaran McKeown]] became [[Community for Peace People]].
The two organized a peace march to the graves of the children, which was attended by 10,000 Protestant and Catholic women — the peaceful march was disrupted by members of the Irish Republican Army, who accused them of being "dupes of the British."[http://www.virginia.edu/nobel/laureates/bios/williams_bio.html] The following week, Williams and Corrigan again led a march — this time with 35,000 participants.
On Friday August 13th, the day of the Maguire children's funeral, Betty Williams and Mairead Corrigan were to appear with journalist Ciaran McKeown, on a current affairs television program, and although they arrived too late, they met McKeown, who joined the two women in founding the "Peace People." McKeown wrote the original Declaration and organized the rally supporting it.[http://www.peacepeople.com/PPHistory.htm]
==Declaration of the Peace People==
First Declaration Of The Peace People
*We have a simple message to the world from this movement for Peace.
*We want to live and love and build a just and peaceful society.
*We want for our children, as we want for ourselves, our lives at home, at work, and at play to be lives of joy and Peace.
*We recognise that to build such a society demands dedication, hard work, and courage.
*We recognise that there are many problems in our society which are a source of conflict and violence.
*We recognise that every bullet fired and every exploding bomb make that work more difficult.
*We reject the use of the bomb and the bullet and all the techniques of violence.
*We dedicate ourselves to working with our neighbours, near and far, day in and day out, to build that peaceful society in which the tragedies we have known are a bad memory and a continuing warning.[http://www.peacepeople.com/PPDeclaration.htm]
''(signature)''
==Nobel prize==
The dramatic display of support for peace that the two women had organized led to their joint receipt of the [[Nobel Peace Prize]] in [[1976]].
In her acceptance speech, Williams said, <blockquote> "That first week will always be remembered of course for something else besides the birth of the Peace People. For those most closely involved, the most powerful memory of that week was the death of a young republican and the deaths of three children struck by the dead man's car. A deep sense of frustration at the mindless stupidity of the continuing violence was already evident before the tragic events of that sunny afternoon of August 10,1976. But the deaths of those four young people in one terrible moment of violence caused that frustration to explode, and create the possibility of a real peace movement...As far as we are concerned, every single death in the last eight years, and every death in every war that was ever fought represents life needlessly wasted, a mother's labour spurned."[http://gos.sbc.edu/w/bwilliams.html]</blockquote>
==Personal life==
[[Image:CorriganWilliamsbook.gif|thumb|right|250 px|A book about Williams and Corrigan.]]
At the time she received the Nobel Prize, she was working as a receptionist and raising the two children she had had with Ralph Williams. They divorced, and she married James Perkins in [[1982]], and moved to the [[United States]], where she toured and lectured extensively.
In [[1992]] she was appointed to the [[Texas Commission for Children and Yorth]] by Governor [[Ann Richards]].
She spent time as a [[visiting professor]] at [[Sam Houston State University]], in [[Huntsville, Texas]] and now lives in Huntsville and heads the [[Global Children's Foundation]] and is President of the World Centers Compassion for Children. She is also the Chair of Instittute for Asian Democracy in Washington D.C. and a Distinguished Visiting Professor at [[Nova Southeastern University]].
==Awards==
[[Image:Bettywilliams2000.jpg|frame|right]]Betty Williams since winning the Nobel Peace Prize she has received the [[People's Peace Prize of Norway]] also in 1976 , the [[Schweitzer Medallion for Courage]], the [[Martin Luther King, Jr. Award]], the [[Eleanor Roosevelt Award]] in 1984, and the [[Frank Foundation Child Care International Oliver Award]]. In 1995 she was awarded the Rotary Club International "Paul Harris Fellowship: and the Togethher for Peace Building Award.
==External links==
* [http://www.nobel.se/peace/laureates/1976/index.html Nobel Committee iformation on 1976 Peace Laureates]
* [http://provost.syr.edu/lectures/williams.asp brief bio]
* [http://members.lycos.co.uk/wizard5/corrigan.html A biography of Marrieg Corrigan and Betty Williams]
==See also==
* [[The Peace People]]
* [[The Troubles]]
[[Category:Nobel Peace Prize winners|Williams, Betty]]
[[Category:1943 births|Williams, Betty]]
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