Peace Day celebration connects CMU's past to national movement
Continuing a tradition established by former Central Michigan University President E.C. Warriner, members of the Department of Philosophy and Religion raised a flag Wednesday in honor of Peace Day.
Prior to World War I, Warriner and other progressives across the United States celebrated Peace Day — a day commemorating one of the first international peace conferences convened at The Hague, Netherlands on May 18, 1899.
"It's an educational holiday that allows us to take some time and learn about this history and about the very long process of building international machinery — courts and institutions — aimed at peace and security," said philosophy professor Hope May. "So there is a process (in place) when a country has a problem with another country — there's actually a procedure for it to follow to have its grievances heard and addressed."
May 18 no longer garners widespread attention in the United States as a holiday. But May and a handful of students held an educational presentation about the history of Peace Day, before raising a ceremonial Peace Day flag in front of Warriner Hall.
Warriner established the Michigan branch of the American School Peace League in 1908, May said. As the league's president, he interacted with other progressive groups and promoted a curriculum focused on peace education in Michigan's public schools.
Less than a year after WWI began, May said Warriner wrote a letter to the American School Peace League's national president Fannie Fern Andrews in 1915, asking if the ASPL would continue its peace movement during the war — but it fizzled out.
"What happens in the United States is, you basically can't say the word 'peace' — it's a crime. You can't question or dissent because of sedition laws," May said. "For that reason, the American School Peace League took the word 'peace' out of the organization, calling itself the American School Citizenship League."
May said the Clarke Historical Library was "gold" for gathering historic documents and Warriner's archives.
After reading a speech by Czech-Austrian pacifist and novelist Bertha Von Suttner, May said her fact checking led her back to the Clarke Historical Library.
First-year graduate student Randall Olson said it was amazing to find archives "so concrete and real, it brings the past to life."
"I had been in that room one time," he said. "Since (finding Warriner's archives), I've been back many times, trying to find more pieces of gold like that."
Olson said he decided to stay at CMU for graduate school because of the deep history the university has with the early progressive movement.
Redford native and 2016 alumnae Sabryna Groves said she's fascinated with CMU's underlining history with human rights movements.
"People come to CMU for sports or because it's a teacher's school, but I have this passion about human rights and the peace movement," Groves said. "It's not publicized. It's sort of this little in-depth history you have to look through, but I found a whole new world open just through connections. It's really beautiful we have this whole history of human rights, yet it's so under the radar."
May said next year's celebration will be a milestone, commemorating the 100-year anniversary of the United State's entering WWI.
