Alice Franklin Bryant
Alice Franklin Bryant was an American peace activist, author, educator, and electoral candidate. An internment subject in the Philippines during World War II, she advocated peace throughout the Cold War, writing extensively and visiting many world leaders.
Biography
Early life and the Philippines
Bryant was born on May 1, 1899, in Fredericktown, Missouri, daughter of John Eddy Franklin. She lived for some time in Texas, and in 1919, moved to Capitol Hill, Seattle with her family. She studied at the University of Washington. She worked as an educator, teaching at Issaquah High School for some years. For two and a half years, she taught English and French to people in Hawaii and China, and during that time she taught herself Cantonese.In 1927, Bryant moved to Manila, where she worked as an educator. She met and married William "Guv'nor" Cheney Bryant, who moved to the Philippines in 1902. He had previously governed the provinces of Cotabato, Agusan del Sur, and Nueva Vizcaya, and operated a coconut plantation on the island of Negros while they were married. They had a daughter, Imogene, who was born in 1931. During World War II, they sent their daughter to the United States, and they hid in the mountains after Japan invaded the country; they were discovered by Japanese forces and were sent to the Santo Tomas Internment Camp. She became a peace activist due to her experiences at the camp.
Diplomacy
In 1945, Bryant moved back to Seattle. She wrote essays, letters, poetry, and children's literature, all of which were published in newspapers and magazines, as well as pamphlets and books. She met with world leaders such as Nikita Khrushchev and Jawaharlal Nehru.Bryant visited Japan, becoming one of the first Americans to enter the country following the war. She presented the Japanese government an apology for the Atomic [bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki], and Japan named for an honorary citizen of Hiroshima. She and her husband used their reparation money – granted for their time in an internment camp – to fund a community center there. She returned to Japan in 1954 alongside Floyd Schmoe, following the American-caused radiation exposure of Daigo Fukuryū Maru's crew. They presented an apology with 13,000 signatures.
She visited six countries under the Iron Curtain in 1968, including Czechoslovakia, where she peacefully participated in Prague Spring. For her last trip, she attended the World Conference on Women, 1975.