|
|
| |
| |
Presidential Medal of Freedom Recipient Ginetta Sagan
GINETTA SAGAN
Awarded by
President Bill Clinton
September 9, 1996
Fifty years ago, Sagan was tortured and nearly killed by Mussolini's Black Brigade because of her involvement with the Italian resistance. With courage and determination, she has fought human rights abuses around the world. She founded the first West Coast chapter of Amnesty International USA and has organized some 75 other chapters around the United States. Amnesty International has honored her by creating the Ginetta Sagan Fund, which is dedicated to stopping torture and persecution of women and children and promotes human rights education.
Ginetta Sagan 1925 - 2000
Founder of Amnesty International USA and a former Honorary Chairperson of the AIUSA Board
The late Ginetta Sagan, was a founder of Amnesty International USA and a former Honorary Chairperson of the Board of Amnesty International USA. For more than 50 years she was a champion and fighter for human rights for the interests of all people. However in the mid 1980's she was increasingly moved by the plight of women and children, and she began her project of bringing worldwide attention to the particular abuses suffered by women and children.
About the Ginetta Sagan Fund
The Ginetta Sagan Fund, an endowment under the aegis of Amnesty International USA, carries on Ginetta's crucial work and brings worldwide attention to the abuses perpetuated on women and children.
Every year Amnesty International USA honors Ginetta Sagan through the Ginetta Sagan Award. The purpose of the Ginetta Sagan Fund is to provide attention and assistance to a woman or women doing effective work to protect the dignity, liberties, and lives of women and children in regions of crisis where abuse of human rights is widespread. The Ginetta Sagan Award for Human Rights is given annually in recognition of individual accomplishment, but also as a beacon of hope to women everywhere who are struggling for their lives and rights.
The announcement and presentation of the annual award should serve to: - Recognize the recipient's outstanding achievement, often at great personal risk, in helping victims of violence;
- Enhance the recipient's ability to live and work freely;
- Protect the recipient's capacity to continue, expand, and improve her
work; - Bring increased international scrutiny to the crisis region or issue for which
the recipient works.
Making a Donation to the Ginetta Sagan Fund
Since the Ginetta Sagan fund awarded its first award in 1997 it has now awarded a total of $80,000. It makes an award of $10,000 each year to a woman who is working on behalf of either women or children.
Your donation will be gratefully accepted toward the Ginetta Sagan Fund. Please send your donations to:
The Ginetta Sagan Fund
c/o Amnesty International USA
350 Sansome Street, Suite 630
San Francisco, CA 94104
Call 415-291-9233 for additional information
Chronology of Ginetta Sagan
1940s
1943-45, Italy. Participated in Italian Resistance Movement. Captured and tortured by the Fascist Police. Rescued April 23, 1945.
1948, Glasgow, Scotland. Underwent rehabilitation and conducted interviews with victims of WWII Concentration Camp victims and former Resistance members.
1949-51. France. Studied at the "Institute of Psychology" at the Sorbonne.
1950s
1951, Chicago. Enrolled at the University of Illinois to study child development and electroencephalography.
1952. Married Leonard A. Sagan.
1952-54. Worked at the Psychiatric Institute of the City Court of Chicago as an EEG specialist for juvenile offenders.
1953. Birth of Russell Loring Sagan.
1956. Birth of Duncan B. Sagan.
1957. Birth of Stuart Ross "Pico" Sagan.
1960s
1961-64, Japan. With the Usagikai organization, provided support for six orphanages in Nagasaki, providing food, medical care and building improvements.
1964-65. Resided in Boston, MA.
1967. Joined Amnesty International USA in Washington, DC.
1967-74. Greece. During the Colonels regime, made several trips to Greece to assist victims of oppression and torture. Organized conference in 1974 on victims of torture. Organized fund-raising concert with Joan Baez and Melina Mercouri in Berkley, CA
1969. Started the first AI Adoption Group "Group 19" in Palo Alto, CA.
1970s
1971. Founded the Western Region of Amnesty International
1971. Co-founded AI's Urgent Action with David Hinkley, Scott Harison and Ellen Moore
1971-86. Worked as volunteer to organize Adoptions Groups for AI USA
1973. Helped organize AI's first conference for the Abolition of Torture in Paris, France.
1973-76. Served on AI USA National Board of Directors.
1974, Chile. With Sally Lillienthal and Rose Styron, organized and supported a mission to investigate reports of oppression against health personnel. Organized the rescue of 400 prisoners of conscience, relocating them from Chilean prisons to the US.
1975. Argentina. With Rose Styron assisted journalists and other prisoners of conscience.
1975. Philippines. Raised funds to support AI mission to Spain and Philippines.
1976-77. Czechoslovakia. While living in Vienna, assisted families of the Charter 77 Movement.
1979-81. Served on the Board of Humanitas, founded by Joan Baez.
1980s
1980. "Italo-American Woman of the Year".
1981. Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters, the Starr King School of Religion, Berkeley, CA.
1981. Founded the Aurora Foundation with Catherine S. Jones.
1981-88, Poland. Supported the Solidarity Movement in Poland with Joan Baez and Basia Piasecka Johnson.
1983-87. Served on the AI National Board of Directors.
1983. Aurora Foundation publishes "Violations of Human Rights in the Socialist Republic or Vietnam, April 1975- December 1988". Second edition published in 1989.
1985-86. Served as Chair of the 25th Anniversary Committed for AI USA.
1987. Jefferson Award Recipient.
1987. Visiting Scholar, Institute for Women and Gender, Stanford University.
1988-90. Affiliated Scholar, Institute for Women and Gender, Stanford University.
1990s
1990. Albert Schweitzer Award of Distinction.
1992-93. Poland and Russia. Sponsored workshop on teaching human rights.
1993, Ethiopia. Provided assistance to AI's Urgent Action Campaign to provide books and teaching material to human rights workshops.
1994. Elected Honorary Chair of the Board of AI USA.
1994. Guyana. Provided assistance to fund and organize a Human Rights seminar for educators from Guyana and other Caribbean countries.
1995. Yugoslavia. Fundraising for film on rape and torture of women.
1996. Awarded Italy's "Grande Ufficiale del Merito della Republica Italiana".
1996. Awarded Presidential Medal of Freedom . White House Ceremony with President Clinton took place in 1997.
2000s
2001, Atherton, CA. Ginetta Sagan died at her home.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Medal History
