MUJERES CON PANTALONES 12-02-1989 Fallece Ruth Reynolds Ruth Mary Reynolds devoted many years of her life to the cause of Puerto Ricos independence from the United States. Greatly influenced by the Gandhian phi¬losophy of non-violence, she was active in pacifist organizations and in the Presbyte¬rian church. Born on February 29, 1916 in Terraville, South Dakota, Reynolds moved to New York after completing a Masters in English at Northwestern University. In New York she joined the Harlem Ashram, an interracial pacifist community, dedicated to the development of non-violent strate¬gies for social change. Reynolds involvement with Puerto Rico began in 1943 when Julio Pinto Gandía, a member of the Nationalist Party of Puerto Rico, introduced her to Pedro Albizu Campos, the Nationalist leader. At that time, Albizu was a patient at Columbus Hospital in New York City. She and Albizu were to become life long friends and her activities on behalf of Puerto Rico began almost immediately. In 1944, she co-founded and became the Executive Secretary of the American League for Puerto Ricos Independence and under the auspices of this organization made her first trip to Puerto Rico in 1945. There she interviewed prominent individuals and undertook other study in order to learn about the social, economic, and political conditions in Puerto Rico. (Series IV, Box 18, Folder 6). During 1946 and 1947, Reynolds lobbied at the United Nations and testified in the United States Congress on issues related to Puerto Rico. In 1948 she made a second trip to Puerto Rico, this time with the purpose of investigating the student strike at the University of Puerto Rico. Political and other life circumstances prevented the immediate publication of the extensive report analyzing the strike, which she prepared for the American League. It was not until 1990 that it was finally published under the title Campus in Bondage: A 1948 Microcosm of Puerto Rico in Bondage. The Nationalist uprising in October 1950 led to increasing persecution and the imprisonment of Nationalist leaders including Albizu Campos and hundreds of sympathizers. Ruth Reynolds was arrested on November 2, 1950 under the repressive Gag Law or Ley de la Mordaza. She was charged with sedition and in September 1951 was found guilty and sentenced to six years of hard labor in the Insular Penitentiary. Her experiences as a prisoner at La Princesa and the Arecibo Jail are well documented in her papers. After Reynolds incarceration the American League for Puerto Ricos Independence was dissolved, but some members of the League organized The Ruth Reynolds Defense Committee and raised funds for her defense. Reynolds was released on bail in June 1952 and returned to New York. Under her leadership, the League was revived as Americans for Puerto Ricos Independence. In 1954, Reynolds won her case on appeal in the Supreme Court in Puerto Rico. Pedro Albizu Campos was pardoned and released in 1953, but was soon imprisoned again. In March 1954 a group of four Nationalists opened fire on members of the U.S. Congress and one of the consequences of this event was Albizus arrest. Despite her own legal troubles, Reynolds, together with Americans for Puerto Ricos Independence and its Committee for Justice to Puerto Ricans worked for the defense of Nationalist prisoners accused of subversion. Reynolds was particularly active on behalf of Albizu who was ill. In 1958 and 1959, she took part in a walk for justice across Puerto Rico organized by the Peacemakers, a pacifist group to which she belonged. After Albizu Campos died shortly after his release in 1965, Reynolds continued her tireless efforts on behalf of the remaining political prisoners. She was, for example, a member of the Committee for the Release of the Five Nationalists, and the Secretary of the Carlos Feliciano Defense Committee. She was also active in national and international forums such as the United Nations Committee for Puerto Rican Decolonization and in the Ecumenical Committee on the Future of Puerto Rico. Ruth Reynolds died in her native South Dakota on December 2, 1989. At a memorial for her in December 1990, speaker after speaker praised her principled commitment to human rights, which for her included the right of all nations to self-determination.
Posted on: Tue, 02 Dec 2014 14:50:21 +0000
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