Ruth Mary Reynolds

Ruth Mary Reynolds (February 29, 1916 – December 2, 1989) was an American educator, political and civil rights activist who embraced the ideals of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party. She was incarcerated in La Princesa Prison for sedition during the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party Revolts of the 1950s. As one of the founders of the organization known as the "American League for Puerto Rico's Independence," she devoted many years of her life to the cause of Puerto Rico's independence from the United States after her release from prison.

Early years Reynolds was born in 1916 in Terraville, Lawrence County, South Dakota, a mining town in the Black Hills. As a young woman, she taught high school for two years, including one year of teaching on an Indian reservation. In the interest of promoting interracial good will, the members of the Ashram associated themselves with the members of a predominantly Puerto Rican neighborhood in the city. Reynolds and her associates organized games and activities for the young people who lived in East Harlem, also known as Spanish Harlem.

In 1943, while still serving his sentence, Albizu Campos became seriously ill and had to be interned at the Columbus Hospital of New York City.

Not only had Albizu Campos learned about the group's activities with the Puerto Rican community, he'd also learned that the group was involved with the non-violent "Free India" movement." He convinced their group to become involved with a "Free Puerto Rico" movement, since he thought it was a comparable case of colonialism – the United States' colonization of Puerto Rico. Even though the members of the group opposed the use of violence as a way of obtaining independence, they did agree that Puerto Rico should have its independence and became advocates of the island's independence.

The revolts began on October 30, 1950, upon the orders of Nationalist leader Pedro Albizu Campos, with uprisings in various towns, among them Peñuelas, Mayagüez, Naranjito, Arecibo, and Ponce. The most notable uprisings occurred in Utuado, Jayuya, and San Juan.

In Utuado, captured insurgents were executed. In San Juan the Nationalists made an attempt against the governor of Puerto Rico at his residence, La Fortaleza. In 1954, she won her case on appeal in the Supreme Court in Puerto Rico. Reynolds returned once more to New York and worked as an assistant librarian and archivist at the New York Psychoanalytic Institute. One of the consequences of this event was the arrest of Albizu Campos, who at the time was in ill health. Reynolds, with the aid of the American League for Puerto Rico's Independence, helped to defend Albizu Campos and the four Nationalists involved in the shooting incident. The play premiered at Les Manouches Theatre's Between the Seas literary reading festival in October 2010.

In the town of Mayagüez, there is a plaque which honors the women of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party. It was incorporated into the monument to the Nationalist fighters of the Jayuya Uprising. Reynolds's name is inscribed as Ruth Mary Reynolds Willmarth in accordance with Latin American naming customs which use both the paternal and maternal surnames. Her name is located on the fourth line of the first plate.