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Description
A collection of writings by John E. Reinecke and Kansas State Teachers College publications.
John E. Reinecke was born in Southeast Kansas in 1904. He graduated with a BS from Kansas State Teachers College in 1925 before moving to Hawai’i to become a professor of creole languages at the University of Hawai’i in 1926. John earned his PhD from Yale in 1937. Reinecke was a strong advocate against the plantocracy and the military in Hawai’i. He and his wife, Aiko, protested with the workers’ unions, calling for a living wage. Branded as communists, both John and Aiko were fired from their jobs as teachers in 1948. John was persecuted as one of the “Hawai’i Seven,” activists who were arrested and charged with being communists, violating the Smith Act, which made it illegal to "advocate and teach the necessity of overthrowing the government of the United States by force and violence." This conviction was overturned in the 1950s. In 1978, Harriet Bouslog, labor attorney to the Hawai’i Seven, won a settlement from the state with an apology and $250,000 from the legislature. Reinecke wrote about the labor movements in the state, making many to consider him the father of Hawai’i’s Labor History. Reinecke also wrote about the pidgin and creole languages, Hawai’ian dialects and other aspects of the Hawai’ian language, and about society and activism. Reinecke passed away in 1982.
Publication Date
12-4-2020
Keywords
Education, Languages and Literature, Social Movements and Services
Disciplines
Education
Size of Collection
.2 linear feet
Dates of Collection
1923-1974
Manuscript Number
SpC MS 0244
Recommended Citation
Special Collections, Leonard H. Axe Library, "Reinecke, John E., collection, 1923-1974" (2020). Finding Aids. 248.
https://digitalcommons.pittstate.edu/fa/248
