Reyher, Rebecca Hourwich, 1897-1987

Rebecca Hourwich Reyher was born on January 21, 1897, in New York City, the second child of Isaac Hourwich (1860-1924) and his second wife Louise Elizabeth "Lisa" (Joffe) Hourwich (1866-1947). Rebecca enrolled at Columbia University's extension school in 1915 and took classes at the University of Chicago in the early 1920s; she received her bachelor's degree in 1954, after taking summer school classes at the University of Chicago. While living in Washington, D.C., Rebecca became interested in the women's movement, and in March 1913, she began her life's work for women's rights by participating in the first national suffrage parade in the United States. She carried her new-found passion to New York City and beyond, organizing street meetings and opening offices for the National Woman's Party. In 1917, she married fellow writer Ferdinand Reyher. Their daughter Faith was born in 1919. The marriage was unconventional from the beginning, with Reyher continuing to travel for the National Woman's Party; by the late 1920s she was raising Faith by herself. Because she traveled extensively, Reyher often left her daughter in the care of others, occasionally at her cherished house in Robinhood, Maine. The couple divorced in 1934. In 1924, Reyher took her first trip to South Africa as a journalist; it opened her eyes to the plight of women in other countries, and inspired at least four more trips to the African continent. She wrote many books and articles (some unpublished) regarding women's rights throughout Africa, India, and Sri Lanka. Back in the United States, Reyher continued her work with the National Woman's Party, maintaining close friendships with many of the women and men who fought for equal rights for women. Reyher worked a wide variety of jobs in the 1930s. In the early part of the decade, she was a public relations assistant to the president of the board of aldermen of New York City,Joseph V. McKee; she wrote a column, "Your City and Mine," for the New York Evening World under his signature and also helped prepare speeches and articles for him. She also worked for both the Federal Works Progress Administration and the People's Mandate Committee, serving as part of the latter's "Flying Caravan" mission, which traveled through South and Central America supporting ratification of the Buenos Aires Peace Treaties. In 1934, she again traveled to Africa, this time with her daughter. They spent six months in Zululand, where Reyher met Christina Sibiya. Sibiya had been brought up in a Christian compound but left it at the age of fifteen to become the first wife of Solomon ka Dinuzulu, King of the Zulus. Reyher and Sibiya had many conversations (via a translator), leading to Reyher's book Zulu woman (1948), the story of Sibiya's first meeting with Solomon, her experiences as one of his sixty-five wives, and his increasingly violent behavior, which finally caused her to leave him. The book also addressed the increasing Westernization of Africa and the ensuing conflict with traditional customs and practices. In the 1940s, Reyher wrote two children's books, edited a book of baby cartoons and an anthology of writings on children and childcare, as well as writing Zulu woman. In 1949 she traveled to West Africa, to visit the Fon of Bikom, a tribal chieftain who had gained worldwide notoriety due to reports that he had over one hundred wives. Her book, The Fon and his hundred wives, was published in 1952. She traveled to South Africa again in 1950 and during this trip wrote columns for several Cape Town newspapers. Both these trips provided material for several additional articles. In 1957, she traveled to Uganda and the Belgian Congo; she was also active on the United States lecture circuit in the 1950s and 1960s. She took classes at the New School for Social Research in the 1960s and began teaching there, primarily on Africa. In 1965, she traveled to Africa for the last time, and interviewed many influential African women, continuing work she had begun in the 1950s. She planned two books based on this research: Africa's first ladies, and African women: the key to the continent, but neither was ever published. During her travels around the African continent, Reyher collected many artifacts, which were donated to Westbrook College as the Sinon-Reyher Collection of Africana and Americana. Reyher spent a considerable portion of her time in the late 1960s and early 1970s caring for her sister Olga ("Dicky"), whose health was deteriorating. Reyher herself suffered from increasing ailments during this time, but continued to live in her New York City apartment, despite failing eyesight, until 1984, when she moved to Maryland to live with her daughter. Reyher died of pneumonia on January 9, 1987.

Rebecca Reyher was born in 1897 in New York City and received her B.A. from the New York School of Social Work. After additionally attending Columbia University and the University of Chicago, Reyher became very active in women's rights. She worked for the Woman's Political Union and National Woman's Party. In 1923, Reyher spent significant time in Zululand on location with Hearst's International magazine. Over twenty years later, her book Zulu Woman: The Autobiography of Christina Sibiya was published. Reyher's travels all around the world well prepared her for her involvement with the International Institute of Women's Studies and the Dominican Republic Settlement Association. Reyher died in 1987.Biographical source: Something About the Author. Volume 18, 1980.

Author, lecturer, suffragist, and traveler, Rebecca Hourwich Reyher was born on January 21, 1897, in New York City, the second child of Isaac Hourwich (1860-1924) and his second wife Louise Elizabeth "Lisa" (Joffe) Hourwich (1866-1947). Reyher enrolled in Columbia University's extension school in 1915 and took classes at the University of Chicago in the early 1920s; she received her bachelor's degree in 1954, after taking summer school classes at the University of Chicago. In March 1913, Reyher marched in the first suffrage parade in the United States; soon thereafter, she began work for the National Woman's Party and she remained passionate about women's rights for the rest of her life. In 1917, she married fellow writer Ferdinand Reyher; their daughter Faith was born in 1919, and the couple divorced in 1934.

Reyher took her first trip to South Africa as a journalist in 1924; this trip opened her eyes to the plight of women in other countries and inspired several more trips to the African continent. In 1934, she met Christina Sibiya, the first wife of Solomon ka Dinuzulu, King of the Zulus. This encounter resulted in Reyher's book Zulu Woman (1948), the story of Sibiya's first meeting with Solomon, her experiences as one of his sixty-five wives, and his increasingly violent behavior, which finally caused her to leave him. The book also addressed the increasing Westernization of Africa and the ensuing conflict with traditional customs and practices. Reyher's other books included the children's book My Mother Is the Most Beautiful Woman in the World (1945) and The Fon and His Hundred Wives (1952). She contributed articles to numerous newspapers and magazines and also lectured widely. In the 1930s, Reyher became involved with the People's Mandate Committee, serving as part of the Committee's "Flying Caravan" mission, which traveled through South and Central America supporting ratification of the Buenos Aires Peace Treaties. She hosted a weekly half-hour radio program, "City Fun with Children," which featured guests from museums, zoos, and parks in New York City and aired from 1945 to 1949. In the 1960s, she began lecturing, primarily on Africa, at the New School for Social Research. Reyher died of pneumonia on January 9, 1987.

Rebecca Hourwich Reyher was born on January 21, 1897, in New York City, the second child of Isaac Hourwich (1860-1924) and his second wife Louise Elizabeth "Lisa" (Joffe) Hourwich (1866-1947). They had four other children together: Iskander "Sasha" Hourwich (1895-1968), Olga "Dicky" Hourwich (1902-1977), George Kennan Hourwich (1904-1978), and Ena (Hourwich) Kunzer (1906-1989). Isaac had fled Russia around 1890, leaving his first wife Yelena (Kushelevsky) Hourwich (whom he later divorced), and four children, Nicholas Hourwich (1882-1934), Maria (Hourwich) Kravitz (1883-), Rosa Hourwich (ca.1884-), and Vera (Hourwich) Semmens (1890-1976), behind. Isaac was a practicing lawyer in Russia and the United States, as well as a Yiddish newspaper writer. Louise taught school in Russia, and, after immigrating to the United States with her family, attended law school. In 1900, the family moved to Washington, D.C., where Isaac had a job with the U.S. Census. In 1906, he returned to Russia and ran for election to the Duma in Minsk. By 1915, the family had moved back to New York. Rebecca enrolled at Columbia University's extension school in 1915 and took classes at the University of Chicago in the early 1920s; she received her bachelor's degree in 1954, after taking summer school classes at the University of Chicago.

While living in Washington, D.C., Rebecca became interested in the women's movement, and in March 1913, she began her life's work for women's rights by participating in the first national suffrage parade in the United States. She carried her new-found passion to New York City and beyond, organizing street meetings and opening offices for the National Woman's Party. In 1917, she married fellow writer Ferdinand Reyher. Their daughter Faith was born in 1919. The marriage was unconventional from the beginning, with Reyher continuing to travel for the National Woman's Party; by the late 1920s she was raising Faith by herself. Because she traveled extensively, Reyher often left her daughter in the care of others, occasionally at her cherished house in Robinhood, Maine. The couple divorced in 1934, with Ferdinand continuing to provide financial support for Faith. Reyher had many admirers, but remained single for the rest of her life.

In 1924, Reyher took her first trip to South Africa as a journalist; it opened her eyes to the plight of women in other countries, and inspired at least four more trips to the African continent. She wrote many books and articles (some unpublished) regarding women's rights throughout Africa, India, and Sri Lanka. Back in the United States, Reyher continued her work with the National Woman's Party, maintaining close friendships with many of the women and men who fought for equal rights for women.

Reyher worked a wide variety of jobs in the 1930s. In the early part of the decade, she was a public relations assistant to the president of the board of aldermen of New York City, Joseph V. McKee; she wrote a column, Your City and Mine, for the New York Evening World under his signature and also helped prepare speeches and articles for him. She and John Huston co-wrote a screenplay titled Rhodes, based on the life of Cecil Rhodes; Huston's father Walter subsequently starred in a film called Rhodes of Africa, but neither Reyher nor the younger Huston were credited for their work. She also worked for both the Federal Works Progress Administration and the People's Mandate Committee, serving as part of the latter's "Flying Caravan" mission, which traveled through South and Central America supporting ratification of the Buenos Aires Peace Treaties. In 1934, she again traveled to Africa, this time with her daughter. They spent six months in Zululand, where Reyher met Christina Sibiya. Sibiya had been brought up in a Christian compound but left it at the age of fifteen to become the first wife of Solomon ka Dinuzulu, King of the Zulus. Reyher and Sibiya had many conversations (via a translator), leading to Reyher's book Zulu Woman (1948), the story of Sibiya's first meeting with Solomon, her experiences as one of his sixty-five wives, and his increasingly violent behavior, which finally caused her to leave him. The book also addressed the increasing Westernization of Africa and the ensuing conflict with traditional customs and practices.

In the 1940s, Reyher wrote two children's books ( Babies and Puppies Are Fun, 1944, and My Mother Is the Most Beautiful Woman in the World, 1945), edited a book of baby cartoons ( The Stork Run, 1944) and an anthology of writings on children and childcare ( Babies Keep Coming, 1947), as well as writing Zulu Woman . (She had begun writing Zulu Woman in the 1930s, but as with many of her books, it was a number of years before the book was accepted for publication. Although Reyher was a widely published author of both books and magazine articles, many of her ideas for both books and articles never found approval with publishers.)

She also hosted a weekly half-hour radio program, City Fun with Children, which featured guests from museums, zoos, and parks in New York City and aired from 1945 to 1949. In 1949 she traveled to West Africa, to visit the Fon of Bikom, a tribal chieftain who had gained worldwide notoriety due to reports that he had over one hundred wives. Her book, The Fon and His Hundred Wives, was published in 1952. She traveled to South Africa again in 1950 and during this trip wrote columns for several Cape Town newspapers. Both these trips provided material for several additional articles. In 1957, she traveled to Uganda and the Belgian Congo; she was also active on the United States lecture circuit in the 1950s and 1960s. She took classes at the New School for Social Research in the 1960s and began teaching there, primarily on Africa. In 1965, she traveled to Africa for the last time, and interviewed many influential African women, continuing work she had begun in the 1950s. She planned two books based on this research: Africa's First Ladies, and African Women: The Key to the Continent, but neither was ever published.

Reyher spent a considerable portion of her time in the late 1960s and early 1970s caring for her sister Olga ("Dicky"), whose health was deteriorating. Reyher herself suffered from increasing ailments during this time, but continued to live in her New York City apartment, despite failing eyesight, until 1984, when she moved to Maryland to live with her daughter. Reyher died of pneumonia on January 9, 1987.