Mabel Reid Explained

Office1:Member of the House of Representatives
Term1:1953–1954
Successor1:Puiai Tufele
Constituency1:Maʻopūtasi County
Term2:1956–1960
Constituency2:Maʻopūtasi County
Predecessor2:Puiai Tufele
Birth Date:1909
Birth Place:Pago Pago
Death Date:9 November 1969

Mabel Coleman Reid (died 9 November 1969), also known by the Samoan name Sinaitaaga,[1] was an American Samoan politician. In 1953 she was one of the first two women elected to the Fono, when she and Zilpher Jennings won seats in the House of Representatives.[2] [3]

Biography

Reid was one of ten children of American Navy sailor William Patrick Coleman and his Samoan wife Amata C. Kreuz.[4] Her brother Peter later served as Governor of American Samoa. She was educated at the Sacred Hearts Academy in Hawaii, and became a stenographer and clerk of the High Court of American Samoa.[5] She married businessman Lealaifuaneva Peter E. Reid,[5] and had two children, Peter and Mabel. In 1947 she became an agent for the new Samoan Area Airways, set up by her brother Lawrence.[6] She also became High Chief of Tali in Pago Pago.

In the 1953 legislative elections, Reid contested the Maʻopūtasi County seat in the House of Representatives, and was one of two women elected to the House alongside Zilpher Jennings.[7] Although she lost her seat to Puiai Tufele in the 1954 elections,[8] she defeated Tufele in the 1956 elections,[9] the only woman to win a seat in the 1956 elections.[1] During her second term she served as chair of the Ways and Means committee and as Acting Speaker of the House.[5] [10] She was re-elected in 1958,[11] remaining in office until the end of the sixth legislature.[12]

Reid died in November 1969.[13]

Notes and References

  1. https://www.newspapers.com/image/381276095 Samoa legislator Torrance visitor
  2. Cox, Elizabeth (1996). Women, State, and Territorial Legislators, 1895-1995. McFarland & Company. Page 53. ISBN 9780786400782.
  3. Sunia, Fofō Iosefa Fiti (2001). Puputoa: Host of Heroes - A record of the history makers in the First Century of American Samoa, 1900-2000. Suva, Fiji: Oceania Printers. Page 114. ISBN 9829036022.
  4. https://www.newspapers.com/image/259129648/ Mrs. Eubanks Dead In Calif.
  5. https://www.newspapers.com/image/268968063 Samoa Woman Solon Is Governor's Sister
  6. https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-316550813/view?sectionId=nla.obj-329840836&partId=nla.obj-316552598#page/n9/mode/1up A New Pacific Airway Hawaii to Samoa
  7. Elizabeth Cox (1996) Women, State, and Territorial Legislators, 1895-1995: A State-by-state Analysis, with Rosters of 6,000 Women, p331
  8. https://www.newspapers.com/image/268943636 Legislative Races Result In Many New Office Holders
  9. https://www.newspapers.com/image/270132177 American Samoa News Letter
  10. https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-320274159/view?sectionId=nla.obj-364403129&partId=nla.obj-320539382#page/n143/mode/1up/ Members of the Eastern Samoan parliamentary delegation
  11. https://www.newspapers.com/image/269704949 American Samoa News Letter
  12. A 40-year History of the Legislature of American Samoa, 1989, p335
  13. https://www.newspapers.com/image/261359290 Mabel Reid of American Samoa Dies