Jadvyga Juškytė
Lithuanian activist / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jadvyga Teofilė Juškytė (1869–1948) was a Lithuanian activist during the Lithuanian National Revival.
Jadvyga Juškytė | |
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Born | (1869-01-13)13 January 1869 |
Died | 16 March 1948(1948-03-16) (aged 79) |
Other names | Širšė (pen name) |
Occupation | Schoolteacher |
Movement | Lithuanian National Revival |
Born to a family of petty Lithuanian nobles, Juškytė did not get any formal education but worked as a teacher most of her life. At a young age, she established an illegal Lithuanian school in Pernarava and taught there for about 15 years. She established contacts and collaborated with other Lithuanian activists. Together with Gabrielė Petkevičaitė-Bitė, she co-founded Žiburėlis, an illegal society to provide financial assistance to Lithuanian students, in 1893. In 1895, she managed to get linguist Kazimieras Jaunius released from a psychiatric hospital in Kazan and bring him back to Lithuania. She prepared his notes on Lithuanian grammar into a book which was published via primitive hectograph in 1897. In 1899, she played a role in America in the Bathhouse staged in Palanga. It was the first public Lithuanian-language theater performance in present-day Lithuania. She contributed articles to various Lithuanian periodicals, including Varpas and Tėvynės sargas, and collected examples of Lithuanian folklore which she shared with Jonas Basanavičius and Juozas Tumas-Vaižgantas.
In 1901–1912, Juškytė worked as a private teacher. During that time she published three Lithuanian textbooks to help children learn reading and writing. She also published a prayer book in proper and fluent in Lithuanian, a small collection of Lithuanian songs and poems, and two volumes of translated theater plays. During World War I, Juškytė remained in Lithuania and established several Lithuanian schools near her native Pernarava. When Lithuania declared independence, Juškytė organized local municipality and led a local group of Lithuanian Riflemen. In 1920–1930, she worked as a director of a primary school in Pernarava. Severe illness and partial paralysis forced her into retirement in 1930 and she died in obscurity in 1948.