George Lewis Ruffin (December 16, 1834 – November 19, 1886) was an African-American barber, attorney, politician, and judge. In 1869, he graduated from

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, Harvard Law School is the oldest law school in continuous operation in the United ...

, the first

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

to do so. He was also the first African American elected to the

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

City Council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, borough counc ...

.Stephanie Knight, "George Lewis Ruffin"
Black Past, accessed 14 April 2012 Ruffin was elected in 1870 to the

Massachusetts Legislature The Massachusetts General Court, formally the General Court of Massachusetts, is the state legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts located in the state capital of Boston. The name "General Court" is a holdover from the earliest days o ...

. In 1883, he was appointed by the governor

Benjamin Franklin Butler Benjamin Franklin Butler (November 5, 1818 – January 11, 1893) was an American major general of the Union Army, politician, lawyer, and businessman from Massachusetts. Born in New Hampshire and raised in Lowell, Massachusetts, Butler was a ...

as a judge to the

Municipal Court A city court or municipal court is a court of law with jurisdiction limited to a city or other municipality. It typically addresses "violations of city ordinances and may also have jurisdiction over minor criminal cases...and over certain civil cas ...

, Charlestown district in Boston, making him the first African American judge in the United States. He married 16 year-old Josephine St. Pierre in 1858.

Florida Ruffin Ridley Florida Ruffin Ridley (born Florida Yates Ruffin; January 29, 1861 – February 25, 1943) was an African-American civil rights activist, suffragist, teacher, writer, and editor from Boston, Massachusetts. She was one of the first black public sch ...

was one of their children.

Biography

Ruffin was born to George W. (1800–1863) and Nancy Lewis Ruffin (1816–1874) in

Richmond, Virginia Richmond ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), U.S. commonwealth of Virginia. Incorporated in 1742, Richmond has been an independent city (United States), independent city since 1871. ...

as a

free person of color In the context of the history of slavery in the Americas, free people of color (; ) were primarily people of mixed African, European, and Native American descent who were not enslaved. However, the term also applied to people born free who we ...

, of African and European ancestry. The city had a large free black community. His family moved to Boston in 1853, where he was educated in the public schools.

Marriage and family

In 1858, he married Josephine St. Pierre, who was of Afro-Caribbean, French and English descent. Together they had four sons and a daughter. Their children were Hubert, who became an attorney; Florida Ridley, a school principal and co-founder with her mother of the newspaper '' The Woman's Era''; Stanley, an inventor; George, a musician; and Robert, who died in his first year of life.

Career

Ruffin became a barber to support his family and read law books on the side and studied law with the partnership of

Harvey Jewell Harvey Jewell (May 26, 1820 – December 8, 1881) was a U.S. lawyer and politician who served as the Speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1868 to 1871. Biography Jewell was born in Winchester, New Hampshire on May 26, ...

and

William Gaston William J. Gaston (September 19, 1778 – January 23, 1844) was a jurist and United States Representative from North Carolina. He was the author of the official state song of North Carolina, The Old North State (song), "The Old North State". Gas ...

. He started publishing articles in a law journal and was admitted to

after saving enough money to enroll. After graduating in 1869 as the first African American to earn a law degree from

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

, he practiced law with success in Boston. He was politically active and attended the National Negro Convention of

Syracuse, New York Syracuse ( ) is a City (New York), city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, United States. With a population of 148,620 and a Syracuse metropolitan area, metropolitan area of 662,057, it is the fifth-most populated city and 13 ...

in 1864 and of

New Orleans, Louisiana New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

in 1872. He was elected to the Massachusetts state legislature in 1870 as a Republican and served one term. Ruffin was elected as the first man of African descent to the Boston City Council, where he served two terms, 1875–1876 and 1876–1877. Ruffin was elected in 1876 to the

Boston Common Council Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and financial center of New England, a region of the Northeastern United States. It has an area of and a ...

, serving two terms in the body. He supported

Benjamin F. Butler Benjamin Franklin Butler (November 5, 1818 – January 11, 1893) was an American major general of the Union Army, politician, lawyer, and businessman from Massachusetts. Born in New Hampshire and raised in Lowell, Massachusetts, Butler was a ...

in Butler's 1871 campaign for governor, and on November 7, 1883, he was appointed by then Governor Butler as a judge of the Municipal Court, Charlestown district. He was the first African American justice to hold office in New England. That year he was also made consul resident for the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. It shares a Maritime boundary, maritime border with Puerto Rico to the east and ...

. At the time, the Dominican President was

Ulises Heureaux Ulises Hilarión Heureaux Leibert (; October 21, 1845 – July 26, 1899) nicknamed Lilís, was Presidents of the Dominican Republic, president of the Dominican Republic from September 1, 1882 to September 1, 1884, from January 6, 1887 to Februar ...

who was also of mostly West African descent. He died in Boston, Massachusetts and is buried in

Mount Auburn Cemetery Mount Auburn Cemetery, located in Cambridge and Watertown, Massachusetts, is the first rural or garden cemetery in the United States. It is the burial site of many prominent Boston Brahmins, and is a National Historic Landmark. Dedicated in ...

. ;Introduces book by Douglass In 1881, Ruffin provided the introduction to ''The Life and Times of

Frederick Douglass Frederick Douglass (born Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, February 14, 1818 – February 20, 1895) was an American social reformer, Abolitionism in the United States, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman. He was the most impor ...

'', written by himself, for its first edition by Park Publishing Co.,

Hartford Hartford is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The city, located in Hartford County, Connecticut, Hartford County, had a population of 121,054 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 ce ...

. Therein, he situated the book in its historical context, described its author, and quickly sketched the major events of his momentous life. From his personal witness, Ruffin narrated a scene of the courage and resolve shown by Douglass in the face of an angry mob, at

Tremont Temple The Tremont Temple on 88 Tremont Street is a Baptist church in Boston, Massachusetts, affiliated with the American Baptist Churches, USA. The existing multi-storey, Renaissance Revival structure was designed by Boston architect Clarence Blackall ...

in 1860.Douglass, ''Life and Times'' (revised edition, Boston: De Wolfe, Fiske & Co. 1892, reprint Dover 2003), p. vii (book's editions, Ruffin noted), pp. 3-9 (Ruffin's introduction), at 9 (witnessed scene at Tremont).

Legacy and honors

In 1984, the George Lewis Ruffin Society was founded in his honor at

Northeastern University Northeastern University (NU or NEU) is a private university, private research university with its main campus in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It was founded by the Boston Young Men's Christian Association in 1898 as an all-male instit ...

to support minorities studying in the Massachusetts criminal justice system.

External links

References