Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin (; August 31, 1842 – March 13, 1924) was a publisher, journalist,

civil rights Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' political freedom, freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and ...

leader,

suffragist Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise is the right to vote in public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally in English, the right to vo ...

abolitionist Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the political movement to end slavery and liberate enslaved individuals around the world. The first country to fully outlaw slavery was Kingdom of France, France in 1315, but it was later used ...

, and editor of the '' Woman's Era'', the first national newspaper published by and for

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 ...

women.

Early years and education

Ruffin was born in

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 ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

, to John St. Pierre, of French and African descent from

Martinique Martinique ( ; or ; Kalinago language, Kalinago: or ) is an island in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the eastern Caribbean Sea. It was previously known as Iguanacaera which translates to iguana island in Carib language, Kariʼn ...

, and Elizabeth Matilda Menhenick from

Cornwall, England Cornwall (; or ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, Devon to the east, and the Engli ...

. Her father was a successful clothier and founder of a Boston Zion Church. She attended public schools in Charlestown and Salem, and a private school in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

because of her parents' objections to the segregated schools in Boston. She completed her studies at the Bowdoin School (not to be confused with

Bowdoin College Bowdoin College ( ) is a Private college, private liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Brunswick, Maine. It was chartered in 1794. The main Bowdoin campus is located near Casco Bay and the Androscoggin River. In a ...

), after segregation in Boston schools ended. At 16 years old, she married

George Lewis Ruffin 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, the first African American to do so. He was also the first African Ameri ...

(1834–1886), who later became the first African American graduate 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 elected to the

Boston City Council The Boston City Council is the legislative branch of government for the city of Boston, Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It is made up of 13 members: 9 district representatives and 4 at-large members. Councillors are elected to two-year ...

, and the first African American municipal judge.Stephanie Knight
"George Lewis Ruffin"
Black Past, accessed April 14, 2012. The couple moved to

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

but returned to Boston soon afterwards and bought a house in the West End.

Activism

Working with her husband, Ruffin became active in the

abolitionist movement Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the political movement to end slavery and liberate enslaved individuals around the world. The first country to fully outlaw slavery was France in 1315, but it was later used in its colonies. T ...

. During the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

, they helped recruit black soldiers for the Union Army, specifically the 54th and 55th Massachusetts regiments. They also worked for the Sanitation Commission, which provided aid for the care of soldiers in the field. After the war ended, Ruffin turned her attention to organizing for the Kansas Freedmen's Relief Association, collecting money and clothes to send to aid southern blacks resettling in Kansas, known as

Exodusters Exodusters was a name given to African Americans who migrated from states along the Mississippi River to Kansas in the late nineteenth century, as part of the Exoduster Movement or Exodus of 1879. It was the first general migration of black peo ...

. Ruffin supported

women's suffrage Women's suffrage is the women's rights, right of women to Suffrage, vote in elections. Several instances occurred in recent centuries where women were selectively given, then stripped of, the right to vote. In Sweden, conditional women's suffra ...

and, in 1869, joined with

Julia Ward Howe Julia Ward Howe ( ; May 27, 1819 – October 17, 1910) was an American author and poet, known for writing the "Battle Hymn of the Republic" as new lyrics to an existing song, and the original 1870 pacifist Mothers' Day Proclamation. She w ...

and

Lucy Stone Lucy Stone (August 13, 1818 – October 18, 1893) was an American orator, Abolitionism in the United States, abolitionist and Suffrage, suffragist who was a vocal advocate for and organizer of promoting Women's rights, rights for women. In 1847, ...

to form the

American Woman Suffrage Association The American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA) was a single-issue national organization formed in 1869 to work for women's suffrage in the United States. The AWSA lobbied state governments to enact laws granting or expanding women's right to vot ...

(AWSA) in Boston. A group of these women, Howe and Stone also founded the New England Women's Club in 1868. Josephine Ruffin became its first black member when she joined in the mid-1890s. Ruffin founded the first black woman's newspaper, '' The Woman's Era''. She also wrote for the black weekly paper, ''The Courant'', and became a member of the New England Woman's Press Association. In 1910, Ruffin helped form the Boston chapter of the

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is an American civil rights organization formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E. B. Du&nbs ...

(NAACP). She also wrote a special suffrage edition of ''

The Crisis ''The Crisis'' is the official magazine of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). It was founded in 1910 by W. E. B. Du Bois (editor), Oswald Garrison Villard, J. Max Barber, Charles Edward Russell, Kelly M ...

'' in 1915.

''The Woman's Era''

When her husband George died at the age of 52 in 1886, Ruffin used her financial security and organizational abilities to start the ''Woman's Era'', the country's first newspaper published by and for African American women. She served as the editor and publisher from 1890 to 1897. While promoting interracial activities, the ''Woman's Era'' called on black women to demand increased rights for people of their race.

Club work

In 1891, Ruffin served as the first president of Boston's Co-Worker's Club. In 1894, Ruffin organized the Woman's Era Club, an advocacy group for black women, with the help of her daughter Florida Ridley and Maria Baldwin, a Boston school principal. In 1895, Ruffin organized the National Federation of Afro-American Women with

Julia O. Henson Julia O. Henson (October 1852 – after 1922) was an American social justice activist who founded organizations to support African American troops during World War I (1914–1918) and to provide opportunities for African Americans to thrive through ...

. She convened the First National Conference of the Colored Women of America in Boston, which was attended by women from 42 black women's clubs from 14 states. The following year, the organization merged with the

Colored Women's League The Colored Women's League (CWL) of Washington, D.C., was a woman's club, organized by a group of African-American women in June 1892, with Helen Appo Cook as president. The primary mission of this organization was the national union of colored ...

to form the

National Association of Colored Women's Clubs The National Association of Colored Women's Clubs (NACWC) is an American organization that was formed in July 1896 at the First Annual Convention of the National Federation of Afro-American Women in Washington, D.C., United States, by a merger of ...

(NACWC).

Mary Church Terrell Mary Terrell (born Mary Church; September 23, 1863 – July 24, 1954) was an American civil rights activist, journalist, teacher and one of the first African-American women to earn a college degree. She taught in the Latin Department at the M St ...

was elected president and Ruffin served as one of the organization's vice-presidents. Just as the NACWC was forming, Ruffin was integrating the New England Woman's Club. When the

General Federation of Women's Clubs The General Federation of Women's Clubs (GFWC), founded in 1890 during the Progressive Movement, is a federation of approximately 2,300 women's clubs in the United States which promote civic improvements through volunteer service. Community Serv ...

met in

Milwaukee Milwaukee is the List of cities in Wisconsin, most populous city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located on the western shore of Lake Michigan, it is the List of United States cities by population, 31st-most populous city in the United States ...

in 1900, she planned to attend as a representative of three organizations: the Woman's Era Club, the New England Woman's Club and the New England Woman's Press Club. Southern women were in positions of power in the General Federation and, when the executive committee discovered that all of the New Era's club members were black, they would not accept Ruffin's credentials. Ruffin was told that she could be seated as a representative of the two white clubs but not the black one. She refused on principle and was excluded from the proceedings. These events became known as "The Ruffin Incident" and were widely covered in newspapers around the country, most of whom supported Ruffin. Afterwards, the Woman's Era Club made an official statement "that colored women should confine themselves to their clubs and the large field of work open to them there." The New Era Club was disbanded in 1903, but Ruffin remained active in the struggle for equal rights. Along with other women who had belonged to the New Era Club, she co-founded the League of Women for Community Service, which still exists today.

Personal life

Ruffin and her husband had five children: Hubert, an attorney; Florida Ridley, a school principal and co-founder of ''Woman's Era''; Stanley, an inventor; George, a musician; and Robert, who died before his first birthday. She died of

nephritis Nephritis is inflammation of the kidneys and may involve the glomeruli, tubules, or interstitial tissue surrounding the glomeruli and tubules. It is one of several different types of nephropathy. Types * Glomerulonephritis is inflammation ...

at her home on St. Botolph Street, Boston, in 1924, and was 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 ...

, Cambridge.

Legacy

In 1995, Ruffin was inducted into the

National Women's Hall of Fame The National Women's Hall of Fame (NWHF) is an American institution founded to honor and recognize women. It was incorporated in 1969 in Seneca Falls, New York, and first inducted honorees in 1973. As of 2024, the Hall has honored 312 inducte ...

. In 1999 a series of six tall marble panels with a bronze bust in each was added to the

Massachusetts State House The Massachusetts State House, also known as the Massachusetts Statehouse or the New State House, is the List of state capitols in the United States, state capitol and seat of government for the Massachusetts, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, lo ...

; the busts are of Ruffin,

Florence Luscomb Florence Hope Luscomb (February 6, 1887 – October 13, 1985) was an American architect and women's suffrage activist in Massachusetts. She was one of the first ten women graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Her degrees ...

Mary Kenney O'Sullivan Mary Kenney O'Sullivan (January 8, 1864 – January 18, 1943), was an organizer in the early U.S. labor movement. She learned early the importance of unions from poor treatment received at her first job in dressmaking. Making a career in bookbind ...

Dorothea Dix Dorothea Lynde Dix (April 4, 1802July 17, 1887) was an American advocate on behalf of the poor insane, mentally ill. By her vigorous and sustained program of lobbying state legislatures and the United States Congress, she helped create the fir ...

Sarah Parker Remond Sarah Parker Remond (June 6, 1826 – December 13, 1894) was an American lecturer, activist and abolitionist campaigner. Born a free woman in the state of Massachusetts, she became an international activist for human rights and women's su ...

, and

. Two quotations from each of those women (including Ruffin) are etched on their own marble panel, and the wall behind all the panels has wallpaper made of six government documents repeated over and over, with each document being related to a cause of one or more of the women. Her home on Charles Street is a site on the

Boston Women's Heritage Trail The Boston Women's Heritage Trail is a series of walking tours in Boston, Massachusetts, leading past sites important to Boston women's history. The tours wind through several neighborhoods, including the Back Bay and Beacon Hill, commemorating w ...

References

External links

Josephine Ruffin, activist, philanthropist and newspaper publisher
at the African American Registry

Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin: A pioneer in the black women's club movement - Part 1

Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin: A pioneer in the black women's club movement - Part 2
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ruffin, Josephine 1842 births 1924 deaths African-American abolitionists American women founders African-American journalists 19th-century American women journalists African-American publishers (people) American publishers (people) Activists for African-American civil rights African Americans in the American Civil War American people of Cornish descent American women's rights activists Writers from Boston Women in the American Civil War 19th century in Boston Burials at Mount Auburn Cemetery Suffragists from Massachusetts African-American women journalists African-American history in Boston American people of Martiniquais descent African-American suffragists People from West End, Boston American women civil rights activists 20th-century African-American writers 20th-century African-American women writers 20th-century American women writers 19th-century African-American writers 19th-century African-American women writers 19th-century American writers 19th-century American journalists African-American founders American founders