Ruby Chappelle Boyd (March 18, 1919 – October 25, 2024) was the first

African-American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...

librarian in the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She also worked to preserve the history of the

African Methodist Episcopal Church The African Methodist Episcopal Church, usually called the AME Church or AME, is a Methodist denomination based in the United States. It adheres to Wesleyan theology, Wesleyan–Arminian theology and has a connexionalism, connexional polity. It ...

Early life and work in libraries

Ruby Chappelle was born in Philadelphia on March 18, 1919. Her parents, Bersie and Pearl Chappelle, had moved to Philadelphia from South Carolina during the Great Migration. After growing up in Philadelphia, Boyd sought work as a librarian and applied to attend

Drexel Institute Drexel University is a private university, private research university with its main campus in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Drexel's undergraduate school was founded in 1891 by Anthony Joseph Drexel, Anthony J. Drexel, a financier ...

, but was denied admittance due to her race. Boyd was a graduate of

Wilberforce University Wilberforce University (WU) is a private university in Wilberforce, Ohio. It is one of three historically black universities established before the American Civil War. Founded in 1856 by the Methodist Episcopal Church (MEC), it is named after ...

and attended Atlanta University Library School, earning her Bachelor in Library Science and Service degree in 1943. While she was attending school in Atlanta, Philadelphia elementary school principal John Henry Brodhead fought a battle against discrimination in the city's government, and in 1943 the

Free Library of Philadelphia The Free Library of Philadelphia is the public library system that serves the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is the 16th-largest public library system in the United States. The Free Library of Philadelphia is a non-Mayoral agency of the ...

advertised to hire their first African American librarian. Upon Boyd's return to Philadelphia she applied for the position and was appointed the city's first black librarian. She later became the first black librarian in the

School District of Philadelphia The School District of Philadelphia (SDP) is the school district that includes all school district-operated State schools, public schools in Philadelphia. Established in 1818, it is the largest school district in Pennsylvania and the eighth-lar ...

. In 1966, as president of the School Librarians Association of Philadelphia, she led the organization of the School Library Student Assistants Conference.

Work for the A.M.E. Church

Boyd's maternal grandfather was an A.M.E. Church preacher and her mother served as superintendent of the Sunday school at Mother Bethel, the birthplace of the African Methodist Episcopal Church; Boyd was a lifelong member of that church. After her retirement from the Philadelphia school district, she dedicated her work to preserving the history of Mother Bethel, developing the Church's museum. In 1982, Boyd edited a book about the Mother Bethel Church titled ''On this rock : the mother of African Methodism''.

Personal life and death

Chappelle married James T. Boyd, a school principal, and had one daughter. Chappelle Boyd still lived in Philadelphia as of 2018. She

turned 100 A centenarian is a person who has reached the age of 100. Because life expectancies at birth worldwide are well below 100, the term is invariably associated with longevity. The United Nations estimated that there were 316,600 living centenarian ...

in March 2019, and was honoured by the Zeta Phi Beta Sorority in August 2024. Boyd died on October 25, 2024, at the age of 105.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Boyd, Ruby Chappelle 1919 births 2024 deaths American librarians American women centenarians American women librarians African-American librarians Atlanta University alumni 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American people 20th-century African-American women 21st-century African-American women People from Philadelphia