Ruby Lee Grant Martin (February 18, 1933 – May 8, 2003) was an American lawyer and government official. She was director of the federal Office for Civil Rights, appointed by

Lyndon B. Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), also known as LBJ, was the 36th president of the United States, serving from 1963 to 1969. He became president after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, under whom he had served a ...

. She won the Federal Woman's Award in 1968 for her work on school desegregation.

Early life and education

Ruby Lee Grant was born in Gaines Landing, Arkansas and raised in

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–United States border, Canada–U.S. maritime border ...

, the daughter of Ben F. Grant. She graduated from Glenville High School in 1952 and from

Fisk University Fisk University is a Private university, private Historically black colleges and universities, historically black Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Nashville, Tennessee. It was founded in 1866 and its campus i ...

in 1956, and finished at the top of her class at Howard University School of Law in 1959.Virginia HJ45: On the death of Ruby Grant Martin
passed February 22, 2004 by both houses of the Virginia state legislature.

Career

Martin was a civil rights lawyer in Cleveland. She was appointed director of the Operations Division in the federal Office for Civil Rights (OCR) in 1967, and in 1968 became director of the OCR itself, during the presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson. She won the Federal Woman's Award in 1968, "for her courageous and effective administration of the civil rights compliance program and her exceptional contribution to racial justice in the field of education". At age 34, she was the youngest recipient of that award to date. Martin co-founded and directed the Washington Research Project Action Council (now the Children's Defense Fund) in 1969, with Marian Wright Edelman, and the two women testified at a House hearing on the Emergency School Aid Act in 1971, and at a Senate hearing on equal educational opportunities in 1972. Later in the 1970s, she was general counsel to the House Committee on the District of Columbia. Martin moved to Richmond, Virginia in 1978, and ran unsuccessfully for the city council in 1986. In 1990 She joined the cabinet of her law school classmate, Virginia governor Douglas Wilder, as Secretary of Administration. She served on state trade missions to Africa for Wilder and for North Carolina governor

James B. Hunt James Bennett Hunt (August 13, 1799 – August 15, 1857) was a politician and judge from the U.S. state of Michigan. Hunt was born in Demerara, British Guiana (now Guyana). He moved with his father to New York City in 1803. There he later pur ...

. She was chair of the Port of Richmond project, and a member of the State Council for Higher Education in Virginia. She was secretary of Women Executives in State Government.Virginia HJ45: On the death of Ruby Grant Martin
passed February 22, 2004 by both houses of the Virginia state legislature. Martin served on the national board of Girl Scouts of USA, and supported efforts to create a National Slavery Museum in the United States. She was a member of

Alpha Kappa Alpha Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. () is an List of African American fraternities, historically African-American Fraternities and sororities, sorority. The sorority was founded in 1908 at Howard University in Washington, D.C.. Alpha Kappa Alpha ...

Personal life

Ruby Grant married a dentist, Henry S. Martin. They had three children. Martin died in 2003, aged 70 years, in Richmond. The Virginia legislature passed a joint resolution of mourning and esteem for her, in February 2004.Virginia HJ45: On the death of Ruby Grant Martin
passed February 22, 2004 by both houses of the Virginia state legislature.

References

External links

A 2016 oral history interview with George Keith Martin
Ruby Grant Martin's son, at The History Makers {{DEFAULTSORT:Martin, Ruby Grant 1933 births 2003 deaths People from Chicot County, Arkansas Fisk University alumni Howard University School of Law alumni American women lawyers American civil rights lawyers State cabinet secretaries of Virginia