Ruth Moselle Apilado (''

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

'' Mays; April 30, 1908 – August 15, 2021) was an American newspaper editor, novelist, anti-racism campaigner for African American civil rights, magazine founder, teacher, and

supercentenarian A supercentenarian, sometimes hyphenated as super-centenarian, is a person who is 110 or older. This age is achieved by about one in 1,000 centenarians. Supercentenarians typically live a life free of significant age-related diseases until short ...

who founded ''

America's Intercultural Magazine ''America's Intercultural Magazine'' (abbreviated ''AIM'') was a magazine established in 1973 with the intent of working against racism, discrimination, and bigotry in the United States. Ruth Apilado founded ''AIM'' in 1973 after retiring from t ...

'' (AIM). Born during the

Jim Crow The Jim Crow laws were state and local laws introduced in the Southern United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries that enforced racial segregation, " Jim Crow" being a pejorative term for an African American. The last of the ...

era, she was an African American

anti-racism Anti-racism encompasses a range of ideas and political actions which are meant to counter racial prejudice, systemic racism, and the oppression of specific racial groups. Anti-racism is usually structured around conscious efforts and deliberate ...

activist for

civil and political 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 ...

Early life

Apilado was born on April 30, 1908, in

Chicago, Illinois Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

. Her parents were Stewart and Clara (née Whetsel) Mays. Her maternal grandmother had emigrated from Canada to Ohio, and was partly

indigenous Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology) In biogeography, a native species is indigenous to a given region or ecosystem if its presence in that region is the result of only local natural evolution (though often populari ...

. Her paternal great-grandfather was a slave owner in Virginia. Apilado attended McKinley High School, which closed in 1954. She became a teacher in 1928, after graduating from Chicago Normal College (now

Chicago State University Chicago State University (CSU) is a Historically black colleges and universities, predominantly black (PBI) public university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. It includes an honors program for undergraduates and offers bachelor's and master ...

Newspaper publishing and novel

She began her journalistic career in 1942, when she briefly worked as an editor for the newly created ''Negro Youth Photo Scripts Magazine''. In 1945, she wrote a

letter to the editor A letter to the editor (LTE) is a Letter (message), letter sent to a publication about an issue of concern to the reader. Usually, such letters are intended for publication. In many publications, letters to the editor may be sent either through ...

expressing her criticism of Richard Wright's

memoir A memoir (; , ) is any nonfiction narrative writing based on the author's personal memories. The assertions made in the work are thus understood to be factual. While memoir has historically been defined as a subcategory of biography or autob ...

'' Black Boy'', stating that it was an inaccurate depiction of the typical childhood of

African-Americans 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. ...

. In 1950, Apilado published a novel called ''The Joneses'', which was about the hardships of a black family living in Chicago.

Magazine founder

After retiring from teaching in 1973, Apilado founded ''

'' (AIM), a quarterly-published journal that set out to "''bridge the gap between races, cultures, and religions.''" Already in 1948, an initiative of creating such a journal (called ''Freedom Press'') took place, when she requested the newspaper Berkeley Daily Gazette to assist her and her associates with marketing. Her anti-racism stance was reflected in the editorials that she wrote; for example, she praised the activist and church leader Willa Saunders Jones in 1975. On June 16, 1990, she participated as a panelist at a writers' conference in

Elgin Community College Elgin Community College (ECC) is a Public college, public community college in Elgin, Illinois. It was founded in 1949 as part of Elgin Area School District U46. Community College District 509 was formed 17 years later in 1966, a year after Illin ...

in Illinois.

Personal life

Apilado's husband was Filipino-American Inosencio Apilado. Their son, Myron Apilado, was the vice-president of minority affairs at

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...

until the year 2000, as well as an editor of AIM. On August 26, 2004, at age 96, she was interviewed by Larry Crowe of The History Makers, a project that produces

oral history Oral history is the collection and study of historical information from people, families, important events, or everyday life using audiotapes, videotapes, or transcriptions of planned interviews. These interviews are conducted with people who pa ...

material by African-Americans. Her second cousin was the reporter, newspaper journalist and radio host Lu Palmer. She turned 113 years old in April 2021 and died on 15 August later that year.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Apilado, Ruth 1908 births 2021 deaths Mass media people from Chicago Activists for African-American civil rights American civil rights activists American people of Canadian descent American magazine editors American magazine founders American supercentenarians American women magazine editors Women supercentenarians