Women in History: Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin

Born in Boston, Massachusetts on August 31, 1842, Josephine St. Pierre was a woman of interracial heritage. Her father as a Frenchman of African descent and her mother was Caucasian from England.

In protest of segregation in Boston schools, her parents sent Josephine to public schools in Charleston and Salem. She completed her studies at Bowdoin School when segregation in Boston schools ended.

By the time she was in her mid-teens, Josephine had married George Lewis Ruffin. He was the first African-American graduate of Howard Law School and later became Boston's first black municipal judge.

The couple had five children, four of whom survived and went on to have professional careers of their own. The Ruffins also worked to recruit soldiers for the Mass 54th and 55th regiments for the Civil War and worked for the Sanitation Commission.

Ruffin was an adamant supporter of women's suffrage and could count among her friends Julia Ward Howe, Lucy Stone, Susan B. Anthony and Booker T. Washington. She was the first black member of the New England Women's Club founded by several members of the suffrage movement.

When George Ruffin died at the age of 52, Ruffin herself was only 44 years old. The grieving widow threw herself into activism after her husband's death.

Ruffin used her resources to start the first newspaper in the United States published by and for African-American women, the Woman's Era. Ruffin's daughter, Florida, edited the illustrated magazine which lasted seven years. In the publication, Ruffin urged readers to become actively involved in issues relevant to women in general and black women in particular, such as suffrage and civil rights. Ruffin also became a member of the New England Women's Press Club.

Ruffin founded the Woman's Era Club for black women which grew to 133 members within two years. Its motto was "Make the World Better." They raised scholarship funds, sponsored kindergartens and organized clinics among other events.

Ruffin organized a National Conference in Boston, the first of its kind for black women. In her speech at the conference, Ruffin stated, ". . .we are not drawing the color line; we are women, American women, as intensely interested in all that pertains to us as such as all other American women: we are not alienating or withdrawing, we are only coming to the front, willing to join any others in the same work and cordially inviting and welcoming any others to join us."

One hundred women were in attendance at the conference. Out of the conference, the National Federation of Afro-Am Women was formed which merged with the Colored Women's League. The merging of the two organizations later became known as the National Association of Colored Women for which Ruffin served as one of several vice presidents.

In 1900, Ruffin intended to attend the General Federation of Women's Clubs in Milwaukee. But resistance to integration had been building since 1893. Ruffin would be representing the New Era Club, the New England Women's Club and the New England Women's Press Club.

Upon learning the New Era's Club members were black, the mostly-southern white committee refused Ruffin's credentials. Ruffin was informed she could represent the two white clubs, but not the black one. She refused to abide by this and was excluded from the event.

Newspapers around the country, most of them in support of Ruffin, dubbed this the "Ruffin incident." The Era Club officially stated that "colored women should confine themselves to their clubs and the large field of work open to them there."

The New Era Club disbanded three years after this incident, but Ruffin continued creating landmarks. She helped organize the Boston chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and co-founded the League of Women for Community Service.

Ruffin remained active until her death on March 13, 1924.