Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin: Founded “The Women’s Era,” the first national newspaper by and for African American women
She also co-founded “The Women’s Era Club” for African-American women, and organized the “First National Conference of the Colored Women of America” (Boston, 1895)
Written by shift7, published here with permission.
As we begin a new year and a new decade, we are joining shift7 to elevate 20 stories of extraordinary achievements by women. We will feature one story per day for the first 20 days of 2020. (#20for2020)
Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin was born in 1842 in Boston, Massachusetts, the youngest of six children in her family. Her father was of African, Native American, Caribbean and French ancestry, and her mother was British. At the age of 15, Josephine married 21-year-old George Lewis Ruffin, who later became the first African American to graduate from Harvard Law School. Together, the couple were heavily involved in civic service during the Civil War, including by volunteering in the U.S. Sanitary Commission (precursor to the American Red Cross), and by founding the Kansas Relief Association, which sent money and clothes to former slaves who had fled west. George Ruffin died in 1886, and Josephine devoted the rest of her life to civil rights, women’s suffrage, and children’s education.¹
In 1890, Josephine started The Women’s Era — the first newspaper published by and for African American women.² She undertook all editing and publishing of it, wrote an editorial for each issue, and recruited correspondents to contribute from around the country. The newspaper served as a vehicle to “document the achievements and showcase the strengths of African-American women,” and “enhanced their pride and confidence.”³ It included interviews with activists such Ida B. Wells-Barnett, and profiles of “Eminent Women,” including Harriet Tubman. Volumes 1, 2 and 3 of the newspaper have been digitized by Emory University, and can be accessed here.
During her tenure leading the The Women’s Era, Josephine and her daughter Florida Ruffin Ridley, along with Boston school principal Maria Baldwin, launched the Women’s Era Club in Boston.⁴ Adopting a slogan from the women’s suffrage movement, “Help to make the world better,” the club focused on women’s suffrage, race-related issues including “anti-lynching reform,” science, philanthropy, and current events.⁵ It grew to 133 members and met twice a month.
One of the nation’s first organizations for African American women, The Women’s Era Club was part of a movement to create such clubs across the country. As the number of clubs grew, so did interest in a national convening. In June of 1895, Josephine put out the call “Let us Confer Together” via The Women’s Era newspaper. In the July 1895 issue of the newspaper, she published “Conference Notes” outlining some confirmed attendees, including Ida B. Wells-Barnett and Margaret Mary Washington (married to Booker T. Washington), and sharing, “That sweetest of all poetic singers and lecturers among us, Mrs. Frances E. W. Harper, will probably be heard.” From July 29 — August 1, 1895, 100 women from 10 states convened at the “First National Conference of the Colored Women of America” in Boston.⁶
In her opening address for the Conference, Ruffin explained:
“Our woman’s movement is woman’s movement in that it is led and directed by women for the good of women and men, for the benefit of all humanity, which is more than any one branch or section of it. We want, we ask the active interest of our men, and, too, 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.” ⁷
The program for the conference is available here.
The minutes reflect that the attendees decided to create a “National League” and “Voted that the WOMAN’S ERA be made the organ of the national organization through which to gain all information regarding the organization.” On August 1, 1895, a special session was held to follow up on this decision, with Josephine presiding. This session resulted in the adoption of a Constitution for the new national organization, with five short sections. The name of the new organization was the National Federation of Afro-American Women. Its mission was defined as:
“(1) the concentration of the dormant energies of the women of the Afro-American race into one broad band of sisterhood: for the purpose of establishing needed reforms, and the practical encouragement of all efforts being put forth by various agencies, religious, educational, ethical and otherwise, for the upbuilding, ennobling and advancement of the race;
(2) to awaken the women of the race to the great need of systematic effort in home-making and the divinely imposed duties of motherhood.” ⁸
The full Constitution can be seen on pages 36 and 38 here.
On July 20, 1896, the first annual Convention of the National Federation of Afro-American Women opened in Washington, DC, chaired by Mary Murray Washington. Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin attended and took an active role, along with Harriett Tubman, Ida B. Wells-Barnett, Mary Church Terrell, Frances Harper, and many others.
At the afternoon session on the first day of the Convention, a letter from the National League of Colored Women was read, which proposed a union between that organization and the National Federation of Afro-American Women. The proposal was adopted, thus uniting 50,000 women members. The new organization was named the National Association of Colored Women (NACW), with Mary Church Terrell as President, and Josephine as Second Vice President (among seven VPs).⁹
At the conference, Josephine stated,
“The reasons why we should confer are so apparent…We need to talk over not only those things which are of vital importance to us as women, but also the things that are of special interest to us as colored women, the training of our children, openings for our boys and girls, how they can be prepared for occupations and occupations may be found or opened to them, what we especially can do in the moral education of the race with which we are identified, our mental elevations and physical development, the home training it is necessary to prepare them to meet [the] peculiar [special; difficult] conditions in which they find themselves, how to make the most of our own…opportunities, these are some of our questions to be discussed.”
The new organization adopted the motto “Lifting as we climb” and it incorporated in 1904 in St. Louis, Missouri, under the name National Association of Colored Women’s Clubs (NACWC). Today there are clubs in all 50 states, and a number of national programs and scholarships. NACWC shares on its website, “Mrs. Ruffin’s statement is the foundation of the NACWC Mission. The enduring spirit of the statement has emboldened and inspired clubwomen, who have for nearly 120 years, given their energy, time, talent and their finances to serving their communities.”
Josephine continued to actively connect people in the interest of community uplift and service, both in Boston and nationally, for the rest of her life.
In 1910, she became one of the charter members of the Boston Chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
In 1918, she and her daughter “Florida” Ruffin Ridley founded the League of Women for Community Service, which still provides services from the same headquarters in Boston today.¹⁰
She passed away in 1924, and was laid to rest at Mount Auburn Cemetery in Massachusetts.¹¹
In 1999, a bronze bust of Josephine was installed at the Massachusetts State House as part of the permanent exhibit “Hear Us.” This exhibit seeks to “honor all Massachusetts women who were active in public life by recognizing the contributions of Dorothea Dix, Lucy Stone, Sarah Parker Remond, Josephine Ruffin, Mary Kenny O’Sullivan and Florence Luscomb.”¹²
Her former home on Charles Street is a site on the Boston Women’s Heritage Trail.
“We need to feel the cheer and inspiration of meeting each other, we need to gain the courage and fresh life that comes from the mingling of congenial souls, of those working for the same ends.”
— Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin
Visit Josephine’s story in person:
- Boston, Massachusetts (birthplace)
- Josephine St. Pierre memorial — bronze bust outside Doric Hall in the Massachusetts State House, Boston, Massachusetts
- Beacon Hill home of Josephine and George — Boston, Massachusetts¹³
- Josephine Ruffin Home in her later years — in Boston’s South End
Discover
- Historic Record of the Conventions of 1895 and 1896
- Amistad Research Center at Tulane University Special Collections
- “The Women’s Era” Volumes I-III archive hosted at Emory University
With thanks for insights to Dr. Teresa Holden, Dean of the School of Arts & Sciences, Assistant Professor of History/Political Science and French, & Director of CORE 101, Greenville University
Media needs to regularly represent the innovative work of diverse individuals and teams in an empowering manner in order to shift the public mindset to one that respects that there is innovation talent in all people, including in STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics). Surfacing diverse talent will help empower current solution makers to learn or team up with colleagues who can create and use these tools, thereby accelerating progress on societal challenges.
