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Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin

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The Resume

    (August 31, 1842-March 13, 1924)
    Born in Boston, Massachusetts
    Birth name was Josephine St. Pierre
    Journalist, publisher, civil rights activist, and suffragist
    Editor and publisher of 'The Woman's Era' (1894-97)
    Founded the first black women's club in Boston, the Woman's Era Club (1892)
    Attempted to desegregate the General Federation of Women's Clubs (GFWC) at their Milwaukee convention (1900)
    Organized the first National Conference of Colored Women of America (1895)
    Founding member and first vice president of the National Association of Colored Women (NACW; 1896)
    Carter member of the <16850>National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP; 1909)

Why she might be annoying:

    Reflecting her own wealthy background, articles in 'The Woman's Era' tended to express elitist views while ignoring the opinions of working class black women.
    Her push to desegregate the GFWC was criticized by members of black women's clubs from the South, who worried about losing the support of white women's clubs helping their communities.
    Her outspokenness eventually got her expelled from the NACW, despite her status as one of the founders.

Why she might not be annoying:

    She was expelled from a private school in Boston after six months when her interracial background was discovered.
    She and her husband recruited black soldiers for the Union Army during the Civil War.
    She was a founder of the Kansas Freedman's Relief Association (1879), which raised money and supplies for freed slaves resettling in Kansas.
    'The Woman's Era' was the first newspaper published by and for black women.
    She published the first anti-lynching editorials of Ida B. Wells.
    Although excluded from the Milwaukee convention, she was accepted as a delegate at the GFWC's next convention (1902).
    Booker T. Washington called her 'a woman of rare force of character, mental alertness, and generous impulses.'

Credit: C. Fishel


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Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 13 Votes: 30.77% Annoying