Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin

Born in Boston in 1842 to an English mother and a father of Martinique, African, and Indigenous descent who ran a successful clothing shop, Josephine St. Pierre grew up steeped in Beacon Hill's abolitionist community. She married George L. Ruffin in 1858; he went on to become the first Black graduate of Harvard Law School and later the first Black judge in New England.

After her husband's death in 1886, Ruffin devoted herself further to organizing on behalf of Black women, co-founding the Woman's Era Club in 1893 alongside her daughter Florida Ruffin Ridley and others, including Ida B. Wells. In 1894, the club's newsletter, The Woman's Era, began national distribution — making it the first national newspaper created by and for Black women. The following year, Ruffin and her daughter organized the first National Conference of Colored Women, which drew about 100 women from twenty clubs across the country and led directly to the founding of the National Association of Colored Women.

Key contributions

• Co-founded the Woman's Era Club in Boston in 1893.
• Published The Woman's Era, the first national newspaper by and for Black women, beginning 1894.
• Organized the first National Conference of Colored Women in 1895, drawing about 100 delegates from twenty clubs.
• Helped found the National Association of Colored Women, serving as an early officer of its predecessor federation.
• Charter member of the Massachusetts School Suffrage Association and co-founder of the American Woman Suffrage Association.

Context

Ruffin worked at a moment when Black women's clubs were multiplying across the country but remained excluded from most white-led suffrage and reform organizations, which is part of why a dedicated national network — and a newspaper to connect it — mattered so much. Her Boston upbringing placed her inside a multiracial abolitionist community that shaped her lifelong fighting spirit.

In their spirit: If no one will print your voice, build the press yourself.

About this set

Ruffin's card is one of six in Set 1A — First Flame Daughters, part of the Lineage: Origin Fire digital postcard collection. First Flame Daughters gathers women whose public courage and leadership lit the way for the movements that followed.

Shop the First Flame Daughters set or get the Complete Collection (all 12 cards).

Sources: National Park Service — Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin biography; Encyclopedia Britannica — Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin.