EVANGELICAL WOMAN IN EARLY 1800; JOSEPHINE ST PIERRE RUFFIN P/173

                                                                                                                                                                                                                               Read Part One HERE                  

In this post I will continue to focus on a woman named Josephine St Pierre Ruffin. She lived from 1842 - 1924.

In 1896, the National Organisation of Afro-American Women merged with the Coloured Women's League to form the National Association of Coloured Women's Clubs (NACWC). Mary Church Terrell was elected president and Josephine served as one of the organisation's vice-presidents. 

Just as the NACWC was forming, Josephine was integrating the New England's Woman's Club. When the General Federation of Women's Clubs met in Milwaukee in 1900, she planned to attend as a representative of three organisations: The Woman's Era Club, the New England Woman's Club and the New England Woman's Press Club.

 Southern women were in positions of power in the General Federation and, when the executive committee discovered that all of the New Era's Club members were black, they would not accept Josephine's credentials. Josephine was told that she could be seated at a representative of the two white clubs but not the black one. She refused on principle and was excluded from the proceedings. This event became known as the "Ruffin Incident" and was widely reported in newspapers around the country, most of whom supported Josephine. Afterwards the Woman's Era Club made an official statement that "coloured women should confine themselves to their clubs and the large field work open to them there." 

In 1910, Josephine helped form the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NAACP). She was one of the charter members of the NAACP. 

Josephine died in 1924. 

Read Part One Hundred And Seventy-Four HERE