Hub Town Tours Circular Letter Vo. 10, No. 3 Issue: “Bold Beginnings.”

A New Women’s Era

Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin was a pioneering Black suffragist, journalist, and activist in Boston. In 1895, she founded the Woman’s Era Club, one of the first Black women’s clubs in the United States, creating a space for activism, education, leadership, and anti-lynching campaigns. Her advocacy work, focused on community advancement and women’s reform in Boston, reflected her commitment to expanding opportunities for Black women and advancing racial and gender equality in the city and beyond. Through her journalism, club work, and public advocacy, Ruffin positioned Black women as essential voices in conversations about education, citizenship, and reform beyond voting rights that affected Black women during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, embodying true intersectional activism. - Scholaris

First of Its Kind

Several years before Ruffin founded the Woman’s Era Club, an all-women’s organization had already been created, but for a different sort of clientele and for less political purposes. The College Club of Boston was founded in 1890, originally with the intent to provide a space for college-educated women to find community and network, though due to the privilege and expense of attending college at the time, most if not all of the club’s members would have been white, upperclass women. However, as the first of its kind in the US, the College Club served a pioneering role as an exclusive space for women to discuss intellectual matters and world affairs. Today, visitors to Boston can see the College Club at its current location at 44 Commonwealth Ave on our Votes for Women tour of the Back Bay! - Discipulus

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