Ruth Batson, Activist

“My whole life has been pointed in...the improvement of education for Black kids.” Civil rights activist and educator Ruth Batson, who was bornon August 3, 1921. She was instrumental in the #desegregation of Boston’s public schools. She was the Chairman of the Public Education Sub-Committee of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1953 before becoming the chairwoman of the New England Branch of the NAACP, the first woman to be elected this. She was also the first black woman on the Democratic National committee. In addition, she served as the chairwoman of the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination from 1963 to 1966. She later served in various roles at Boston University, including Director of the School Desegregation Research Project (1975–1981). She first started fighting for better education for black children, as a young mother with three children in the school system, then went on to spend the rest of her life doing so. She stated “When we fight about education, we’re fighting for our lives. We’re fighting for what that education will give us. We’re fighting for a job. We’re fighting to eat. We’re fighting to pay our medical bills. We’re fighting for a lot of things. This is a total fight with us.”