Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin

CTL-E-6286 · Person · journalist · 1842–1924; Boston Black clubwomen's movement, suffrage, and Black press, 1860s–1924

VERIFIED evidence grade — build store (JSON graph)

Combined Graph record U-07473 · provenance: build store (JSON graph), record CTL-E-6286.

Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin was a Boston publisher, journalist, suffragist, and civil-rights organizer born in Boston on August 31, 1842, and deceased March 13, 1924, in Boston. During the Civil War she recruited Black men for the 54th and 55th Massachusetts regiments. Afterward she worked in Massachusetts suffrage organizations, ran voter outreach in Beacon Hill and the West End in 1885, and helped found the West End Suffrage League in 1887. In 1893 she co-founded the Woman's Era Club with her daughter Florida Ruffin Ridley, Maria Louise Baldwin, Ida B. Wells, and others. She edited and published its publication, The Woman's Era, described as the first national newspaper created by and for Black women. With her daughter, she organized the First National Conference of Colored Women in Boston in 1895, drawing 100 women from twenty clubs. The conference created an umbrella organization later associated with the National Association of Colored Women's Clubs. In 1910 she helped found the Boston chapter of the NAACP.

The record

• Also known as: Josephine St. Pierre, Mrs. George L. Ruffin

Notes

Staged 2026-10-16 under CTL-GOV-006 (The Closer — 747 Program, Wave 13 final packet; a gap-closing packet built from the earlier packets' documented blocked edges). Gate A (2026-10-16): CLEAR — hand-checked against the live graph (3,910 entities): no Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin entity, alias, or variant homed; the Woman's Era (CTL-E-6168) exists without its founder/editor endpoint. ID CTL-E-6286 free at staging. Supply: 747 blocked-edge harvest — Scan Tail Wave 5 documented the Woman's Era (CTL-E-6168) founding/editorship wiring as blocked on this missing endpoint. The supply supplied the name only; every fact came from source work. SCOPE GATE: national-canon gap-fix endpoint harvested from a documented blocked edge in a merged packet; staged to close that edge, per the Closer brief. Vital status: DECEASED — died March 13, 1924, in Boston, verified consistently across the Massachusetts Women's History Center, BlackPast, and Encyclopedia.com. Tribute treatment applies (flowers in the DRAFT Curator's Judgment only). STATISTICS (counted, sourced, dated 2026-10-16): Born August 31, 1842, Boston; died March 13, 1924, Boston (MWHC; BlackPast; Encyclopedia.com). Woman's Era Club co-founded 1893 (MWHC; NPS; Encyclopedia.com — February 1893). The Woman's Era began national distribution in 1894 and is described as the first national newspaper created by and for Black women (MWHC). First National Conference of Colored Women, Boston, 1895: 100 women from 20 clubs (MWHC; BlackPast). CONFLICT SHOWN, NOT BLENDED: editorship of the Woman's Era is dated 1890–1897 by BlackPast and until 1900 by Encyclopedia.com; the description makes no dated editorship claim. Club growth of over 100 members in under a year is NPS single-source. NAACP variance: MWHC and BlackPast support co-founding the Boston chapter in 1910; Encyclopedia.com frames her as one of 56 NAACP charter members without the Boston qualifier; the Boston form is carried. Spelling note: sources vary between "Woman's Era" and "Women's Era"; the graph's CTL-E-6168 form (Woman's Era) is used. MEDIA: map N/A (person); photo HELD with named candidate; chart FILLED (charts/chart-ctl-e-6286-ruffin.svg); video HELD (no matching-entity CTL Short in the Shorts Link Map); audio HELD. MEDIA LAYER (staged 2026-10-16; full per-asset PHOTO-001 records + embed specs in the packet's staged JSON, Drive packet folder): map = N/A (Person records carry no map slot; maps attach to places and institutions.) | visual_assets = HELD: | chart = FILLED (CTL-created chart (black / deep red / gold) built only from this record's sourced statistics and timeline fact) | video = HELD (No matching-entity CTL Short in the Shorts Link Map (shorts-link-map-2026-10-15.json, 233 rows, checked by nam) | audio = HELD (HELD: No CTL-owned or rights-cleared matching-entity audio exists at staging.)

Referenced by

• Woman's Era — founded by → this record
• Woman's Era — wrote for → this record

Sources

• Massachusetts Women's History Center, Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin (1842-1924) (accessed 2026-10-16) — birth/death dates and Boston places; Civil War recruiting for the 54th and 55th Massachusetts regiments; suffrage work (1880, 1885, 1887); Woman's Era Club co-founding 1893 and co-founders; Woman's Era national distribution 1894 and first-national-newspaper characterization; 1895 conference, 100 women / 20 clubs; Boston NAACP chapter co-founding 1910 — https://www.mawomenshistory.org/resources/biographies/josephine-st-pierre-ruffin-1842-1924 (primary source · build store)
• National Park Service, Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin (accessed 2026-10-16) — Woman's Era Club established 1893; club growth over 100 members in under a year (single-source statistic); The Woman's Era as the club's publication; suffrage organizations and leadership, 1885 outreach, 1887 West End Suffrage League first presidency; death March 13, 1924 — https://www.nps.gov/people/josephine-st-pierre-ruffin.htm (build store)
• BlackPast.org, Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin (1842-1924) (accessed 2026-10-16) — born August 31, 1842; edited the Woman's Era 1890-1897 (one side of the editorship conflict); founded the Woman's Era Club with Florida Ruffin Ridley and Maria Baldwin; convened the 1895 convention, 100 women from 20 clubs; founding member of the Boston NAACP in 1910; died in Boston March 13, 1924 — https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/ruffin-josephine-st-pierre-1842-1924/ (build store)
• Encyclopedia.com (Women in World History / Gale), Ruffin, Josephine St. Pierre (1842–1924) (accessed 2026-10-16) — birth/death dates and places; Woman's Era Club founded February 1893; Ruffin and her daughter founded the Woman's Era; first national conference at Berkeley Hall, July 1895; editorship until 1900 (other side of the conflict); NAACP charter-member framing (variance) — https://www.encyclopedia.com/women/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/ruffin-josephine-st-pierre-1842-1924 (build store)

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Record CTL-E-6286 · Combined Graph record U-07473 · CultureTechLens Knowledge Graph · 4 sources · 2 mapped relationships.
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Researched and maintained by the CultureTechLens research program · CultureTechLens Combined Graph, Release 2026-11-04. Corrections are public: the corrections log.

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