Many years before Black History Month began, Ridley was already organizing to publicize African American achievements. In 1890, she founded the Society for the Collection of Negro Folklore. She believed that, unless whites knew all the ways that African Americans had
contributed to the history of us all, whites would continue to consider African Americans as outsiders who are less than whites.
In 1923, Ridley created an exhibit for the Boston Public Library on “Negro Achievements.” In 1928, she published a six-page memoir, describing what treasures she found in an old kitchen box. “Preface: the Other Bostonians” has been republished in several anthologies, including in a middle school text. Ridley closed with this thought for us:
contributed to the history of us all, whites would continue to consider African Americans as outsiders who are less than whites.
In 1923, Ridley created an exhibit for the Boston Public Library on “Negro Achievements.” In 1928, she published a six-page memoir, describing what treasures she found in an old kitchen box. “Preface: the Other Bostonians” has been republished in several anthologies, including in a middle school text. Ridley closed with this thought for us:
"Doubtless my box and its contents may be duplicated in many a home, for all Negro life in America walks hand in hand with tragedy, and all phases are of deepest significance. And those phases that are richest in suffering and heroism are not always recorded in collections. It is surprising to find how definite a part of accepted technique has been the closing of eyes and ears and minds to phases of Negro life and character.”
In 1930, Ridley founded another organization to highlight that African Americans have “worked, fought and died not only to obtain their own freedom but also the independence and freedom [of the United States].” Here in Brookline, we now know that three enslaved Brookline men fought at the Battle of Lexington: Adam, Peter and Prince. These are three men listed as possessions at the bottom of the large plaque at Town Hall’s entrance.
Let me close with this important message: What Ridley did is the same as what you, your school and our town have done: together we have brought to light the hidden history of Florida Ruffin Ridley, an overlooked African American trailblazer.