In 1881, Florida Ruffin became the 2nd African American ever to teach in Boston, and so helped open the path for other African Americans, though ongoing discrimination kept that path narrow. Ruffin saw the that education can enhance democratic values. In one of her short stories, an African American mother, mused:
“In the American public schools, democracy is most truly demonstrated in the freedom with which children make and develop friendships, even guiding hands of parents cannot always be effective here.”
“Two Gentlemen of Boston”, anthologized in Harlem’s Glory, ed., Lorraine Roses and R.E. Randolph
Ruffin’s teaching career came to an abrupt end when she married Ulysses Ridley, as it was against the rules for married women to teach. Yet married men were permitted teach. (If that rule existed today, imagine how many Florida R. Ridley School teachers would be forced to resign!)
Though Florida Ruffin Ridley never taught school again, she did continue to teach, but beyond the classroom and throughout the country. She taught the public, as a journalist and as a speaker, telling of the deep injustices African Americans and women faced and bringing people together in the struggle for equality.
“All we ask for is justice, not mercy or palliation--simple justice. Surely that is not too much for loyal citizens to demand.”
from Ridley’s public letter against lynching, Boston Globe May 21, 1894