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{{Short description|African-American women's newspaper}}
{{for|the fortnightly Indian magazine|Woman's Era}}
{{Infobox magazine
{{Infobox magazine
| title = The Woman's Era
| title = The Woman's Era
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| image_alt =
| image_alt =
| image_caption = May 1 1894 issue featuring [[Victoria Earle Matthews]]
| image_caption = May 1, 1894 issue featuring [[Victoria Earle Matthews]]
| editor = [[Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin]]
| editor = [[Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin]]
| editor_title = Editor
| editor_title = Editor
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⚫
'''''The Woman's Era''''' was the first national newspaper published by and for black women in the United States.<!--Jenkins uses the phrase "the first national newspaper for black women"--> Originally established as a monthly Boston newspaper, it became distributed nationally in 1894 and ran until January 1897, with [[Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin]] as editor and publisher.<ref name="Streitmatter2015">{{cite book|author=Rodger Streitmatter|title=Raising Her Voice: African-American Women Journalists Who Changed History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SaseBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA62|year=2015|publisher=University Press of Kentucky|isbn=978-0-8131-4905-9|pages=62–69}}</ref> ''The Woman's Era'' played an important role in the national African American [[Woman's club movement|women's club movement]].

⚫
'''''The Woman's Era''''' was the first national newspaper published by and for African-American women.<!--Jenkins uses the phrase "the first national newspaper for black women"--> It was founded in 1894 by [[Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin]], who served as its editor and publisher until 1897. ''The Woman's Era'' played an important role in the national African-American women's club movement.


==History==
==History==
⚫
In 1892, Boston activist [[Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin]] founded the [[Woman's Era Club]], an advocacy group for black women, with the help of her daughter, [[Florida Ruffin Ridley]], and educator [[Maria Louise Baldwin]]. It was the first black women's club in [[Boston]],<ref name="Smith">{{cite book|last1=Smith|first1=Jessie Carney|title=Notable Black American Women|date=1996|publisher=VNR AG|isbn=9780810391772|page=240|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T40RAQAAMAAJ&q=notable+black+women}}</ref> and one of the first in the country. Its members, prominent black women from the Boston area, devoted their efforts to education, [[Women's suffrage in the United States|women's suffrage]], and race-related issues such as [[Anti-lynching movement|anti-lynching]] reform. Its slogan was "Help to make the world better".<ref name="Neal1">{{cite news|last1=Neal|first1=Anthony W.|title=Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin: A pioneer in the black women's club movement Part 1|url=http://baystatebanner.com/news/2016/feb/03/josephine-st-pierre-ruffin-pioneer-black-womens-cl/|newspaper=The Bay State Banner|date=February 3, 2016}}</ref> ''The Woman's Era'', an illustrated monthly publication, was the club's newspaper.<ref name="Jenkins">{{cite journal|last1=Jenkins|first1=Maude T.|title=Letters|journal=The Women's Review of Books|publisher=Old City Publishing, Inc.|volume=16|issue=12|date=1999|jstor=4023208|page=5|doi=10.2307/4023208}}</ref> Ruffin served as its editor and publisher; Ridley was also an editor.<ref name="AAR">{{cite web|title=Josephine Ruffin, Activist, Philanthropist and Newspaper Publisher|url=http://www.aaregistry.org/historic_events/view/josephine-ruffin-activist-philanthropist-and-newspaper-publisher|website=African American Registry}}</ref><ref group=note>Different historians give different start dates for both the Woman's Era Club and the newspaper. According to Ruffin's descendant, Maude T. Jenkins, the club was founded in 1892. Several sources give 1897 as the last year of Ruffin's editorship but do not specify when the newspaper was discontinued. Electronic text is available online for the years 1894-1897.</ref>


== Contents ==
⚫
In 1892, Boston activist [[Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin]] founded the Woman's Era Club, an advocacy group for black women, with the help of her daughter, [[Florida Ruffin Ridley]], and educator [[Maria Louise Baldwin]]. It was the first black women's club in [[Boston]],<ref name="Smith">{{cite book|last1=Smith|first1=Jessie Carney|title=Notable Black American Women|date=1996|publisher=VNR AG|isbn=9780810391772|page=240|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ssMBzqrUpjwC&pg=PA240}}</ref> and one of the first in the country. Its members, prominent black women from the Boston area, devoted their efforts to education, [[Women's suffrage in the United States|women's suffrage]], and race-related issues such as [[Anti-lynching movement|anti-lynching]] reform. Its slogan was "Help to make the world better".<ref name="Neal1">{{cite news|last1=Neal|first1=Anthony W.|title=Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin: A pioneer in the black women’s club movement Part 1|url=http://baystatebanner.com/news/2016/feb/03/josephine-st-pierre-ruffin-pioneer-black-womens-cl/|agency=The Bay State Banner|date=February 3, 2016}}</ref> ''The Woman's Era'', an illustrated monthly publication, was the club's newspaper.<ref name="Jenkins">{{cite journal|last1=Jenkins|first1=Maude T.|title=Letters|journal=The Women's Review of Books|publisher=Old City Publishing, Inc.|volume=16|issue=12|date=1999|url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/4023208|page=5}}</ref> Ruffin served as its editor and publisher; Ridley was also an editor.<ref name="AAR">{{cite web|title=Josephine Ruffin, Activist, Philanthropist and Newspaper Publisher|url=http://www.aaregistry.org/historic_events/view/josephine-ruffin-activist-philanthropist-and-newspaper-publisher|website=African American Registry}}</ref><ref group=note>Different historians give different start dates for both the Woman's Era Club and the newspaper. According to Ruffin's descendant, Maude T. Jenkins, the club was founded in 1892. Several sources give 1897 as the last year of Ruffin's editorship but do not specify when the newspaper was discontinued. Electronic text is available online for the years 1894-1897.</ref>
This publication featured records of the [[Woman's Era Club]] activity, as well as news from other black women's clubs located all over the United States. Advertisements for local social events such as carnivals, rosebud teas, and bake sales are placed throughout the newspaper alongside the promotion of vendor goods for music, courses, clothing, real estate, among other things.<ref>[[iarchive:womans-era-1.1_202110/page/n15/mode/2up|''The Woman's Era, vol.1, no.1 (March 24, 1894)'']]. Ruffin, Josephine St. Pierre; Ridley, Florida R. (Florida Ruffin); Baldwin, Maria (1894-03). </ref>


Along with articles such as "Club Gossip", "Social Etiquette", and "Health and Beauty from Exercise", the ''Woman's Era'' published news about women's suffrage in Colorado (the second state to give women the vote), interviews with activists such as [[Victoria Earle Matthews]] and [[Ida B. Wells]],<ref name="Jenkins" /> a series called "Eminent Women" that included a profile of [[Harriet Tubman]], and criticism of other activists, such as [[Frances Willard (suffragist)|Frances Willard]] and [[Albion W. Tourgée]], who disappointed them. A May 1, 1894 editorial, "How to Stop Lynching", posed this question to readers:
The paper also contained articles such as "Club Gossip", "Social Etiquette", and "Health and Beauty from Exercise", the ''Woman's Era'' published news about women's suffrage in Colorado (the second state to give women the vote), interviews with activists such as [[Victoria Earle Matthews]] and [[Ida B. Wells]],<ref name="Jenkins" /> a series called "Eminent Women" that included a profile of [[Harriet Tubman]], and criticism of other activists who disappointed them, such as [[Frances Willard (suffragist)|Frances Willard]] and [[Albion W. Tourgée]]. A May 1, 1894 editorial, "How to Stop Lynching", posed this question to readers:


<blockquote>In his very admirable and searching address delivered in this city, April 16th, judge Albion W. Tourgee proposed as a remedy to prevent the lynching of colored people at the South, that the country where lynchings occur be compelled by law to pension the wife and children of the murdered man. This, he said would make murder costly and in self defense the local authorities would put a stop to it. At first blush, this is an attractive suggestion. But why not hang the murderers? Why make a distinction between the murderers of white men and the murderers of colored men?<ref name="Awesome">{{cite web|title=The Woman's Era, Volume 1, an electronic edition|url=http://womenwriters.library.emory.edu/advocacy/toc.php?id=era1|website=Emory Women Writers Resource Project}}</ref></blockquote>
<blockquote>In his very admirable and searching address delivered in this city, April 16th, judge Albion W. Tourgee proposed as a remedy to prevent the [[lynching]] of colored people at the South, that the country where lynchings occur be compelled by law to pension the wife and children of the murdered man. This, he said would make murder costly and in self defense the local authorities would put a stop to it. At first blush, this is an attractive suggestion. But why not hang the murderers? Why make a distinction between the murderers of white men and the murderers of colored men?<ref name="Awesome">{{cite web|title=The Woman's Era, Volume 1, an electronic edition|url=https://womansera.digitalscholarship.emory.edu/|website=Emory Women Writers Resource Project}}</ref></blockquote>


The editor concluded that the only solution was for the federal government to intervene:
The editor concluded that the only solution was for the federal government to intervene:


<blockquote>It can go to war, spend millions of dollars and sacrifice thousands of lives to avenge the death of a naturalized white citizen slain by a foreign government on foreign soil, but cannot spend a cent to protect a loyal, native-born colored American murdered without provocation by native or alien in Alabama. Shame on such a government! The administration in power is ''particeps criminis'' with the murderers. It can stop lynching, and until it does so, it has on its hands the innocent blood of its murdered citizens.<ref name="Awesome" /></blockquote>
<blockquote>It can go to war, spend millions of dollars and sacrifice thousands of lives to avenge the death of a naturalized white citizen slain by a foreign government on foreign soil, but cannot spend a cent to protect a loyal, native-born colored American murdered without provocation by native or alien in [[Alabama]]. Shame on such a government! The administration in power is ''particeps criminis'' with the murderers. It can stop lynching, and until it does so, it has on its hands the innocent blood of its murdered citizens.<ref name="Awesome"/></blockquote>


In 1895, Ruffin organized [[The First National Conference of the Colored Women of America]], during which the National Federation of Afro-American Women was created. ''The Woman's Era'' became the national news outlet of the club women.<ref name="Jenkins" />
In 1895, Ruffin organized [[The First National Conference of the Colored Women of America]], during which the National Federation of Afro-American Women was created. ''The Woman's Era'' became the national news outlet of the club women.<ref name="Jenkins"/>


⚫
==See also==
The Woman's Era Club disbanded in 1903.

⚫
== See also==
* [[The First National Conference of the Colored Women of America]]
* [[The First National Conference of the Colored Women of America]]
* [[National Association of Colored Women's Clubs]]
* [[National Association of Colored Women's Clubs]]
Line 56: Line 57:


== References ==
== References ==
{{reflist|30em}}
{{Reflist|30em}}

== External links ==
[https://www.digitalcommonwealth.org/collections/commonwealth:tb09mp36c ''The Woman's Era'']. Issues digitized by Boston Public Library.


== Further reading ==
== Further reading ==
* [http://womenwriters.library.emory.edu/advocacy/browse.php?field=publisher&value=%22Woman%27s%20Era%20Club%22 ''The Woman's Era'', 1894-1897] at Emory Women Writers Resource Project
* [https://womansera.digitalscholarship.emory.edu/ ''The Woman's Era'', 1894-1897] at Emory Women Writers Resource Project
* {{cite journal|ref=harv|last1=Gere|first1=Anne Ruggles|title=Gendered Literacy in Black and White: Turn-of-the-Century African-American and European-American Club Women's Printed Texts|journal=Signs|publisher=University of Chicago Press|volume=21|issue=3|date=1996|pages=643-678|url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/3175174}}
* {{cite journal|last1=Gere|first1=Anne Ruggles|title=Gendered Literacy in Black and White: Turn-of-the-Century African-American and European-American Club Women's Printed Texts|journal=Signs|publisher=University of Chicago Press|volume=21|issue=3|date=1996|pages=643–678|jstor=3175174|doi=10.1086/495101|s2cid=143859735|url=https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/facpubs/1814}}
* Gere, Anne Ruggles. ''Intimate Practices: Literacy and Cultural Work in U.S. Women’s Clubs, 1880-1920''. Urbana: U of Illinois P, 1997.

* Logan, Shirley Wilson. ''We are Coming: The Persuasive Discourse of Nineteenth Century Black Women''. Carbondale: Southern Illinois UP, 1999.
* McHenry, Elizabeth. ''Forgotten Readers: Recovering the Lost History of African American Literary Societies''. Durham: Duke UP, 2002.
* Fredlund, Katherine. "[https://cfshrc.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Peitho18.2_Fredlund.pdf Forget the master’s tools, we will build our own house: The ''Woman’s Era'' as a rhetorical forum for the invention of African American womanhood]." Peitho Journal 18.2 (2016): 67–98.


{{African American press}}
{{African American press}}
{{Woman's club movement}}




{{DEFAULTSORT:Woman's Era, The}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Woman's Era, The}}
[[Category:African-American magazines]]
[[Category:1892 establishments in Massachusetts]]
[[Category:American monthly magazines]]
[[Category:1897 disestablishments in Massachusetts]]
[[Category:Publications established in 1892]]
[[Category:Defunct African-American newspapers]]
[[Category:Defunct magazines of the United States]]
[[Category:Monthly magazines published in the United States]]
[[Category:Magazines published in Massachusetts]]
[[Category:Defunct women's magazines published in the United States]]
[[Category:Media in Boston, Massachusetts]]
[[Category:Magazines established in 1892]]
[[Category:Magazines disestablished in 1897]]
[[Category:Magazines published in Boston]]
[[Category:Defunct newspapers published in Massachusetts]]
[[Category:History of women in Massachusetts]]
[[Category:African-American history of Massachusetts]]
[[Category:Women in Boston]]

Latest revision as of 21:07, 23 February 2024

For the fortnightly Indian magazine, see Woman's Era.
The Woman's Era
May 1, 1894 issue featuring Victoria Earle Matthews
EditorJosephine St. Pierre Ruffin
FrequencyMonthly
FormatPrint
FounderJosephine St. Pierre Ruffin
Founded1894
Final issue1897
CountryUnited States
Based in103 Charles Street
Boston, Massachusetts
LanguageEnglish

The Woman's Era was the first national newspaper published by and for black women in the United States. Originally established as a monthly Boston newspaper, it became distributed nationally in 1894 and ran until January 1897, with Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin as editor and publisher.[1] The Woman's Era played an important role in the national African American women's club movement.

History

[edit]

In 1892, Boston activist Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin founded the Woman's Era Club, an advocacy group for black women, with the help of her daughter, Florida Ruffin Ridley, and educator Maria Louise Baldwin. It was the first black women's club in Boston,[2] and one of the first in the country. Its members, prominent black women from the Boston area, devoted their efforts to education, women's suffrage, and race-related issues such as anti-lynching reform. Its slogan was "Help to make the world better".[3] The Woman's Era, an illustrated monthly publication, was the club's newspaper.[4] Ruffin served as its editor and publisher; Ridley was also an editor.[5][note 1]

Contents

[edit]

This publication featured records of the Woman's Era Club activity, as well as news from other black women's clubs located all over the United States. Advertisements for local social events such as carnivals, rosebud teas, and bake sales are placed throughout the newspaper alongside the promotion of vendor goods for music, courses, clothing, real estate, among other things.[6]

The paper also contained articles such as "Club Gossip", "Social Etiquette", and "Health and Beauty from Exercise", the Woman's Era published news about women's suffrage in Colorado (the second state to give women the vote), interviews with activists such as Victoria Earle Matthews and Ida B. Wells,[4] a series called "Eminent Women" that included a profile of Harriet Tubman, and criticism of other activists who disappointed them, such as Frances Willard and Albion W. Tourgée. A May 1, 1894 editorial, "How to Stop Lynching", posed this question to readers:

In his very admirable and searching address delivered in this city, April 16th, judge Albion W. Tourgee proposed as a remedy to prevent the lynching of colored people at the South, that the country where lynchings occur be compelled by law to pension the wife and children of the murdered man. This, he said would make murder costly and in self defense the local authorities would put a stop to it. At first blush, this is an attractive suggestion. But why not hang the murderers? Why make a distinction between the murderers of white men and the murderers of colored men?[7]

The editor concluded that the only solution was for the federal government to intervene:

It can go to war, spend millions of dollars and sacrifice thousands of lives to avenge the death of a naturalized white citizen slain by a foreign government on foreign soil, but cannot spend a cent to protect a loyal, native-born colored American murdered without provocation by native or alien in Alabama. Shame on such a government! The administration in power is particeps criminis with the murderers. It can stop lynching, and until it does so, it has on its hands the innocent blood of its murdered citizens.[7]

In 1895, Ruffin organized The First National Conference of the Colored Women of America, during which the National Federation of Afro-American Women was created. The Woman's Era became the national news outlet of the club women.[4]

See also

[edit]

Notes

[edit]
  1. ^ Different historians give different start dates for both the Woman's Era Club and the newspaper. According to Ruffin's descendant, Maude T. Jenkins, the club was founded in 1892. Several sources give 1897 as the last year of Ruffin's editorship but do not specify when the newspaper was discontinued. Electronic text is available online for the years 1894-1897.

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Rodger Streitmatter (2015). Raising Her Voice: African-American Women Journalists Who Changed History. University Press of Kentucky. pp. 62–69. ISBN 978-0-8131-4905-9.
  2. ^ Smith, Jessie Carney (1996). Notable Black American Women. VNR AG. p. 240. ISBN 9780810391772.
  3. ^ Neal, Anthony W. (February 3, 2016). "Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin: A pioneer in the black women's club movement Part 1". The Bay State Banner.
  4. ^ a b c Jenkins, Maude T. (1999). "Letters". The Women's Review of Books. 16 (12). Old City Publishing, Inc.: 5. doi:10.2307/4023208. JSTOR 4023208.
  5. ^ "Josephine Ruffin, Activist, Philanthropist and Newspaper Publisher". African American Registry.
  6. ^ The Woman's Era, vol.1, no.1 (March 24, 1894). Ruffin, Josephine St. Pierre; Ridley, Florida R. (Florida Ruffin); Baldwin, Maria (1894-03).
  7. ^ a b "The Woman's Era, Volume 1, an electronic edition". Emory Women Writers Resource Project.
[edit]

The Woman's Era. Issues digitized by Boston Public Library.

Further reading

[edit]
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