George Lewis Ruffin's love of learning led him to become the first African-American graduate of Harvard University's law school and the first black judge in Massachusetts.
Ruffin was born in Richmond on Dec. 16, 1834. He was the eldest child of free blacks who had received some education. In 1853, soon after Virginia passed a law prohibiting blacks from learning to read, Ruffin's parents abandoned their modest property and moved their family to Boston.
Ruffin, then about 19 years old, and his seven siblings entered public schools. He excelled academically and joined the Republican Party, beginning a lifelong commitment to social activism.
When he graduated in 1858, Ruffin married Josephine St. Pierre, an African-American woman from a prominent Boston family. She was 16 at the time. Her father was an activist who objected to segregated schools.
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Josephine Ruffin would join her husband in the fight for justice and equality. During the Civil War, they helped recruit soldiers for the Union army. George Ruffin was unable to enlist in the 55th Massachusetts Colored Regiment because he was nearsighted.
The couple would have five children.
Soon after they wed, the Ruffins moved to Liverpool, England, to protest the U.S. Supreme Court's Dred Scott decision of 1857, which essentially validated the legality of slavery.
When they returned to Boston six months later, Ruffin worked as a barber.
Soon, however, he began to yearn for more.
When he wasn't cutting hair, he studied law with support from the partners of a Boston law firm.
In 1868, Ruffin enrolled in Harvard University's law school. He completed the three-year program in one year and was admitted to the bar of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts in September 1869.
Ruffin joined the law firm of Harvey Jewell, where he specialized in criminal law and represented black and white clients.
He won seats in the state legislature in 1869 and 1870.
Ruffin gained recognition for his leadership at various events and in organizations that sought to advance the causes of blacks. He befriended several leading abolitionists of the time.
As a delegate to the state Republican Convention in 1871, he garnered recognition for his nomination speech for gubernatorial candidate and former Union Gen. Benjamin F. Butler.
Butler was not successful in that run for the statehouse, but he was elected governor in 1882, and in 1883 he appointed Ruffin the first black judge in the state. Ruffin served in the municipal court in the Charlestown district.
It would be 75 years before another African-American would become a judge in Massachusetts.
The same year Ruffin was appointed judge, he was named to the position of consul resident in Boston for the Dominican Republic.
Ruffin died Nov. 20, 1886, of Bright's disease after several weeks of illness. By most accounts, he died poor because he contributed much of his income to social causes and charities.
