Ruth Batson (1921-2003) was a mother, educator, and civil rights leader who worked tirelessly to desegregate public schools in Boston.
Ruth Batson (1921-2003) was a mother, educator, and civil rights leader who worked tirelessly to desegregate public schools in Boston.
While motherhood can take many forms, to mother is to usher forth new generations through care, work and imagination. For the entire month of December, we’re celebrating mothers — including those who raised children who went on to lead the civil rights movement and school desegregation efforts, such as Alberta King and Louise Little, as well as mothers of movements like Lorena Borjas who started the Latinx trans movement. All of the women featured this month were dedicated to the survival of children in their work and to imagining better futures for the next generation.
History classes can get a bad rap, and sometimes for good reason. When we were students, we couldn’t help wondering... where were all the ladies at? Why were so many incredible stories missing from the typical curriculum? Enter, Womanica. On this Wonder Media Network podcast we explore the lives of inspiring women in history you may not know about, but definitely should.
Every weekday, listeners explore the trials, tragedies, and triumphs of groundbreaking women throughout history who have dramatically shaped the world around us. In each 5 minute episode, we’ll dive into the story behind one woman listeners may or may not know–but definitely should. These diverse women from across space and time are grouped into easily accessible and engaging monthly themes like Educators, Villains, Indigenous Storytellers, Activists, and many more. Womanica is hosted by WMN co-founder and award-winning journalist Jenny Kaplan. The bite-sized episodes pack painstakingly researched content into fun, entertaining, and addictive daily adventures.
Womanica was created by Liz Kaplan and Jenny Kaplan, executive produced by Jenny Kaplan, and produced by Liz Smith, Grace Lynch, Maddy Foley, Brittany Martinez, Edie Allard, Lindsey Kratochwill, Adesuwa Agbonile, Carmen Borca-Carrillo, Taylor Williamson, Ale Tejeda, Sara Schleede, Abbey Delk, and Alex Jhamb Burns. Special thanks to Shira Atkins.
Original theme music composed by Miles Moran.
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Hello! From Wonder Media Network, I'm Anna Malaika Tubbs, the author of The Three Mothers: How the Mothers of MLK, Malcom X and James Baldwin Shaped A Nation. My work focuses on motherhood, through the lens of feminism, intersectionality, and inclusivity, and I’ll be your guest host for this month of Womanica.
This month, we’re talking about mothers: women who ushered forth new generations and new futures through their care, work, and imagination.
Today we’re talking about a mother, educator, and civil rights leader who worked tirelessly to desegregate public schools in Boston.
Please welcome Ruth Batson.
Ruth Batson was born August 3, 1921 in Boston. She was raised by her mother, Cassandra Buchanan, a Jamaican immigrant. Cassandra supported the Black nationalist movement and brought young Ruth to meetings where people talked about Marcus Garvey and Black empowerment.
During this time, Black families in Boston were only allowed to live in the neighborhoods of South End and Roxbury. Black residents made up just 3 percent of the city’s population, and Ruth went to school in the South End alongside Italian, Irish and Jewish children.
When Ruth was 19 years old, she married John C. Batson. By the time they had children of her own, the Black population in Boston had nearly doubled. As a result, more and more white residents moved away. Boston experienced the worst White Flight of any northern city. Because of that, segregation deepened.
Ruth began to notice how segregation manifested in Boston public schools. One day, her white friend mentioned her child’s science project. Ruth thought it sounded like a great way to get kids engaged. But then, she realized her own daughter was never assigned projects like that. The education her Black daughter was receiving was not equal to the education white students were receiving, and Ruth decided to take action.
In 1951, Ruth ran for chair of the Boston Public School Committee, but she was unsuccessful. She found influence in other ways. In 1953, Ruth became the Chairman of the Public Education Sub-Committee of the NAACP. Four years later, she became the chairwoman of the NAACP’s New England Regional Conference. She went on to become the first black woman on the Democratic National Committee and the first woman elected president of the NAACP's New England Regional Conference.
In June 1963, Ruth took her concerns to the Boston School Committee. She wanted the organization to acknowledge the de facto segregation in the city. She was adamant that predominantly Black schools had worse facilities and fewer resources. She and the NAACP Education Committee even staged a sit-in.
The committee chair at the time was Louise Day Hicks. Louise was Irish-American, and the daughter of a wealthy banker and judge. She ran for the position using a campaign slogan similar to Ruth’s a decade earlier – highlighting the fact that she was a mother. But there was a limit to their similarities. For one, Louise and her children all went to private Catholic schools, not the local public schools. And, Louise refused to acknowledge that educational segregation existed in Boston. Thus began a battle between the two women.
Activists and students staged walkouts to show how big and important an issue desegregation was. The Massachusetts governor got involved. He tried to make peace by drafting a statement. It used vague language that blamed “widely recognized residential patterns” for “de facto segregation” in Boston. The committee signed the statement — except for Louise Day Hicks. Ruth didn’t sign off on it either.
Louise continued her crusade to maintain the racial status quo in Boston. She even campaigned for mayor. Meanwhile, Ruth kept fighting to desegregate Boston schools.
From 1963 to 1966, Ruth served as chairwoman of the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination. After that, she helped found the Metropolitan Council for Educational Opportunity’s voluntary desegregation program. The program helped bus Black children to better-performing schools in other parts of the city. Ruth also took parents on tours of nearby suburban schools to show them the kinds of resources their children didn’t have. She once said: “You need to know what an overhead projector is in order to advocate for your child's school to have one."
Ruth and the NAACP eventually brought a federal lawsuit against the Boston School Committee. And in 1974, the judge ruled that the committee had intentionally created and maintained racially segregated schools. Ruth was pleased, but she knew there was still a lot of work to be done.
Ruth continued her activism and philanthropy. She established the Ruth M. Batson Education Foundation, which gives scholarships to Black students in need, and funds educational trips to Africa.
Ruth passed away on October 28, 2003. Her daughter, Susan, said Ruth believed that education quote: “was the greatest weapon Black people have.”
All month, we’re talking about mothers. For more information, find us on Facebook and Instagram @womanicapodcast.
Special thanks to co-creators Jenny and Liz Kaplan, for having me as a guest host.
As always, we’re taking a break for the weekend. We’ll be back with a brand new theme in the new year! Talk to you Monday!