23 Facts About George Ruby

George Thompson Ruby was an African-American Republican politician in Reconstruction-era Texas.

George Ruby was active with labor unions, founding and serving as president of the Texas Colored Labor Convention.

George Ruby earned a reputation as an educator of Louisiana African-Americans, returning to New Orleans in 1874 after the Euro-American Democratic takeover of the Texas government.

George Ruby grew up as a child with his family just outside Portland, Maine, where he had his schooling, and where his father Reuben George Ruby was a prominent member of the African-American community.

George Ruby was the first African-American graduate of Portland High School.

In January 1864, George Ruby moved to Louisiana and began teaching school.

The American Missionary Association needed teachers, and George Ruby worked for them in New Orleans.

George Ruby's roles encompassed that of a teacher, a school administrator, and a mobile inspector for the Bureau.

George Ruby's responsibilities included assessing local conditions, assisting in the establishment of black schools, and evaluating the performance of Bureau field officers.

George Ruby's endeavors were met with a positive response from the black population, who eagerly embraced education, but they faced vehement opposition, including physical violence, from numerous planters and other white individuals.

In September 1866, with Louisiana schools shutting down for lack of funding, George Ruby left for Texas.

When elections took place for delegates to a state constitutional convention in 1868, George Ruby was chosen for the district comprising Brazoria, Galveston, and Matagorda counties.

George Ruby was one of ten African Americans elected as delegates.

George Ruby allied with the more radical end of the party.

Deeply disturbed by the conservative compromises that made it into the final document, George Ruby worked for some months to have it defeated or rejected by the national government.

George Ruby believed that equal rights for blacks in Texas depended on a Republican government.

George Ruby served as a delegate to two Republican Party national conventions, the first time as the only African American from Texas.

George Ruby was appointed as a customs officer in Galveston in 1869.

George Ruby helped black workers gain jobs at the Galveston docks after 1870.

George Ruby had an ability to mobilize Republican voters along the Gulf Coast and black voters everywhere in Texas.

George Ruby was a forceful advocate of civil and political rights for his race, but he knew when to compromise to gain his larger goals, and he moved carefully among hostile white politicians in his efforts to expand opportunities for black people.

George Ruby gained a job in the New Orleans custom-house, but Ruby's main occupation was newspaper work.

Still an influential spokesperson for black interests in Louisiana, George Ruby died on October 31,1882, of malaria at his home on Euterpe Street, New Orleans.