Ruth B. Loving (May 27, 1914-November 25, 2014) was an American activist. She has been called "the mother of civil rights" in Springfield, Massachusetts. ^[1]

Early life

Loving was born in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, ^[2] the youngest of seven children of Alexander and Emma Stewart. ^[3] Around 1918, she and her family moved to New Haven, Connecticut, where her father worked at the Winchester gun factory. ^[4] As a young child, Loving wasn't fully aware of racial discrimination, due to the lack of overt racial discrimination in New Haven, but she later became a youth member of the NAACP. ^[2] She attended the Gregory Street School, where she was the only girl to join their Fife and Drum Corp, ^[2] and Hillhouse High School, where she studied French. ^[5]

Adult life

After marrying Minor Loving in 1935, the couple moved to Boston with her husband, where Ruth Loving worked as a singer and her husband worked for a dry cleaning business. ^{[4] [6]} The family moved to Springfield, Massachusetts in 1939, after Minor Loving's job was relocated. ^[4] Ruth Loving joined the city's chapter of the NAACP in 1942. ^{[1] [7]}

In the early 1940s, Loving also began playing with a musical group, Carl Loving and the Trio. ^[6]

After the Second World War began, Loving volunteered to work as an entertainer for the United Services Organizations in Chicopee. ^{[6] [7]} In August 1943, ^[6] she joined the Massachusetts Women’s Defense Corps, a unit of the National Guard. She learned morse code and sent government communications from a secret facility in Springfield. ^{[3] [7]}

She founded the PTA of Chester Street Junior High, and served as its president in the mid-1950s. ^{[4] [7]}

In the 1960s, Loving became president of the Springfield NAACP and founded the Springfield Negro Post. ^{[1] [4]} In 1965, she met both Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks when they visited Springfield. ^[1] Following King's assassination, then-Mayor Frank H. Freedman made Loving chairperson of the city's first King memorial observance. ^[3] For the observance, she organized a choir drawn from churches across the city. ^[8] Following the event, the 'Freedom Choir' remained active and continued to perform. ^[8]

In 1969, she began working in local radio; ^[4] she hosted a radio show on WMAS-AM and FM until 2011. ^[3] That same year, she became the first Black woman certified candidate for the Springfield City Council. ^[9]

In 1988, Loving earned a bachelor's degree in Community Education and Media at University of Massachusetts Amherst. ^[10]

In 1995, Loving served as a delegate to the White House Council on Aging. ^[7] In 1998, Loving initiated the tradition of raising the Black American Heritage Flag in front of Springfield's City Hall during Black History Month. ^[1]

In her later years, she served as a delegate to the Springfield Council on Aging. ^[1]

In 2008, she campaigned locally for Barack Obama's presidential campaign. ^[1]

In 2011, she advocated for the reopening of the Mason Square Library. ^[1]

Loving died of a heart attack at age 100, while in rehabilitation at Wingate Nursing Home in Springfield following a broken hip. ^[3]

Honors and awards

In 1994, Loving received the Eyes on the Prize award from WGBY-TV. ^[1]

The Springfield Theological Society conferred Loving an Honorary Doctor of Humanities Degree in recognition of her contributions to the city. ^[7]

In 2018, UMASS Amherst began a scholarship in Loving's name, which aims to help fund adult students returning to college later in life. ^{[10] [11]}

Personal life

Loving had 3 children. ^[7] She considered herself a Democrat. ^[1]

References