Ruby Grant Martin
A smiling Black woman with a short bouffant hairstyle, wearing a dark dress with two strands of beads
Ruby Grant Martin, from a 1968 publication of the US federal government
Born
Ruby Lee Grant

February 18, 1933
Gaines Landing, Chicot County, Arkansas
DiedMay 8, 2003
Richmond, Virginia
Occupation(s)Lawyer, federal civil rights official

Ruby Lee Grant Martin (February 18, 1933 – May 8, 2003) was an American lawyer and government official. She was director of the federal Office for Civil Rights, appointed by Lyndon B. Johnson. She won the Federal Woman's Award in 1968 for her work on school desegregation.[1]

Early life and education

Ruby Lee Grant was born in Gaines Landing, Arkansas and raised in Cleveland, Ohio, the daughter of Ben F. Grant. She graduated from Glenville High School in 1952[2] and from Fisk University in 1956, and finished at the top of her class at Howard University School of Law in 1959.[3][4]

Career

Martin was a civil rights lawyer in Cleveland. She was appointed director of the Operations Division in the federal Office for Civil Rights (OCR) in 1967, and in 1968 became director of the OCR itself,[5][6] during the presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson.[7][8] She won the Federal Woman's Award in 1968,[9] "for her courageous and effective administration of the civil rights compliance program and her exceptional contribution to racial justice in the field of education".[10] At age 34, she was the youngest recipient of that award to date.[5][11]

Martin co-founded and directed the Washington Research Project Action Council (now the Children's Defense Fund) in 1969,[12] with Marian Wright Edelman, and the two women testified at a House hearing on the Emergency School Aid Act in 1971,[13] and at a Senate hearing on equal educational opportunities in 1972.[14] Later in the 1970s, she was general counsel to the House Committee on the District of Columbia.[15]

Martin moved to Richmond, Virginia in 1978, and ran unsuccessfully for the city council in 1986.[4] In 1990 She joined the cabinet of her law school classmate, Virginia governor Douglas Wilder, as Secretary of Administration.[16] She served on state trade missions to Africa for Wilder[17][18] and for North Carolina governor James B. Hunt. She was chair of the Port of Richmond project, and a member of the State Council for Higher Education in Virginia. She was secretary of Women Executives in State Government.[3]

Martin served on the national board of Girl Scouts of USA, and supported efforts to create a National Slavery Museum in the United States.[19] She was a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha.[20]

Personal life

Ruby Grant married a dentist, Henry S. Martin. They had three children. Martin died in 2003, aged 70 years, in Richmond.[21] The Virginia legislature passed a joint resolution of mourning and esteem for her, in February 2004.[3]

References

  1. ↑ United States Congress House Committee on Education and Labor General Subcommittee on Education (1971). Emergency School Aid Act: Hearings, Ninety-second Congress, First Session, on H.R. 2266, H.R. 4847, and Other Related Bills ... March 15 and 16, 1971. U.S. Government Printing Office.
  2. ↑ Harper, Connie (April 27, 1968). "Mrs. Ruby Grant Martin Directs Rights Office". Call and Post. p. 1. Retrieved February 2, 2022 – via NewspaperArchive.com.
  3. 1 2 3 Virginia HJ45: On the death of Ruby Grant Martin, passed February 22, 2004 by both houses of the Virginia state legislature.
  4. 1 2 "New cabinet secretary 'cuts through red tape'". The Daily Times. 1990-02-20. p. 5. Retrieved 2022-02-02 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. 1 2 Hampton, Robert E. (April–June 1968). "The Federal Woman's Award". Civil Service Journal: 25.
  6. ↑ "Director of Civil Rights to Speak at Church Here". The Danville Register. 1968-04-07. p. 16. Retrieved 2022-02-02.
  7. ↑ "Ruby Martin, 70; First Director of the U.S. Office of Civil Rights". Los Angeles Times. 2003-05-10. Retrieved 2022-02-02.
  8. ↑ "Name Mrs. Ruby Martin Special Rights Assistant". Jet: 52. May 2, 1968.
  9. ↑ "7 Federal Workers Win Woman's Award". The New York Times. 1968-02-12. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-02-02.
  10. ↑ Johnson, Lyndon Baines. "Remarks at the Federal Woman's Award Ceremony". The American Presidency Project. Retrieved 2022-02-02.
  11. ↑ "Jet Profile: Mrs. Ruby Martin: She Fights Bias in Schools". Jet: 10. May 23, 1968.
  12. ↑ Gilliam, Annette (July 1972). "Ruby Martin: The People's Advocate". Essence. 3: 42–43.
  13. ↑ United States Congress House Committee on Education and Labor General Subcommittee on Education (1971). Emergency School Aid Act: Hearings, Ninety-second Congress, First Session, on H.R. 2266, H.R. 4847, and Other Related Bills ... March 15 and 16, 1971. U.S. Government Printing Office. pp. 21–26.
  14. ↑ United States Congress Senate Committee on Labor and Public Welfare Subcommittee on Education (1972). Equal Educational Opportunities Act of 1972: Hearings, Ninety-second Congress, Second Session, on S. 3395 ... U.S. Government Printing Office. pp. 524–546.
  15. ↑ United States Congress House Committee on the District of Columbia Judiciary Subcommittee (1978). Miscellaneous Hearings: Hearings and Markups of the Subcommittee on Judiciary and of the Committee on the District of Columbia, House of Representatives, Ninety-fifth Congress, Second Session ... June 28 and July 17, 1978. U.S. Government Printing Office. p. 23.
  16. ↑ "New Va. Gov. Wilder Adds 2 Blacks to His Cabinet". Jet: 6. January 29, 1980.
  17. ↑ "Wilder Outlines Plans for Trip to Africa". The Daily News Leader. 1992-06-01. p. 3. Retrieved 2022-02-02 – via Newspapers.com.
  18. ↑ "Wilder, others leave for Africa". Daily Press. 1992-06-13. p. 29. Retrieved 2022-02-02 – via Newspapers.com.
  19. ↑ "James City site eliminated for slavery museum". The Daily News Leader. 2001-07-08. p. 3. Retrieved 2022-02-02 – via Newspapers.com.
  20. ↑ "Martin, Ruby Grant". AKA's Pioneering Sorors Open Doors. Retrieved 2022-02-02.
  21. ↑ "Ruby Grant Martin". Richmond Times-Dispatch. May 10, 2003. Retrieved February 2, 2022 – via Legacy.com.
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