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 The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) is a sub-agency of the U.S. Department of Education that is primarily focused on enforcing civil rights laws prohibiting schools from engaging in discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex ...

, appointed by

Lyndon B. Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), often referred to by his initials LBJ, was an American politician who served as the 36th president of the United States from 1963 to 1969. He had previously served as the 37th vice ...

. She won the

Federal Woman's Award The Federal Woman's Award, also known as the Federal Women's Award, was given by the United States Civil Service Commission from 1961 until 1976. The Federal Woman's Award was established by Barbara Bates Gunderson in 1960, while she was serving on ...

in 1968 for her work on

school desegregation School integration in the United States is the process (also known as desegregation) of ending race-based segregation within American public and private schools. Racial segregation in schools existed throughout most of American history and rema ...

Early life and education

Ruby Lee Grant was born in Gaines Landing, Arkansas and raised in

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

, the daughter of Ben F. Grant. She graduated from

Glenville High School Glenville High School is a public high school in the Glenville area on the East Side of Cleveland, Ohio. The school is part of the Cleveland Metropolitan School District. The school originally resided at the former Oliver Wendell Holmes school ( ...

in 1952 and from

Fisk University Fisk University is a private historically black liberal arts college in Nashville, Tennessee. It was founded in 1866 and its campus is a historic district listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In 1930, Fisk was the first Africa ...

in 1956, and finished at the top of her class at

Howard University School of Law Howard University School of Law (Howard Law or HUSL) is the law school of Howard University, a private, federally chartered historically black research university in Washington, D.C. It is one of the oldest law schools in the country and the oldes ...

in 1959.Virginia HJ45: On the death of Ruby Grant Martin
passed February 22, 2004 by both houses of the Virginia state legislature.

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, during the presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson. She won the Federal Woman's Award in 1968, "for her courageous and effective administration of the civil rights compliance program and her exceptional contribution to racial justice in the field of education". At age 34, she was the youngest recipient of that award to date. Martin co-founded and directed the Washington Research Project Action Council (now the

Children's Defense Fund The Children's Defense Fund (CDF) is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., that focuses on child advocacy and research. It was founded in 1973 by Marian Wright Edelman. History The CDF was founded in 1973, citi ...

) in 1969, with

Marian Wright Edelman Marian Wright Edelman (born June 6, 1939) is an American activist for civil rights and children's rights. She is the founder and president emerita of the Children's Defense Fund. She influenced leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr. and Hillary ...

, and the two women testified at a House hearing on the Emergency School Aid Act in 1971, and at a Senate hearing on equal educational opportunities in 1972. Later in the 1970s, she was general counsel to the House Committee on the District of Columbia. Martin moved to Richmond, Virginia in 1978, and ran unsuccessfully for the city council in 1986. In 1990 She joined the cabinet of her law school classmate, Virginia governor

Douglas Wilder Lawrence Douglas Wilder (born January 17, 1931) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 66th Governor of Virginia from 1990 to 1994. He was the first African American to serve as governor of a U.S. state since the Reconstruction ...

, as Secretary of Administration. She served on state trade missions to Africa for Wilder and for North Carolina governor James B. Hunt. She was chair of the

Port of Richmond The Port of Richmond, also known as the Richmond Deepwater Terminal, is located on the James River in Richmond, Virginia, United States, inland from Cape Henry and approximately northwest of Newport News, Virginia. It is located at 77° 25' w ...

project, and a member of the State Council for Higher Education in Virginia. She was secretary of

Women Executives in State Government A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a female child or adolescent). The plural ''women'' is sometimes used in certain phrases such as "women's rights" to denote female humans regardle ...

.Virginia HJ45: On the death of Ruby Grant Martin
passed February 22, 2004 by both houses of the Virginia state legislature. Martin served on the national board of Girl Scouts of USA, and supported efforts to create a National Slavery Museum in the United States. She was a member of

Alpha Kappa Alpha Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. () is the first intercollegiate historically African American sorority. The sorority was founded on January 15, 1908, at the historically black Howard University in Washington, D.C., by a group of sixteen stud ...

Personal life

Ruby Grant married a dentist, Henry S. Martin. They had three children. Martin died in 2003, aged 70 years, in Richmond. The Virginia legislature passed a joint resolution of mourning and esteem for her, in February 2004.Virginia HJ45: On the death of Ruby Grant Martin
passed February 22, 2004 by both houses of the Virginia state legislature.

References

External links

A 2016 oral history interview with George Keith Martin
Ruby Grant Martin's son, at The History Makers {{DEFAULTSORT:Martin, Ruby Grant 1933 births 2003 deaths People from Chicot County, Arkansas Fisk University alumni Howard University School of Law alumni American women lawyers American civil rights lawyers State cabinet secretaries of Virginia