Ruby Middleton Forsythe (1905–1992) was an elementary school teacher in South Carolina. She was known for providing education to the African-American community during the "

Jim Crow The Jim Crow laws were state and local laws enforcing racial segregation in the Southern United States. Other areas of the United States were affected by formal and informal policies of segregation as well, but many states outside the Sout ...

" era. She was the recipient of four honorary doctorates, with a career that spanned more than six decades.

Biography

Forsythe née Middleton was born in

Charleston, South Carolina Charleston is the largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina, the county seat of Charleston County, and the principal city in the Charleston–North Charleston metropolitan area. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint o ...

on June 27, 1905. In 1921 she earned her education certificate from the

Avery Institute The Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture is a division of the College of Charleston library system. The center is located on the site of the former Avery Normal Institute in the Harleston village district at 125 Bull Stre ...

. She went on to earn a BS degree from

South Carolina State College South Carolina State University (SCSU or SC State) is a public, historically black, land-grant university in Orangeburg, South Carolina, United States. It is the only public, historically black land-grant institution in South Carolina, is a me ...

. While she was starting her teaching career in

Mount Pleasant, South Carolina Mount Pleasant is a large suburban town in Charleston County, South Carolina, United States. In the Low Country, it is the fourth largest municipality and largest town in South Carolina, and for several years was one of the state's fastest-growin ...

, she married the Reverend William Essex Forsythe, who ran the Holy Cross-Faith Memorial Church and School on

Pawleys Island, South Carolina Pawleys Island is a town in Georgetown County, South Carolina, United States, and the Atlantic coast barrier island on which the town is located. Pawleys Island's population was 103 at the 2010 census, down from 138 in 2000. The post office add ...

. She continued to teach in Mount Pleasant and care for her parents, visiting Reverend Forsythe when she could. In 1938, she joined her husband on Pawley's Island, and taught in a one-room school—the only local educational facility open to African-American children at that time. Affectionately known as "Miss Ruby", Forsythe taught for more than six decades, even though she and her students were harassed by the

Ku Klux Klan The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to the KKK or the Klan, is an American white supremacist, right-wing terrorist, and hate group whose primary targets are African Americans, Jews, Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and ...

. She received four honorary doctorates, and was one of the subjects of the book ''I Dream A World: Portraits of Black Women Who Changed America'', a collection of interviews and photographs by

Brian Lanker Brian Lanker (August 31, 1947 – March 13, 2011) was an American photographer. He won the 1973 Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography for a black-and-white photo essay on childbirth for ''The Topeka Capital-Journal'', including the photograph ...

. Forsythe died in

on May 29, 1992.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Forsythe, Ruby Middleton 1905 births 1992 deaths Educators from South Carolina People from Charleston, South Carolina South Carolina State University alumni 20th-century American educators 20th-century American women educators 20th-century African-American women 20th-century African-American educators