Ruby Garrard Woodson

Ruby Garrard Woodson poses in front of Slowe Hall (Photo credit: Dr. Bill Woodson - Copyright 2015)

Ruby Garrard Woodson (Photo credit: Dr. Bill Woodson - Copyright 2015)

Ruby Garrard’s mother operated a country store out of her house.  Her father was a circus roustabout.  Born in 1931 in Houston County, Alabama, Ruby and her older sister Eudonis spent their formative years in Sarasota, Florida.  As a teenager, Ruby briefly worked as a domestic servant for a White family in Sarasota. Bill Woodson clarified his mother’s stint as a maid by stating,  

“Ruth a close cousin, and her mother all worked as maids in Florida.  Their short tenure of domestic service only served as a means to an end.  Barely sixteen years old, Ruby Woodson left home to seek her fortune.  She worked briefly as a maid and gave her money to her mother.” 

By the time Ruby was 13 years old, she had already made up her mind that she was going to college.  A determined and confident fifteen year old, Ruby became the 1947 class valedictorian from Booker High School in Sarasota.  As a high school senior, Ruby won a city-wide competitive scholarship to Florida Agricultural and Mechanical (A & M).  Ironically, the summer of 1947 also raised Ruby’s consciousness and awareness of race relations in America as she listened to the play-by-play radio broadcast during the summer of 1947.  This was Jackie Robinson’s first season with the Brooklyn Dodgers.  The unapologetically racist crowd hurled unspeakable epithets at the Negro Dodgers player, Number 42, when he stepped up to the plate.  While the Garrard family and friends sat around the Cathedral-Philco radio, Ruby began to outline her plan of departure.  

A diligent and disciplined money manager, Ruby saved enough to pay for the first year at Florida A & M University in Tallahassee.  Florida A & M, located 328 miles north of Sarasota, provided Ruby with the autonomy needed to pursue a rigorous and intellectually challenging major in chemistry.  Bill Woodson remembered the story: “Ruby attended Florida A & M and ran out of money in her junior year of college.  She forged her mother’s signature and took out [a] student loan in order to complete her college education.”  A lack of funds did not deter Ruby; she forged Ella Mae’s signature on school loan papers and continued her academic journey.  

Ruby graduated from Florida A & M University and accepted her cousin’s invitation to travel north to Washington, D. C. where government jobs had opened as the result of World War II.  

Ruby Garrard Woodson arrived in Washington, D.C. from Sarasota, Florida in her brand new 1952 Pontiac Chieftain.  A few of Ruby’s cousins had already established roots in the District. Ruby served as a military secretary for the Navy and resided in Slowe Hall, one of the four segregated government dormitories for African American women (which in addition to Midway and Slowe included Guam and Wake Halls). Rent was $24.50 a month. Ruby Garrard Woodson is a representative sample of the women from across the United States who traveled to accept commissions and appointments as civil servants.

Ruby Garrard Woodson used her position as a Government Girl as a natural stepping-stone to later become a respected and accomplished chemistry teacher in the Washington, DC public school system. After thirteen years as a public school teacher, Ruby founded the Cromwell Academy in Washington, DC, which served inner city, and later suburban African American students. After retiring from her teaching career and returning to her hometown to take care of her elderly mother, she became active as a civic leader in Sarasota. Ruby served on the board of the Asolo Theatre, the Sarasota County Library Board and the Florida Academy of African American Culture. Civic involvement became a passion for Ruby once she returned to Sarasota, Florida. Giving back to the community and fostering a love for education fueled her spirit. Ruby died on Feb. 8, 2008.

(Copyright 2015)