Paulette Ruby learned the meaning of civil disobedience when she was thirteen years old.
As an early teen in Birmingham, Alabama, Ruby wanted to participate in the civil rights demonstrations that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. organized in her hometown in 1963, but her mother refused to let her leave school. Young Paulette followed her conscience, participating in demonstrations and marches, and never regretted it. Her mother eventually forgave her.
More than 60 years later, Ruby and her friend Judy Stickney, who joined her in the protest all those years ago, traveled from Birmingham to Chicago for the Democratic National Convention to see Kamala Harris rise to the top of the Democratic ticket in her historic bid for the White House. The duo wore matching T-shirts declaring Birmingham “Home of the Original Soldiers.”
“I feel the same way today as I did then. I’m excited about what’s happening. I hope it continues to make a difference for the future and leaves a legacy for all of us,” Robbie said. diverse As she and Stickney walked the halls of the United Center, where the Democratic National Convention is scheduled to take place from August 19 to 22.
“I didn't know which way we were going.” [in 2024]“And I said to myself, ‘I’m going to keep my faith.’ So I kept my faith. Even with the civil rights movement in the ’60s, it was a spiritual movement, and I feel that spirit here today,” she said.
Ruby is just one of thousands of Black women activists, advocates, lawmakers, public servants and other professionals who have come to Chicago to watch Harris begin the final push to achieve a level of gender parity that has long seemed out of reach for any woman. The racist and sexist insults that President Donald Trump has leveled at Harris in recent days only deepen the resolve to help Harris break through that final ceiling.
Today, Ruby runs the Birmingham Civil Rights Activists Committee and its headquarters for soldiers. She left her home state in 1969 for over 25 years in San Diego, California. She returned home to Birmingham in 1986 and was amazed at the changes she found.
“When I left Birmingham in 1969, we had no black police officers. [By 1986] “We started seeing black police officers, black firefighters, black people working for gas companies or energy companies. I saw a difference,” she said.
Full coverage: Election 2024 – Democratic National Convention in Chicago
Ruby got involved in local Democratic politics and ended up landing a job she never expected. It was a pivotal moment for the teenage civil rights activist, given the importance of the black bus boycott in the history of the civil rights movement.
“I came back and got a job with the Birmingham-Jefferson County Transit Authority, and I ended up driving the bus myself. So it was a really great experience for me. I loved it,” she said.
Today, Ruby stays busy with the Civil Rights Activists Committee. She relies on MSNBC and CNN for her news. “I really feel like they’re doing their job,” she said when asked about the mainstream media coverage of Harris’s candidacy. “They’re getting the information out that people need to know.”
In recent years, Alabama has been a study in political polarization between black and white voters, and Roby sees Harris’s nomination as a sign that compromise is still possible and that bitter divisions and partisanship will ease once again.
“I feel this way. And at first I didn’t feel this way, but now I feel this way because I kept my faith and my hope that one day things would get better,” she said. “I had to keep telling myself that, because I was so depressed. I couldn’t get out of bed. I was depressed until Kamala came along, and I’ve been excited ever since. Look how I got goosebumps all over.”
Of all her admirable qualities, Ruby picked one aspect of Harris' life and work that impressed her most.
“She has courage, she has bravery, she has the ability to stand up for herself,” Ruby said. “She has wisdom and knowledge, and we all need to support her. Because there’s one thing I believe about her — she wouldn’t be there if God didn’t put her there.”
(Photo: Paulette Ruby and Judy Stickney)
