Reuben Ruby
{{Short description|African-American businessman}}
Reuben Ruby (1798–1878) was an African-American businessman, hack driver, slavery abolitionist, temperance supporter, and respected community leader. He was one of the leading Black figures in Maine political life and a founding member of the Abyssinian Meeting House, the third-oldest historical Black church in the United States.
Family
Ruby was born in Gray, Maine, in 1798. His parents were Boston Ruby and Zeruiah Lewis. By 1820, he was living in Portland. He married Jannett C Pierre in 1821, who died in 1827. He then married Rachel Humphey in 1829, who died in 1861. He then married Ann M. Little in 1864. He lived at 81 Newbury Street in Portland, an address near the Abyssinian Meeting House.{{Cite web |date=2017-02-21 |title=Greater Portland Landmarks - Blog |url=https://www.portlandlandmarks.org/blog/2017/2/17/important-places-of-portlands-african-american-history |access-date=2023-12-02 |website=Greater Portland Landmarks |language=en-US}}
His children were also important members of the Black community. William Wilberforce Ruby was a captain in the Portland Fire Company. He is credited as the first to spot the Great Fire of 1866 and he worked to keep the fire from burning the Abyssinian Meeting House,{{Cite web |last=pressherald.com |title=The Night Portland Burned |url=http://specialprojects.pressherald.com/portlands-great-fire |access-date=2023-11-25 |website=Portland Press Herald |language=en-US}} George Thompson Ruby, who was the first Black graduate of Portland High School, and a prominent black Republican leader in Reconstruction-era Texas, and Horatio Ruby was part of Naval expedition that led to the creation of the Panama Canal.
Career
A longtime resident of Maine's largest city, Portland, Ruby was the state's first hack driver and hack stand owner.{{Cite web |last=O'Brien |first=Andy |date=2023-02-28 |title=Exploring Black history on Portland's Freedom Trail - |url=https://www.amjamboafrica.com/exploring-black-history-on-portlands-freedom-trail/ |access-date=2023-11-25 |website=www.amjamboafrica.com |language=en-US}} His hack stand operated at the Elm Tavern, which was located at the corner of Temple and Federal Streets in Portland's Old Port. A Portland Freedom Trail monument marks the location.{{Cite web |title=Hack Stand of Reuben Ruby Historical Marker |url=https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=96610 |access-date=2023-11-24 |website=www.hmdb.org |language=en}} It was through his hack business that he became involved in transporting people on the Underground Railroad.{{Cite web |title=Ruby, Reuben (1798-1878) {{!}} Gray, ME |url=https://www.graymaine.org/history/pages/ruby-reuben-1798-1878 |access-date=2023-11-24 |website=www.graymaine.org}} By the 1830s, he owned multiple carriages.{{Cite web |last=Warner |first=Stacey |date=2023-06-16 |title=Reuben Ruby and Maine Anti-Slavery Society's founding|url=https://www.amjamboafrica.com/reuben-ruby-and-maine-anti-slavery-societys-founding/ |access-date=2023-11-24 |website=www.amjamboafrica.com |language=en-US}} In 1832, he drove William Lloyd Garrison around the city in his carriage during Garrison's visit to Portland. Afterwards, Garrison had dinner at Ruby's Portland home with other leaders of the African-American community.{{Cite web |title=Reuben Ruby Hack Driver Drives William Lloyd Garrison Around Portland and Facilitates Mtg. w/Black leaders |url=https://nilesfamily.me/timeline/reuben-ruby-hack-driver-drives-william-lloyd-garrison-around-portland-and-facilitates-mtg-w-black-leaders/ |access-date=2023-11-25 |website=nilesfamily.me}}
Ruby also had various other professions besides hack driving. In 1820, Ruby was working in Portland as a waiter. In 1827, Ruby became a sales agent for Freedom's Journal, the first African-American owned and operated newspaper in the United States. Ruby went to California during the Gold Rush in 1848. He stayed four months and collected $3,000 worth of gold.{{Cite web |title=Reuben Ruby Strikes Gold in California Gold Rush |url=https://nilesfamily.me/timeline/reuben-ruby-strikes-gold-in-california-gold-rush/ |access-date=2023-11-25 |website=nilesfamily.me}}
Abyssinian Meeting House
Ruby and five other men wrote a letter published in the Eastern Argus newspaper in 1826 that condemned Portland churches for treating Black members as second-class citizens. The same men then petitioned the state to incorporate what would become the Abyssinian Meeting House.{{Cite web |last=Greene |first=Bob |date=2021-02-21 |title=Black History Month: Maine's Black history should not be forgotten |url=https://www.pressherald.com/2021/02/21/black-history-month-maines-black-history-should-not-be-forgotten/ |access-date=2023-11-25 |website=Press Herald}}
Political activism
Maine was one of the few states to grant voting rights to Black men. Maine gained statehood in 1820, and Ruby voted in Maine's first election at age 21. He joined the National Republican Party and then the Whigs.{{Cite web |date=2023-10-17 |title=Radical Mainers |url=https://thebollard.com/2023/10/17/radical-mainers-4/ |access-date=2023-11-29 |website=The Bollard |language=en-US}}
In October 1834, he was one of four attendees from Portland at the founding convention of the Maine Anti-Slavery Convention,{{cite news |title=Maine Anti-Slavery Convention |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-liberator-liberator-01-nov-1834/115065756/ |work=The Liberator |date=November 1, 1834}} which led to the formation of the Maine Anti-Slavery Society that same year. In 1837, he served on the executive committee of the New England Temperance Convention, which was a convention of African-American supporters of temperance.{{cite news |title=Temperance Convention |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-liberator-temperance-convention/117607650/ |publisher=The Liberator |date=September 29, 1837}} In 1841, he helped form the Portland Union Anti-Slavery Society.{{cite web |title=Reuben Ruby: Hackman, Activist |url=https://www.mainememory.net/sitebuilder/site/875/page/1286/display |website=Maine History Online |language=en}}
Death
Ruby died in 1878, aged 78 or 79. He is interred in Forest City Cemetery in South Portland, Maine.[https://www.mainehistory.org/documents/41/Portland_Freedom_Trail.pdf Portland Freedom Trail]
References
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Category:People from Gray, Maine
Category:Activists from Portland, Maine
Category:Abolitionists from Maine
Category:African-American abolitionists
Category:African-American temperance activists
Category:American temperance activists
Category:Temperance activists from Maine
Category:American taxi drivers