is published by the
Boston Women’s Heritage Trail
22 Holbrook Street
Boston, MA 02130
617-522-2872
howsmoyer@aol.com
www.bwht.org
Board of Directors
President: Mary Howland Smoyer
Vice President: Sylvia McDowell
Secretary: Liane Curtis
Treasurer: Gretchen O ’Neill
Jennifer Armini
Meg Campbell
Julie Crockford
Jessica Donner
Charlotte Harris
Erica Hirshler
Michelle Jenney
Vera Johnson
Diana Lam
Barbara Locurto
Maria de los Angeles Montes
Patricia Sarango
Elaine Taber
Marie A.Turley
Susan Wilson
Advisory Board
Barbara Clark Elam
Carol Geyer
Jean Gibran
Polly Welts Kaufman
Loretta Roach
Nan Stein
Joyce Stevens
Stephanie Wong-Fan
Consultant
Afra Hersi
Bonnie Hurd Smith
Damien Keith
Sara Masucci
The Boston Women’s Heritage Trail is a nonprofit organization founded in 1989 as a program of the Boston Public Schools.Through educational programs, publications, and outreach initiatives, the BWHT is dedicated to weaving the lives and work of women back into the story of the City of Boston. We are available for research assistance, speaking engagements, and to collaborate on programs and projects.
Editor: Mary Smoyer
Design: Patricia Sarango
Logo design: Ginny O ’Neil
Tribute to Ruth Batson (1921-2003)
by Barbara Clark Elam
Ruth Batson was a warm, vibrant woman with a contagious smile, inner glow and strong convictions. She gave generously of herself to family, community and friends. However, if she disagreed with you in a professional situation or on a personal matter, she always clearly and forcefully articulated her beliefs or professional opinion. One knew where Ruth Batson stood, always.
In the midst of the upheaval surrounding the Black community’s struggle to secure equal educational opportunity for Black children was a committed group of community activists that included parents, teachers, lawyers, churches, community organizations and just ordinary citizens who did much to support the Black Educational Movement in Boston. If Ruth Batson left no other legacy, it is her chronology and documentation of the history of those involved in the struggle to achieve quality education for all of Boston’s children, published by Northeastern University in 2001. This comprehensive publication is a shining testimony to Ruth and as she puts it “to the courage of Boston school children upon whose small shoulders this battle was waged.”
In the early 1980’s Ruth Batson, with the help of family members, established the Ruth Batson Educational Foundation. Over a period of close to twenty years the foundation provided financial support for African-American students to help them with expenses of higher education and emergency grants to community institutions and programs.
After directing the METCO program for several years Ruth turned over the reins of leadership to a very talented educator and historian, Robert Hayden, and she accepted a position at the Boston University School of Medicine as Director of the Consultation and Education Program. Once again, a new, untried concept would challenge Ruth’s life skills, community experience and leadership. Through a marriage of mental health professionals and community people that reflected the racial and sociological makeup of the catchment area, The Solomon Carter Fuller in the South End was created and charged with developing programming and services to meet the community’s mental health needs. The Consultation and Education Program became one of the most important programs associated with the Carter center.
Ruth’s generous contributions to the Greater Boston Community were supported by a loving and devoted husband, John, who predeceased Ruth, and three talented daughters, Cassandra Batson Way, Dorothy Batson Owusa and Susan Batson as well as her longtime friend and colleague, Lyda Peters.
In conclusion, as a poem of praise to both Ruth Batson and Elma Lewis and a celebration of their many contributions to Boston, Massachusetts and beyond, may we offer:
by Barbara Clark Elam
Ruth Batson was a warm, vibrant woman with a contagious smile, inner glow and strong convictions. She gave generously of herself to family, community and friends. However, if she disagreed with you in a professional situation or on a personal matter, she always clearly and forcefully articulated her beliefs or professional opinion. One knew where Ruth Batson stood, always.
In the midst of the upheaval surrounding the Black community’s struggle to secure equal educational opportunity for Black children was a committed group of community activists that included parents, teachers, lawyers, churches, community organizations and just ordinary citizens who did much to support the Black Educational Movement in Boston. If Ruth Batson left no other legacy, it is her chronology and documentation of the history of those involved in the struggle to achieve quality education for all of Boston’s children, published by Northeastern University in 2001. This comprehensive publication is a shining testimony to Ruth and as she puts it “to the courage of Boston school children upon whose small shoulders this battle was waged.”
In the early 1980’s Ruth Batson, with the help of family members, established the Ruth Batson Educational Foundation. Over a period of close to twenty years the foundation provided financial support for African-American students to help them with expenses of higher education and emergency grants to community institutions and programs.
After directing the METCO program for several years Ruth turned over the reins of leadership to a very talented educator and historian, Robert Hayden, and she accepted a position at the Boston University School of Medicine as Director of the Consultation and Education Program. Once again, a new, untried concept would challenge Ruth’s life skills, community experience and leadership. Through a marriage of mental health professionals and community people that reflected the racial and sociological makeup of the catchment area, The Solomon Carter Fuller in the South End was created and charged with developing programming and services to meet the community’s mental health needs. The Consultation and Education Program became one of the most important programs associated with the Carter center.
Ruth’s generous contributions to the Greater Boston Community were supported by a loving and devoted husband, John, who predeceased Ruth, and three talented daughters, Cassandra Batson Way, Dorothy Batson Owusa and Susan Batson as well as her longtime friend and colleague, Lyda Peters.
In conclusion, as a poem of praise to both Ruth Batson and Elma Lewis and a celebration of their many contributions to Boston, Massachusetts and beyond, may we offer:
“Harvest” by Gloria Wade Gayles
If she claims her own planting ground
If she selects her own seeds
and boldly in the brightest of suns
pushes them deep into the earth
If she fights the weeds and worms
the bollweevils and bulldozers
with her own hands
and fights the frightful pests with her own body formidable flesh
not straw
If she tills it and waters it
sings to it and dances for it
makes it fertile as she is fertile
If she claims her own planting ground
a woman’s life is a harvest
bountiful enough for herself
and othersBarbara Clark Elam
 
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