Rubina Ann Guscott

Rubina Ann "Ruby" Guscott was a Jamaican-born American community leader and activist known for her involvement in civil rights, social justice, and advocacy for racial and gender equality.

Early life Guscott was born and raised in Portland, Jamaica. In 1920, she moved to Roxbury, Boston, where she worked as a domestic worker in the home of a professor at the Harvard University School of Economics. A year later, she married Frank Henry Guscott, a Jamaican who served on the Banana boat (ship)—fast ships that transported bananas from tropical regions to North America and Europe.

At 30, she was widowed and supported her family during the Great Depression by taking various jobs, while her children contributed by selling other items. The Black Star Nurses marched through Boston dressed in white uniforms with hoods resembling those of traditional nurses. Guscott worked alongside other prominent West Indian women in the Roxbury Black community, including Melnea Cass, Edith Bynoe, and Elma Lewis. The company aimed to revitalize neglected housing in Roxbury by transforming dilapidated buildings into thousands of affordable housing units. Long Bay Management employed more than 80 percent minority workers across construction, subcontracting, architecture, and other services. The facility was developed in part by Kenneth and Cecil Guscott.