Ruth B. Loving

Ruth B. Loving (May 27, 1914-November 25, 2014) was an American activist. She has been called "the mother of civil rights" in Springfield, Massachusetts.

Early life Loving was born in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, the youngest of seven children of Alexander and Emma Stewart. Around 1918, she and her family moved to New Haven, Connecticut, where her father worked at the Winchester gun factory. As a young child, Loving wasn't fully aware of racial discrimination, due to the lack of overt racial discrimination in New Haven, but she later became a youth member of the NAACP.

Adult life After marrying Minor Loving in 1935, the couple moved to Boston with her husband, where Ruth Loving worked as a singer and her husband worked for a dry cleaning business. The family moved to Springfield, Massachusetts in 1939, after Minor Loving's job was relocated.

In the early 1940s, Loving also began playing with a musical group, Carl Loving and the Trio. Following the event, the 'Freedom Choir' remained active and continued to perform.

In 1988, Loving earned a bachelor's degree in Community Education and Media at University of Massachusetts Amherst.

In 1995, Loving served as a delegate to the White House Council on Aging.

Personal life Loving had 3 children. She considered herself a Democrat.