Ruth Edmonds Hill
Encyclopedia
Ruth Edmonds Hill is an African-American scholar, oral historian, oral storytelling editor, journal editor, educator, historic preservation
advocate and spouse of Dr. Hugh Morgan Hill who is also known as Brother Blue
. Ruth Edmonds Hill is sometimes known as Sister Ruth. Her oral history office is part of the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study
of Harvard University
. She is an iconic figure among oral storytellers, particularly in the United States but also abroad, and has advised storytellers' organizations. Ruth Edmonds Hill is the daughter of Florence Edmonds of western Massachusetts
, whose life story is chronicled and has been critically analyzed as part of African-American oral history. Hill has degrees from Simmons College
and the University of Massachusetts
.
Hill is most widely known among oral history researchers for conducting the Black Women Oral History Project at the Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library
on the History of American Women at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study which has often been cited within related fields of study in journal articles, dissertations, and in panel discussions and has been acclaimed as a pioneering work in its genre.
Hill has also made oral history field recordings, including guided interviews, of Cambodia
ns, Chinese American
s and other ethnic and socioelect communities, traveling widely in research as well as conference participation.
After the death of her husband Brother Blue in 2009, Ruth Edmonds Hill has hosted Memorial Tributes in the Blue Circle community of artists, ministers and educators formed during his lifetime and from his joint opus with Ruth Edmonds Hill, most recently in 2010.
, who was later chosen to be among the subjects of the Black Women Oral History Project which Ruth Edmonds Hill conducted, Hill is the great-granddaughter of Reverend Samuel Harrison (born April 15, 1818, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
, to enslaved parents, died August 11, 1900, Pittsfield, Massachusetts), pastor of the Second Congregational Church in Pittsfield and of Sanford Street Congregational Church (now St. John's Congregational Church) in Springfield, Massachusetts
, who successfully crusaded to obtain equal pay for black soldiers serving in the Union Army
during the Civil War
.
Reverend Harrison served as chaplain of the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry
, the first all-black infantry regiment to see action in the Civil War, whose exploits were dramatized in the motion picture Glory. Reverend Harrison also served as Chaplain of the W.W. Rockwell Post of the Grand Army of the Republic.
In May 2004, Ruth Edmonds Hill and her husband, Brother Blue, met with Pittsfield residents interested in conserving, as a historic site, the modest 19th century Samuel Harrison House
at 82 Third Street in the Morningside neighborhood (plot purchased by Harrison 1852 for $50, house completed and occupied by the Harrison family fall 1858) which was Reverend Harrison's homestead. The City of Pittsfield had moved to demolish the structure, which was in poor condition. Hill petitioned the Massachusetts Historical Commission
, citing her great-grandfather's works and "lifelong pioneering spirit," and the Commission denied the City's motion for demolition. The Samuel Harrison Society's preservation initiative gained support as a consequence of the documentary A Trumpet at the Walls of Jericho: The Untold Story of Samuel Harrison by filmmaker Mike Kirk which PBS television aired in February, 2005. Congressman John Olver
secured a Save America’s Treasures matching grant of $246,000 for the Samuel Harrison Society, starting endowment of the preservation project, and the initiative which Hill had placed into historic conservation procedures resulted in the Samuel Harrison House being designated a National Register of Historic Places
landmark on March 22, 2006, a National Park Service
"Save America’s Treasures" Preservation Project, and a Massachusetts Historical Commission Preservation Project. On August 22, 2008, Ruth Edmonds Hill participated in groundbreaking ceremonies to mark the official start of renovation work on the Samuel Harrison House. After $500,000 in renovations, the house's new operating function became that of a black museum.
Subsequently, the lives and statements of these subjects are individually treated in literature secondary to the Black Women Oral History Project's reports.
Historic preservation
Historic preservation is an endeavor that seeks to preserve, conserve and protect buildings, objects, landscapes or other artifacts of historical significance...
advocate and spouse of Dr. Hugh Morgan Hill who is also known as Brother Blue
Brother Blue
Hugh Morgan Hill, who performed as Brother Blue was an African American educator, storyteller, actor, musician, street performer and living icon in Boston, in Cambridge, at Harvard University, MIT, and in the global oral storytelling community...
. Ruth Edmonds Hill is sometimes known as Sister Ruth. Her oral history office is part of the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study
Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study
The Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard is an educational institution in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and one of the semiautonomous components of Harvard University. It is heir to the name and buildings of Radcliffe College, but unlike that historical institution, its focus is directed...
of Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
. She is an iconic figure among oral storytellers, particularly in the United States but also abroad, and has advised storytellers' organizations. Ruth Edmonds Hill is the daughter of Florence Edmonds of western Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
, whose life story is chronicled and has been critically analyzed as part of African-American oral history. Hill has degrees from Simmons College
Simmons College (Massachusetts)
Simmons College, established in 1899, is a private women's undergraduate college and private co-educational graduate school in Boston, Massachusetts.-History:Simmons was founded in 1899 with a bequest by John Simmons a wealthy clothing manufacturer in Boston...
and the University of Massachusetts
University of Massachusetts
This article relates to the statewide university system. For the flagship campus often referred to as "UMass", see University of Massachusetts Amherst...
.
Hill is most widely known among oral history researchers for conducting the Black Women Oral History Project at the Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library
Schlesinger Library
The Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America is a research library at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University. According to Nancy F...
on the History of American Women at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study which has often been cited within related fields of study in journal articles, dissertations, and in panel discussions and has been acclaimed as a pioneering work in its genre.
Hill has also made oral history field recordings, including guided interviews, of Cambodia
Cambodia
Cambodia , officially known as the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia...
ns, Chinese American
Chinese American
Chinese Americans represent Americans of Chinese descent. Chinese Americans constitute one group of overseas Chinese and also a subgroup of East Asian Americans, which is further a subgroup of Asian Americans...
s and other ethnic and socioelect communities, traveling widely in research as well as conference participation.
After the death of her husband Brother Blue in 2009, Ruth Edmonds Hill has hosted Memorial Tributes in the Blue Circle community of artists, ministers and educators formed during his lifetime and from his joint opus with Ruth Edmonds Hill, most recently in 2010.
Personal genealogy and historic conservation
In addition to being the daughter of health care specialist Florence Edmonds (1889–1983) of Pittsfield, MassachusettsPittsfield, Massachusetts
Pittsfield is the largest city and the county seat of Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is the principal city of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses all of Berkshire County. Its area code is 413. Its ZIP code is 01201...
, who was later chosen to be among the subjects of the Black Women Oral History Project which Ruth Edmonds Hill conducted, Hill is the great-granddaughter of Reverend Samuel Harrison (born April 15, 1818, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
, to enslaved parents, died August 11, 1900, Pittsfield, Massachusetts), pastor of the Second Congregational Church in Pittsfield and of Sanford Street Congregational Church (now St. John's Congregational Church) in Springfield, Massachusetts
Springfield, Massachusetts
Springfield is the most populous city in Western New England, and the seat of Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States. Springfield sits on the eastern bank of the Connecticut River near its confluence with three rivers; the western Westfield River, the eastern Chicopee River, and the eastern...
, who successfully crusaded to obtain equal pay for black soldiers serving in the Union Army
Union Army
The Union Army was the land force that fought for the Union during the American Civil War. It was also known as the Federal Army, the U.S. Army, the Northern Army and the National Army...
during the Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
.
Reverend Harrison served as chaplain of the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry
54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry
The 54th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry was an infantry regiment that saw extensive service in the Union Army during the American Civil War. The regiment was one of the first official black units in the United States during the Civil War...
, the first all-black infantry regiment to see action in the Civil War, whose exploits were dramatized in the motion picture Glory. Reverend Harrison also served as Chaplain of the W.W. Rockwell Post of the Grand Army of the Republic.
In May 2004, Ruth Edmonds Hill and her husband, Brother Blue, met with Pittsfield residents interested in conserving, as a historic site, the modest 19th century Samuel Harrison House
Samuel Harrison House
Samuel Harrison House is a historic house at 82 Third Street in Pittsfield, Massachusetts.The house was built in 1850 by the Rev. Samuel Harrison of Pittsfield and added to the National Historic Register in 2006. Rev. Samuel Harrison was a 19th century African American born into slavery in 1818. ...
at 82 Third Street in the Morningside neighborhood (plot purchased by Harrison 1852 for $50, house completed and occupied by the Harrison family fall 1858) which was Reverend Harrison's homestead. The City of Pittsfield had moved to demolish the structure, which was in poor condition. Hill petitioned the Massachusetts Historical Commission
Massachusetts Historical Commission
The Massachusetts Historical Commission is a review board for state and federal preservation programs for the United States state of Massachusetts...
, citing her great-grandfather's works and "lifelong pioneering spirit," and the Commission denied the City's motion for demolition. The Samuel Harrison Society's preservation initiative gained support as a consequence of the documentary A Trumpet at the Walls of Jericho: The Untold Story of Samuel Harrison by filmmaker Mike Kirk which PBS television aired in February, 2005. Congressman John Olver
John Olver
John Walter Olver is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1991. He is a member of the Democratic Party. Early in his career, he was a chemistry professor and served in both chambers of the Massachusetts General Court....
secured a Save America’s Treasures matching grant of $246,000 for the Samuel Harrison Society, starting endowment of the preservation project, and the initiative which Hill had placed into historic conservation procedures resulted in the Samuel Harrison House being designated a National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
landmark on March 22, 2006, a National Park Service
National Park Service
The National Park Service is the U.S. federal agency that manages all national parks, many national monuments, and other conservation and historical properties with various title designations...
"Save America’s Treasures" Preservation Project, and a Massachusetts Historical Commission Preservation Project. On August 22, 2008, Ruth Edmonds Hill participated in groundbreaking ceremonies to mark the official start of renovation work on the Samuel Harrison House. After $500,000 in renovations, the house's new operating function became that of a black museum.
The Black Women Oral History Project
In the mid 1970s, Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America at Radcliffe College responded to recommendations that the memoirs of selected living black women who were contemporarily older by opening The Black Women Oral History Project. Ruth Edmonds Hill and a team of black oral history interviewers recorded 71 subjects from 1976 to 1981, with work continuing after these first case studies.Subjects of the Black Women Oral History Project
Among the individual subjects whose oral history has been published or exhibited by Ruth Edmonds Hill within the Black Women Oral History Project at the Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of American Women at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Studies, which houses thee archives of their recorded and vita materials, are:- Frances Mary Albrier (September 21, 1898–August 21, 1987), civil rights activist, union organizer
- Florence Edmonds (March 27, 1889–December 1, 1983), health care specialist, Pittsfield, Massachusetts, US
- Fidelia O. Johnson, Master's in Home Economics, University of IowaUniversity of IowaThe University of Iowa is a public state-supported research university located in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. It is the oldest public university in the state. The university is organized into eleven colleges granting undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees...
(1945) - Maida Springer Kemp (born 1910), labor leader and consultant, women's and civil rights activist
- Era Bell Thompson, journalist and editor born in IowaIowaIowa is a state located in the Midwestern United States, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland". It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of the French colony of New...
, BA Morningside CollegeMorningside CollegeMorningside College is a private, liberal arts college affiliated with the United Methodist Church located in Sioux City, Iowa. Founded in 1894 by the Methodist Episcopal Church, Morningside College is a private, four-year, co-educational liberal arts institution. Morningside has 21 buildings on a ...
, Sioux City, IowaSioux City, IowaSioux City is a city in Plymouth and Woodbury counties in the western part of the U.S. state of Iowa. The population was 82,684 in the 2010 census, a decline from 85,013 in the 2000 census, which makes it currently the fourth largest city in the state.... - Margaret Walker, MA English (1940), Ph.D English (1965), her dissertations representing the first versions of her book of poetry, For My People, and her novel, Jubilee
Subsequently, the lives and statements of these subjects are individually treated in literature secondary to the Black Women Oral History Project's reports.
Publications and exhibitions
- Black Women Oral History Project: From the Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America, [at that time part of] Radcliffe College by Ruth Edmonds Hill (1992), hardcover, Univ Pubns of Amer, ISBN 0887366112 (0-88736-611-2)
- Women of Courage exhibition (University of Iowa, September - October 1991) curated by Marianne Ryan, Christine Tade, and William Welburn, with assistance from Pamela Spitzmueller. Reprised and extended, regarding individuals in Iowa history, Women of Courage: An Exhibition of Photographs curated by Judith Sedwick, Ruth Edmonds Hill (1984)
- Black Women Oral History Project: From the Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of American Women, [at that time part of] Radcliffe College by Ruth Edmonds Hill (1991), hardcover, Walter De Gruyter Inc, ISBN 0887366155 (0-88736-615-5)and several other similar editions.
- Guide to the Transcripts of the Black Women Oral History Project by Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America, Ruth Edmonds Hill, Patricia Miller King (K G Saur Verlag edition 31 Aug 1990), Hardcover, Univ. of Pennsylvania Pr, ISBN 0887366813 (0-88736-681-3)
- Dialog between Ruth Edmonds Hill and Dr. Hugh Morgan Hill (Brother Blue) mediated by Louise Stewart
- Women of Courage: An Exhibition of Photographs book by Judith Sedwick, Ruth Edmonds Hill, introductory essay by Linda M. Perkins (Radcliffe College: Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America: Black Women Oral History Project, illustrated, 1984)
- Women of Courage: An Exhibition of Photographs exhibition curated by Judith Sedwick, Ruth Edmonds Hill, Black Women Oral History Project, at the Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America (photographs from 1981, Schlesinger library than US touring exhibit, 1984)
Honors
- The Oral History Review, an Oxford University journal, Editorial Board Member, (2000s-2011 and current)
- Brother Blue was a 2009 recipient of the W. E. B. Du Bois Medal from the W. E. B. Du Bois InstituteW. E. B. Du Bois InstituteThe W. E. B. Du Bois Institute for African and African-American Research is located at Harvard University and was established in 1969. It is named after W. E. B. Du Bois who was the first African American to receive a Ph.D. from Harvard University...
at Harvard University, named for William Edward Burghardt Du Bois, the first African American to earn a Harvard PhD in 1895. Brother Blue's award was accepted posthumously on his behalf by his spouse, Ruth Edmonds Hill on December 4, 2009, sadly a bare month after his death, for what Henry Louis Gates Jr. cited as "his desire to build a better world, one story at a time. - League for the Advancement of New England Storytelling (LANES) Brother Blue (Hugh Morgan Hill) and Ruth Hill Award is an annual award named for Brother Blue and Ruth Hill and honoring extraordinary commitment to and support of storytelling and storytellers.
- Samuel Harrison Society, Board of Trustees (2000s-2011 and current)