The Woman's Era

The Woman's Era

May 1, 1894 issue featuring Victoria Earle Matthews
Editor	Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin
Frequency	Monthly
Format	Print
Founder	Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin
Year founded	1894
Final issue	1897
Country	United States
Based in	103 Charles Street Boston, Massachusetts
Language	English

The Woman's Era was the first national newspaper published by and for African-American women. It was founded in 1894 by Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin, who served as its editor and publisher until 1897. The Woman's Era played an important role in the national African-American women's club movement.

In 1892, Boston activist Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin founded the Woman's Era Club, an advocacy group for black women, with the help of her daughter, Florida Ruffin Ridley, and educator Maria Louise Baldwin. It was the first black women's club in Boston, and one of the first in the country. Its members, prominent black women from the Boston area, devoted their efforts to education, women's suffrage, and race-related issues such as anti-lynching reform. Its slogan was "Help to make the world better".The Woman's Era, an illustrated monthly publication, was the club's newspaper. Ruffin served as its editor and publisher; Ridley was also an editor.

Along with articles such as "Club Gossip", "Social Etiquette", and "Health and Beauty from Exercise", the Woman's Era published news about women's suffrage in Colorado (the second state to give women the vote), interviews with activists such as Victoria Earle Matthews and Ida B. Wells, a series called "Eminent Women" that included a profile of Harriet Tubman, and criticism of other activists who disappointed them, such as Frances Willard and Albion W. Tourgée. A May 1, 1894 editorial, "How to Stop Lynching", posed this question to readers:

In his very admirable and searching address delivered in this city, April 16th, judge Albion W. Tourgee proposed as a remedy to prevent the lynching of colored people at the South, that the country where lynchings occur be compelled by law to pension the wife and children of the murdered man. This, he said would make murder costly and in self defense the local authorities would put a stop to it. At first blush, this is an attractive suggestion. But why not hang the murderers? Why make a distinction between the murderers of white men and the murderers of colored men?