Rubie White Bond - An Extraordinary Woman
It’s literally impossible to write about Rubie Bond, an early Beloit civil rights activist, in a short post on Facebook. Her remarkable life story and the impact she had on the city of Beloit is unparalleled during a time when women, especially African American, were expected to only be seen and not heard. Rubie challenged Beloit’s white establishment, seeking equality and justice for African Americans including women during a time of segregation and discrimination.
Rubie P. White was born on a plantation in Pontotoc, Mississippi, June 8, 1906 to Zack, a sharecropper, and Dora Cameron White.
In 1917, John McCord, a recruiter for Fairbanks Morse and Company, informed Bond's father of the opportunity to move to Beloit. Knowing many of their friends and relatives were already in Beloit, the White family decided to leave Mississippi. Zack, Dora, Rubie and Laura arrived in Beloit April 1917, settling at 932 Pleasant St.
In 1920, Rubie, at the age of thirteen, joined the newly organized Beloit NAACP after attending a meeting. The racial injustices and issues discussed at the meeting opened her eyes to the fact that segregation was not just in the south, it was there in Beloit too. From that day forward, she began a lifelong advocacy for civil rights and social justice for the city of Beloit.
Rubie White went on to graduate from Beloit High School in 1925, then enrolled in fall classes at Beloit College where she was the only African American on campus. Unfortunately, in 1927 Rubie had to leave her classes as her mother fell ill and her family needed her assistance.
In 1928, Rubie married Franklin Bond, a man she was introduced to by his niece, Marie Bond. Rubie, now married, remained active with the NAACP and pursuing the integration of the Girl Reserve Club, the Girls Scouts and push for the acceptance of African Americans at the segregated YMCA and YWCA.
In 1943, she organized and was elected the president of the Women’s Community Club. Their mission was to combat segregation so African American nurses, doctors, and teachers could eventually work in Beloit’s hospitals and public schools. Rubie Bond witnessed progress when the YMCA National Organization banned segregation in 1945. Segregated lunch counters and other establishments frustrated her, so she organized sit-ins. Rubie served as president of the NAACP in 1951 and served as secretary of the Beloit Community Council on Human Rights.
In 2000, Beloit College celebrated the lifelong humanitarian work of Rubie White Bond, Class of 1929, by bestowing her with an honorary Bachelor of Arts Degree. She was 94 years old. Rubie Bond remained an active part of the Beloit community until her death in 2002 at the age of 96.
A full-length story on Rubie White Bond will be a featured story on the African American Historical Society of Beloit soon. Meanwhile visit at aahsb.com to read other stories on Beloit’s African American history.
