{{distinguish|Ruth Hartley|Ruth Price}} {{Infobox person | name = Ruth Hartley Mosley | image = <!-- filename only, no "File:" or "Image:" prefix, and no enclosing [[brackets]] --> | alt = <!-- descriptive text for use by speech synthesis (text-to-speech) software --> | caption = | birth_name = Ruth Price | birth_date = {{Birth date|1886|09|23}} | birth_place = [[Savannah, Georgia]] | death_date = {{Death date and age|1975|08|14|1886|09|23}} | death_place = Savannah, Georgia | nationality = <!-- use only when necessary per [[WP:INFONAT]] --> | resting_place = Linwood Cemetery | occupation = {{hlist|Nurse|entrepreneur|mortician}} | spouse = {{ubl|{{marriage|Richard Hartley|1917|October 1, 1931|end=death}}|{{marriage|Fischer Mosley|1937|May 12, 1975|end=death}}}} | known_for = | notable_works = }} '''Ruth Price Hartley Mosley''' (September{{nbsp}}23, 1886 {{endash}} August{{nbsp}}14, 1975) was an American [[nurse]], businesswoman, and civil rights activist. In 1910, she became the first black woman to be the head of a nursing department.<ref name="wmaz-22">{{cite news |title=Central Georgia Black History: Ruth Hartley Mosley, 1st Black woman to lead a nursing department |url=https://www.13wmaz.com/video/news/local/black-history/central-georgia-black-history-ruth-hartley-mosley-1st-black-woman-to-lead-a-nursing-department/93-e7301bcd-b780-4c1a-85ef-fdaf7d8e2d08 |access-date=3 June 2024 |work=[[13WMAZ]] |date=February 3, 2022}}</ref> Mosley was also one of the first women to be licensed as an [[embalmer]].
Ruth Price was born on September{{nbsp}}23, 1886 in [[Savannah, Georgia]]; her father was a bootmaker and her mother was a dressmaker.<ref name="mm-22">{{cite web |last1=Thomas Jr. |first1=Clarence W. |title=Black places and spaces: InTown’s proud legacy as a center of Black culture |url=https://maconmagazine.com/black-places-and-spaces-intowns-proud-legacy-as-a-center-of-black-culture/ |publisher=Macon Magazine |access-date=3 June 2024 |date=May 2022}}</ref><ref name="hmf-hopkins">{{cite web |last1=Hopkins |first1=Emily |title=Ruth Hartley Mosley Memorial Women’s Center |url=http://www.historicmacon.org/wwwhistoricmaconorg/blog/2016/5/11/ruth-hartley-mosley-memorial-womens-center |publisher=Historic Macon Foundation |date=February 4, 2016}}</ref> After finishing high school, Mosley studied nursing in [[Concord, North Carolina]] and at [[Provident Hospital of Cook County|Provident Hospital]] in [[Chicago]]. She went on to work at the [[Georgia State Sanitarium]] in [[Milledgeville, Georgia|Milledgeville]], where she was appointed head of the "Colored Females Department" in 1910.<ref name="rhmc-about"/>
After she married Richard Hartley in 1917, the couple moved to Macon, where Mosley became one of the first women to be a licensed embalmer in order to help him with his work running a newly purchased funeral home {{emdash}} Hartley's saloon had been forced to close due to the [[Volstead Act]].<ref name="rhmc-about">{{cite web |title=Ruth Hartley Mosley |url=http://ruthhartleymosleycenter.com/about.htm |publisher=Ruth Hartley Mosley Center |access-date=3 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170619143213/http://ruthhartleymosleycenter.com/about.htm |archive-date=2017-06-19 |url-status=dead}}</ref> After Hartley's death on October{{nbsp}}1, 1931, she married Fischer Mosley in 1937 and worked as a nurse for the [[Bibb County, Georgia|Bibb County]] school system. At one point, she owned over 100 rental properties.<ref name="hmf-brown-19"/> Fischer died on May{{nbsp}}12, 1975.<ref name="usgw">{{cite web |last1=Allen |first1=James W. |title=Ruth Price Hartley Mosley |url=http://files.usgwarchives.net/ga/bibb/photos/tombstones/linwood/mosley6673ph.txt |publisher=USGW Archives |access-date=3 June 2024}}</ref>
Mosley was part of Macon's [[NAACP]] chapter, and was a founding member of the Booker T. Washington Community Center. She also enjoyed playing [[Contract bridge|bridge]].<ref name="hmf-hopkins"/>
Mosley died in Savannah on August 14, 1975.<ref name="macons-black-heritage-97">{{cite book |title=Macon's Black Heritage: The Untold Story |date=1997 |publisher=The Tubman African American Museum |url=https://archive.org/details/macons-black-heritage_202308}}</ref> She left money to establish the Ruth Hartley Mosley Memorial Fund and the Ruth Hartley Mosley Memorial Women's Center.<ref name="hmf-brown-19"/><ref name="mt-dunlap-16">{{cite news |last1=Dunlap |first1=Stanley |title=Women's center in Macon paved way for many |url=https://www.macon.com/news/local/article123538519.html |access-date=3 June 2024 |work=[[Macon Telegraph]] |date=December 29, 2016}}</ref> Mosley was added to the [[Georgia Women of Achievement]] in 1994.<ref name="rhmc-about"/><ref name="hmf-brown-19">{{cite web |last1=Brown |first1=Oby |title=‘You are as good as anyone’ |url=http://www.historicmacon.org/wwwhistoricmaconorg/blog/tag/Ruth+Hartley+Mosley |publisher=Historic Macon Foundation |date=September 6, 2019}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
{{Georgia Women of Achievement}}
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mosley, Ruth Hartley}} [[Category:1886 births]] [[Category:1975 deaths]] [[Category:African-American women nurses]] [[Category:American women nurses]] [[Category:African-American nurses]] [[Category:People from Savannah, Georgia]] [[Category:20th-century African-American people]] [[Category:20th-century African-American women]] [[Category:20th-century American nurses]]