{{Short description|American suffragist and YWCA leader (1891–1968)}} {{Infobox person | name = Ruth Logan Roberts | image = | alt = | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date = {{Birth date text|1891}} | birth_place = | death_date = {{Death year and age|1968|1891}} | death_place = | spouse = Eugene Percy Roberts | other_names = | occupation = | years_active = | known_for = suffragist, <br> YWCA leader | notable_works = }} '''Ruth Logan Roberts''' (1891 – 1968) was a suffragist, activist, YWCA leader, and host of a salon in Harlem, New York City.
==Early life== Ruth Logan Roberts was born in 1891 as the daughter of suffragist Adella Hunt Logan.<ref name="factsonfile">{{cite web |last=Alexander |first=Adele Logan |url=http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE01&iPin=AFEBW0637&SingleRecord=True |title=Roberts, Ruth Logan |work=Religion and Community. Facts On File, 1997. African-American History Online |accessdate= February 6, 2016}} Sourced from {{cite book |year=1997 |editor1-last=Hine |editor1-first=Darlene Clark |editor1-link=Darlene Clark Hine |editor2-last=Thompson |editor2-first=Kathleen |editor2-link=Kathleen Thompson |title=Facts on File encyclopedia of Black women in America |location=New York, NY |publisher=Facts on File |isbn=9780816034246 |oclc=906768602}}</ref> Roberts studied physical therapy at Boston's Sargent School of Physical Education, graduating in 1911.<ref name="votes">{{cite book |last=Spruill |first=Marjorie Julian |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4sqiGdY0zDkC&q=%22Ruth+Logan+Roberts%22&pg=PA103 |title=Votes for women! : The Woman Suffrage Movement in Tennessee, the South, and the Nation |location=Knoxville, TN, US |publisher=University of Tennessee Press |year=1995 |isbn=9780870498367 |oclc=31755740}}</ref> Roberts later served a physical educator for the Tuskegee Institute.<ref name="factsonfile"/> In 1917, she married the physician Eugene Percy Roberts, and the couple moved to New York City.<ref name="factsonfile"/><ref name="Tau Omega chapter legacy">{{cite book |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pAvBAgAAQBAJ&q=%22Ruth+Logan+Roberts%22&pg=PT183 |chapter=Ruth Logan Roberts |title=The Legacy of the Pacesetters of Tau Omega chapter, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc: A History of Timeless Service to the Harlem Community and Beyond |author=Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority. Tau Omega chapter (New York, N.Y.) |publisher=AuthorHouse |location=Bloomington, IN, US |year=2014 |isbn=9781491847084 |oclc=869905495 |accessdate= February 6, 2016}}</ref>
==Activism== Ruth Logan Roberts began her work as a suffragist around 1913 in Tuskegee.<ref name="factsonfile"/> She continued her activism after her move to New York City, notably serving on a number of boards and actively advocating for women's suffrage and against racial discrimination.
Roberts was a member of the boards of directors of national and local YWCA as well as board of the Katy Ferguson Home for Unmarried Mothers.<ref name="manning">{{cite book |last=Manning |first=Susan |author-link=Susan Manning |url=https://archive.org/details/moderndancenegro0000mann |url-access=registration |page=[https://archive.org/details/moderndancenegro0000mann/page/37 37] |quote=Ruth Logan Roberts. |title=Modern Dance, Negro Dance: Race in Motion |location=Minneapolis, MN, US |publisher=University of Minnesota Press |year=2004 |isbn=9780816637362 |oclc=878594217}}</ref> She also served on the New York State Board of Social Welfare.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/africanamericanw00judi|url-access=registration|page=[https://archive.org/details/africanamericanw00judi/page/100 100]|quote=ruth logan roberts ywca harlem.|title=African American Women and Christian Activism: New York's Black YWCA, 1905-1945|last=Weisenfeld|first=Judith|date=1997|publisher=Harvard University Press|isbn=9780674007789|language=en}}</ref>
While at the YWCA, Roberts helped organize women in the sale of war bonds through the Liberty Loan program.<ref name=":0" />
She also served on the New York State Board of Social Welfare, a position that she was appointed to by Governor Thomas E. Dewey.<ref name="factsonfile" /> Her health education led her to serve on the boards of New York Tuberculosis and Health Association and the National Association of Colored Graduate Nurses.<ref name="factsonfile" />
==Salon== Roberts hosted a regular salon at her home at 130 West 130th Street in Harlem, New York City, that brought together major figures active in Harlem at the time in politics, community service, and the arts.<ref name="manning"/>
==See also== *African-American woman suffrage movement
==References== {{Reflist|30em}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Roberts, Ruth Logan}} Category:1891 births Category:1968 deaths Category:Suffragists from Alabama Category:People from Tuskegee, Alabama Category:African-American suffragists Category:Boston University College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences (Sargent College) alumni Category:20th-century African-American women Category:20th-century African-American people Category:Suffragists from New York City Category:American women human rights activists