Civil rights & activism / Business & brands
Ruth Ellis
1899–2000 · printer, LGBTQ rights activist
Black lesbian printer whose West Side Detroit home was a refuge for Black gay and lesbian Detroiters for decades; she lived to 101, and the Ruth Ellis Center for LGBTQ youth bears her name.
- Born
Springfield, Illinois- Died
Detroit, Michigan
aged 101- Birth name
- Ruth Charlotte Ellis
- Also known as
- Ruth Charlotte Ellis
- Detroit years
- 1937–2000
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Ruth Ellis was born in Springfield, Illinois, in 1899, the daughter of the state's first Black mail carrier. Open about being a lesbian from about 1915, she learned printing and typesetting at a Black-owned print shop and in the 1920s met Ceciline 'Babe' Franklin, the only woman she ever lived with. In 1937 the couple moved to Detroit as part of the Great Migration. Ellis first worked as a babysitter in Highland Park, then as a printer for Waterfield and Heath, and eventually ran her own press out of the West Side house she shared with Franklin. Known as the 'gay spot,' that home became a center of parties and support for Black gay men and lesbians shut out of white queer spaces, until urban renewal demolished it in 1971. Late in life she became a celebrated elder of the LGBTQ movement. In September 2000, at 101, she spoke at the opening of the Ruth Ellis Center for homeless LGBTQ youth; she died weeks later.
Highlights
- One of the oldest openly lesbian Americans, living to 101
- Ran her own printing press from her West Side Detroit home
- Her home was a haven for Black LGBTQ Detroiters for decades
- Namesake of the Ruth Ellis Center for LGBTQ youth (opened 2000)
- Subject of the documentary Living With Pride: Ruth C. Ellis @ 100
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 1
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Memorial · 2000–
Ruth Ellis Center
Agency for homeless and at-risk LGBTQ youth named in her honor, with a drop-in center, supportive housing and a health and wellness center; she spoke at its opening.