Frank Leslie's Illustrated (December 1, 1883).
Born free in Virginia, George L. Ruffin (1834-1886) moved to Boston with his family in 1853. Ruffin made a living as a barber, but he established a reputation nationally among African Americans as a reviewer for the Anglo-African, a weekly black newspaper. Although Ruffin was not able to enlist during the Civil War due to nearsightedness, he and his wife Josephine earned the respect of black Bostonians through Civil War charity work in the Home Guard and the Sanitary Commission.
A delegate to the Syracuse convention, Ruffin spoke on the importance of black suffrage and the re-election of Abraham Lincoln. Ruffin also served on the publishing committee, which was responsible for organizing, publishing, and disseminating the official convention proceedings. He remained active in colored conventions, presiding over the 1872 National Convention of Colored People in New Orleans.
In 1869, Ruffin earned a law degree from Harvard Law School and started a law practice in Boston. He became one of the nation’s first African American judges when he was appointed to the bench of the Charlestown, Massachusetts, municipal court in 1883.