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From Civil Rights Activist to Teacher to Lover of the Arts Ruby Pendergrass Cornwell inspired so many people with her courage, quiet strength and passion for the arts that The LINKS of Charleston created a fund in her honor on her 98th birthday in 2000 to benefit the arts in Charleston called - Ruby Pendergrass Cornwell Endowment for the Arts. Ruby lived to be 101 and helped shape local race relations through its most turbulent time in American history. She often said – “I wasn’t a product of the Civil Rights movement, I pre-dated it.” She was unafraid, outspoken and had a flair for fashion. She wore pearls to prison when she was arrested in 1963 for requesting to be seated in the dining room at the Fort Sumter Hotel in Charleston. “We don’t serve Negroes,” the maitre d’ told her. “We don’t intend to order any,” she replied. The daughter of a Methodist minister; graduate of Talladega College and a teacher at the Avery Normal Institute, Ruby came to Charleston in 1925 and married a prominent Charleston dentist, Dr. A.T. Cornwell. She then settled into racially segregated Charleston where she proceeded to raise “quiet, refined hell” for the rest of her life. Her stories of rebellion and pride began as a young girl when she insisted on delivering things to the front doors of white peoples’ homes instead of the back. In Charleston, she walked all over town rather than set foot on the segregated bus. She boycotted the movies or any events that had separate seating. She refused to spend a dime in stores where she wasn’t allowed to try on clothes. Instead, she served 20 years on the Board of the Gibbes Museum of Art and helped start the first Black Arts Festival, which became MOJA. Her love of literature and music and her devotion to giving back to her community are perfectly blended in the fund that is named for her and will give grants to arts programs and opportunities for young people for years to come. “As we climb, we lift somebody up with us,” she said. Ruby died at the age of 102. In her will, she left a bequest to CCF to build her fund. Both in her life and in her death, she was always lifting people up with her. |
 Ruby Cornwell Pendergrass Judith Baird Juanita Brown Linda Plunkett Kay Chitty Pearlstine and Mendelsohn Three Sisters Anne Marie Kathryn White Women Making a Difference |