About Ruby G. Woodson
Ruby Garrard Woodson (June 22, 1931 – February 8, 2008) was an educator and chemistry teacher who founded Cromwell Academy in Washington, D. C. and Florida Academy of African American Culture in Sarasota, Florida. She was born in Houston County, Alabama, but raised in Sarasota. Her mother, Ella Mae Garrard (later, Singleton) worked as a maid and later owned a small country store. Her father, David Garrard, was a farmer, and later a circus roustabout. She had one child, William G. Woodson. At the age of fifteen, she was the valedictorian of her class of 1947 when she graduated from Booker High School in Sarasota. At the age of nineteen, in June 1951 Woodson was awarded her Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry from Florida A & M University in Tallahassee, Florida. She received her Master of Arts degree in education from American University in Washington, D.C., in 1960. Her masters thesis was entitled, Some Effects of the Atomic Era on the Teaching of High School Chemistry in the United States. After her return to Sarasota, Woodson founded another educational institution in that community, the Florida Academy for African American Culture. The academy was founded in 1973 in a church annex and soon was sending many of its students to classes at Georgetown University and Howard University for credits toward their secondary diplomas.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.