View source for Ruth Revels

{{Short description|American indigenous rights activist}}
{{more citations needed|date=March 2018}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Ruth Revels
| birth_name = Annie Ruth Locklear
| birth_date = 1936
| birth_place = [[Pembroke, North Carolina]]
| death_date = March 14, 2016
| nationality = American
| occupation = Teacher
}}
'''Ruth Revels''' (1936 - March 14, 2016) was an American activist and educator who became the founder and executive director of the Guilford Native American Association (GNAA). Revels graduated with an English degree in 1958 from [[Pembroke State College]]. She fought to protect and honor the university's heritage.{{Citation needed|date=March 2018}} Ruth Revels died on March 14, 2016.
== Early life ==
Ruth Revels grew up in [[Robeson County, North Carolina|Robeson County, NC]] in the 1940s and was from the [[Lumbee]] tribe. She experienced a unique three-way segregation between white Americans, African Americans, and Indian Americans. Revels grew up in a low income household on the outskirts of Pembroke. Her family was a farm family and neither of her parents had graduated from high school.  She married Lonnie Revels, who along with Revels is credited with running Ku Klux Klan members out of Roberson county in 1958.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://ncheritagecalendar.com/honorees/ruth-revels/|title=Ruth Revels - NC Heritage|work=NC Heritage|access-date=2018-01-31|language=en-US}}</ref>
== Education ==
Revels attended [[Pembroke State College]], now [[University of North Carolina at Pembroke]], where she graduated with an English degree in 1958. During her time there, she won the title of ‘Miss Pembroke State’ in 1956.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.greensboro.com/news/funeral-arrangements-pending-for-educator-activist-ruth-revels/article_574cc0b6-6fde-5c32-b289-645cdb3ef49a.html|title=Funeral arrangements pending for educator, activist Ruth Revels|last=Hagelberg|first=Kimberli|date=March 2016|work=Greensboro News and Record}}</ref>
== Activism ==
After graduation Revels taught at [[Ragsdale High School|Ragsdale High]] in Jamestown for 14 years, leaving the classroom in 1977. She helped create and run the Guilford Native American Association (GNAA), with the goal to empower and educate the Native American community. Through GNAA Revels spoke out against the use of American Indians as high school mascots in the early 2000s.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://ncadmin.nc.gov/about-doa/divisions/commission-indian-affairs/tribute-late-mrs-ruth-revels-chairwoman-nc-commission|title=NC DOA : Tribute to the Late Mrs. Ruth Revels, Chairwoman, NC Commission of Indian Affairs|website=ncadmin.nc.gov|access-date=2018-01-31}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.journalnow.com/news/local/triad-leaders-made-broad-impact-transcended-race/article_e351cca3-7533-5411-a02d-0d2b7abc5511.html|title=Triad leaders made broad impact, transcended race|last=Record|first=Margaret Moffett Greensboro News &|work=Winston-Salem Journal|access-date=2018-01-31|language=en}}</ref> Revels served as a member of North Carolina Commissions of Indian Affairs beginning in 2003. In 2013 the Commissions appointed her chair woman, a position Revels held until her death in 2016.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ncarts.org/blog/2016/03/longtime-american-indian-activist-and-educator-ruth-revels-dies|title=Longtime American Indian activist and educator Ruth Revels dies {{!}} North Carolina Arts Council|website=www.ncarts.org|language=en|access-date=2018-01-31}}</ref>
== References ==<!--- See [[Wikipedia:Footnotes]] on how to create references using <ref></ref> tags which will then appear here automatically -->
{{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Revels, Ruth}}
[[Category:1936 births]]
[[Category:2016 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century Native Americans]]
[[Category:21st-century Native Americans]]
[[Category:Lumbee people]]
[[Category:Native American activists]]
[[Category:People from Pembroke, North Carolina]]
[[Category:Native American people from North Carolina]]
[[Category:20th-century Native American women]]
[[Category:21st-century Native American women]]
[[Category:Activists from North Carolina]]