Ruth Clement Bond (May 22, 1904 – October 24, 2005) was an African-American educator, civic leader and artist. As an educator, Bond taught at universities in Haiti, Liberia and Malawi. She headed the African-American Women's Association and in the course of her career advocated for women and children in the US, Afghanistan, the Ivory Coast, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo and Tunisia. As an artist, Ruth is notable for elevating the utilitarian quilt into an avant-garde work of social commentary. Three such quilts remain from this creative period in the 1930s. Those quilts were exhibited at the Museum of Arts and Design in New York and the Michigan State University Museum.
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Early life and family
Ruth Elizabeth Clement was born in Louisville, Kentucky on May 22, 1904, to George Clinton Clement, a bishop in the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, and Emma Clarissa Williams Clement. She was the fourth of seven children.
In 1931, Clement married Dr. J. Max Bond Sr with whom she had three children: historian Jane Bond Howard, architect J. Max Bond Jr., and anthropologist George Clement Bond. Their nephew was Julian Bond, organizer of the SNCC.
The Bonds moved to Los Angeles shortly after marriage. By 1934, they were living and working in rural Alabama. After her husband joined the Foreign Service in 1944 until the end of her own life, Ruth traveled to many countries, and particularly to countries in Africa or with African heritage.