George Lewis Ruffin was an African-American barber, attorney, politician, and judge who achieved several historic firsts in American legal and political history. In 1869, he graduated from Harvard Law School, becoming the first African American to do so. This milestone opened the door to his legal career during a period of significant racial barriers in the profession. Beyond his legal accomplishments, Ruffin was active in Boston politics. He was the first African American elected to the Boston City Council and was subsequently elected to the Massachusetts Legislature in 1870. These positions reflected his growing influence and recognition within his community and the broader political sphere. In 1883, Governor Benjamin Franklin Butler appointed Ruffin as a judge to the Municipal Court in the Charlestown district of Boston, making him the first African-American judge in the United States. This appointment represented a watershed moment in American judicial history and demonstrated the progress, however limited, that had been made in the decades following the Civil War. Ruffin married Josephine St. Pierre in 1858, and the couple had children together, including Florida Ruffin Ridley.