Remembering Black History and the legacy of slave Leah Ruth and grandson inventor, William Chester Ruth

Born on July 19, 1882, William Chester Ruth was a well known black inventor during the rolling 20s and depression 30s. He was one of 12 children born from a descendent of slaves and was a long time resident of the Ercildoun and Gap areas. His grandmother was Leah Ruth Warner, who came to the Ercildoun area in 1895, after William's father, Samuel, a former slave, went searching for his mother after 30 years of separation.Leah Ruth was a young, robust African woman from the west coast of Africa, the area of Guinea. She was captured and brought to the United States on a slave ship in the 1820s. Nothing is known about her family or the exact village from which she came.She arrived in South Carolina in the Beauford District, where plantation owner Robert Frederick Ruth purchased her. She was given the name Leah and, according to the customs on the plantation, male slaves were chosen to be mates so their children could also be servants and slaves to the plantation.The facts were that slave owners or overseers would take sexual advantage of female slave workers, as in the case of owner Robert Ruth, who was said to have fallen in love with Leah. Full Story: http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?BRD=2247&dept_id=453363&newsid=14128997&PAG=461&rfi=9