Ruth Hines. Source: Raymond Bial's In All My Years: Portraits of Older Blacks In Champaign-Urbana, Champaign County Historical Museum, 1983.

Ruth Woodruff Hines opened her doors to house the Negro (African American) students who enrolled in the University of Illinois in the early 1920s. It filled an urgent need for the students as there was no place for them to live on or near Campus. This legacy continued on for many years and she and Mr. Hines also served as Patron and Patroness for many social affairs given by and for the students. She was a lifetime member of Bethel A.M.E. Church - singing in the Senior Choir and as a member of the Willing Workers Club. She was a member of: the Robert Earnest American Legion Post #559 serving as past president; the University of Illinois Alumni Association; the Champaign-Urbana Senior Citizen's Organization; Deborah Chapter #27, Order of Eastern Star; and Parents Council of Sharps and Flats Music Club, an affiliate of the National Association of Negro Musicians and the Park Street Block Club.

She was a charter member of the National Council of Negro Women, Champaign County section.

Source: National Council of Negro Women, Charter Members Remembered, 2008