Ruby Livingston migrated to Chicago from Mississippi in 1914 as part of the Great Migration of Blacks from the South to the North. Ruby's story was included in a 1928 publication of the Social Science Review titled "Negro Home Workers in Chicago," by Myra Hill Colson. The story of Ruby and her family illustrates the vast influx of Blacks into Chicago during World War I and the difficulties they faced in finding jobs and housing, as well as in dealing with personal discrimination.