VTC Ruby
From the Foundry:
“During the 1850’s a type foundry in Boston, known as the Dickenson Type Foundry, stole a typeface from a foundry in France, redesigned the ‘M,’ modified the ‘N,’ and named it Gothic Shade. Then came American Type Founders (ATF) in 1892…. Jim Crow is the American Type Founders' 1933 and 1949 re-casting of the Dickinson Type Foundry's type of the 1850s, Gothic Shade.
As Jim Crow is one of the worst font names in the history of the type industry (along with Hobo), this revival has more than a few design tweaks, but a whole new name——VTC Ruby.
On November 14, 1960, Ruby Bridges became a symbol of the U.S. civil rights movement. She was just 6 years old. Her simple act of going to an all-white school marked the beginning of integration for U.S. public schools.
Although it was illegal to have segregated schools, some states—especially in the South—did not follow the ruling. The Supreme Court was aware of the resistance and took action. A year after the ruling, the court declared that the desegregation of public schools should advance with “all deliberate speed.” Five years later, little Ruby would become the first student to integrate a Southern elementary school.”
NOTES:
Ruby is certainly an important piece of cultural work as much as it is an important typographic work. Ruby is a revival design of a deplorable piece of typographic history — a story I did not know existed until now. Its pretty awful that ATF would have had a typeface named after Jim Crow, but I love how Tre Seals wouldnt let that be the end of the story. In reclaiming the style and renaming it after Ruby Bridges, the six year old girl who bravely began the integration of U.S. Public Schools during the Civil Rights Era, there is a new life and new meaning for this type style. This is not only a good typeface, but a typeface for good. Something I absolutely love about the work being produced over at Vocal Type.