Angelica "Ruby" Walker is a black queer student writer from Pittsburgh, PA. She graduated from Penn Hills High School in 2014. As a junior at the University of Pittsburgh, she studies social work, law, politics, and writing. She has taken courses in social welfare, cultural diversity, criminal law, policy analysis, and social change theory, as well as specialized writing courses in digital media, public relations, fundraising, journalism, and argument.

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In 2014, she attended her first protest for Black Lives Matter. Throughout the year, she went on to attend actions for paid sick days, livable wages, student debt relief, and transgender rights. In 2015, she began volunteering with the Allegheny Jail Health Justice Project to demand an end to abusive practices in the jail, including sexual abuse of inmates as well as lack of access to lifesaving drugs and medical treatments. 

 

During the school year, Angelica works as a research assistant at Pitt's Lab for Developmental and Motivational Research studying how race and gender affect K-12 students. She also works with Dr. Helen Petracchi on her project, Oral Histories of Retired African American Educators and Administrators. This project aims to discover how black educators were negatively affected by racism as they were transferred into newly-integrated schools.

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In 2016, Angelica began publishing her work in The New People, Pittsburgh's Social Justice Newspaper. She was brought on as a Journalism Intern specializing in race and LGBT rights. Her articles received high praise from editors, and several were featured on the front page.

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In 2017, Angelica began to learn how to code. Her team won the third place prize at the SheInnovates Hackathon by creating GlassCeiling, a web arcade where girls can play educational games to unlock trading cards for women of color scientists.

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She lives with her partner Jon and friend Jocelyn in Penn Hills, where their home is decorated with homemade protest signs and posters of Childish Gambino, Chance the Rapper, and Garnet from Steven Universe. In her free time, Angelica competes in weekly Super Smash Brothers Melee/Project M tournaments.

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This blog is a collection of her work published in The New People, along with university assignments and other personal projects. Questions and comments are welcome via the Contact page.