As an artist, Ruth is notable for elevating the utilitarian quilt into an avant-garde work of social commentary.

[2] Bond attended Livingstone College (of which both her parents were graduates), but earned both her bachelor's and master's degrees in English from Northwestern University.

She had intended to complete her doctoral studies after the family moved to rural Alabama, but there were no local universities in which to enroll.

[2] While living in Alabama for her husband's work, Bond assisted former sharecropper families in segregated villages with home economics and improvement.

"[4] She departed from the floral and geometric patterns common in quilt design, depicting silhouettes of Black workers, in a "jagged yet elegant" style reminiscent of Henri Matisse's paper cutouts and Aaron Douglas's paintings.

The first quilt showed a bolt of lightning signifying power, held in the hand of a black worker.

[1] Following Max's retirement in 1966, the Bonds returned to the United States and took up residence in Washington, D.C., where they both became involved with community issues.

[1] In D.C., Ruth was on the boards of the Boys and Girls Club of Washington, the YMCA, and the Red Cross, and was an active member of the Foreign Service Women's Association.