Ruth Apilado was born as Ruth Mays in Chicago, Illinois, USA on 30 April 1908. Her parents were Stewart and Clara (née Whetsel) Mays. Her maternal grandmother had emigrated from Canada to Ohio and was partly indigenous. Her paternal great-grandfather was a slave owner in Virginia

Apilado attended McKinley High School, which closed in 1954. She became a teacher in 1928, after graduating from Chicago Normal College (now Chicago State University).

In 1932, she married Inosencio Apilado, who was born in the Philippines. Their marriage lasted for over 70 years until his death in 2007 at the age of 99. Their son, Myron Apilado, was the vice-president of minority affairs at University of Washington until the year 2000, as well as an editor of AIM.

Apilado began her journalistic career in 1942, when she briefly worked as an editor for the newly created Negro Youth Photo Scripts Magazine. In 1945, she wrote a letter to the editor expressing her criticism of Richard Wright’s memoir Black Boy, stating that it was an inaccurate depiction of the typical childhood of African Americans. In 1950, Apilado published a novel called The Joneses, which was about the hardships of a black family living in Chicago.

After retiring from teaching in 1973, Apilado founded America’s Intercultural Magazine (AIM), a quarterly-published journal that set out to “bridge the gap between races, cultures, and religions.”

At the age of 113, it was reported her memory had started to fail and she had moved into an Assisted Living Facility outside of Seattle.

Ruth Apilado died in Federal Way, Washington, USA at the age of 113 years, 107 days.