THE SILENCING OF RUBY MCCOLLUM; RACE, CLASS, AND GENDER IN THE SOUTH.

Evans, Tammy. Jacqueline Jones Royster (Foreword). Lynn Worsham (Afterword). [Ruby McCollum, 1909-1992.]

ISBN 10: 0813029732 / ISBN 13: 9780813029733

Published by Gainesville, FL et al: University Press of Florida, 2006., 2006

About this Item

First printing (per publisher's number line upon copyright page). xxxii, 174 pages. Hardcover: H 23.5cm x L 15.75cm. Dust jacket lightly rubbed with slight bumping at edges; light toning to front panel. Blue cloth spine lightly bumped at heel; faint blue boards. Interior pages are bright and clean. Binding is firm. A near fine copy in a very good+ dust jacket. ISBN 0813029732.

Seller Inventory # CMS-00939

Bibliographic Details

• Title: THE SILENCING OF RUBY MCCOLLUM; RACE, CLASS, AND GENDER IN THE SOUTH.
• Publisher: Gainesville, FL et al: University Press of Florida, 2006.
• Publication Date: 2006
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0813029732
• ISBN 13: 9780813029733
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Dust Jacket Condition: Dust Jacket Included
• Seller catalogs:
  • African American History

About this title

Synopsis

 

The Silencing of Ruby McCollum refutes the carefully constructed public memory of one of the most famous—and under-examined—biracial murders in American history. On August 3, 1952, African American housewife Ruby McCollum drove to the office of Dr. C. LeRoy Adams, beloved white physician in the segregated small town of Live Oak, Florida. With her two young children in tow, McCollum calmly gunned down the doctor during (according to public sentiment) “an argument over a medical bill.” Soon, a very different motive emerged, with McCollum alleging horrific mental and physical abuse at Adams’s hand. In reaction to these allegations and an increasingly intrusive media presence, the town quickly cobbled together what would become the public facade of Adams’s murder—a more “acceptable” motive for McCollum’s actions. To ensure this would become the official version of events, McCollum’s trial prosecutors voiced multiple objections during her testimony to limit what she was allowed to say.

           
Employing multiple methodologies to achieve her voice—historical research, feminist theory, African American literary criticism, African American history, and investigative journalism—Evans analyzes the texts surrounding the affair to suggest that an imposed code of silence demands not only the construction of an official story but also the transformation of a community’s citizens into agents who will reproduce and perpetuate this version of events, improbable and unlikely though they may be.

About the Author

Tammy Evans is the founder of Expressions Writing Service, which provides coaching and support for dissertation and thesis students, writing for web-based platforms, and workshops focusing on all aspects of composition and rhetoric.