Silencing of Ruby McCollum
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€34.99
A01=Tammy D. Evans
Adrienne Rich
African American
American South
Author_Tammy D. Evans
black women
C. LeRoy Adams
Category=DNXC
Category=JBSL
Category=JKV
Category=NHK
Civil Rights Era
class
eq_bestseller
eq_biography-true-stories
eq_history
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
Florida
gender
historiography
history
law
Live Oak
memory
murder
patriarchy
Pittsburgh Courier
politics
race
racism
secrets
segregation
Southern History
Suwannee County
Tammy Evans
trial
United States
white supremacy
William Bradford Huie
womanhood
Zora Neale Hurston
Product details
- ISBN 9780813066066
- Weight: 333g
- Dimensions: 152 x 228mm
- Publication Date: 30 Dec 2018
- Publisher: University Press of Florida
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Hardback
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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.
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.
Tammy Evans is adjunct professor of composition at the University of Miami's Bradenton campus.
