The Silencing of Ruby McCollum: Race, Class, and Gender in the South

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 "an argument over a medical bill." Soon, a very different motive emerged,...