The Life Story of Mrs. Ruby J. McCollum!

  1. This is not a proverb as Hurston suggests. Rather, it is a translation of the Qur’an 17:13, which states that each person controls his or her own destiny.

  2. Hurston refers to Napoleon Bonaparte (1769–1821), the celebrated military leader and emperor of France from 1804–1814.

  3. Victoria Nyansa is a variant spelling of Victoria Nyanza, a large lake crossing the national boundaries of Tanzania, Uganda, and Kenya.

  4. Reverend Leonard Francis Morse (1891–1961) was one of three founding members of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity in 1914 at Howard University.

  5. Open range ranching existed in Florida until after World War II when it was discontinued in order to protect new species of cattle from disease harbored and better resisted by older species of “Florida cow.” For a discussion of this transition, see W. Theodore Mealor Jr. and Merle C. Prunty, “Open-Range Ranching in Southern Florida,” Annals of the Association of American Geographers 66, no. 3 (September 1976): 360–76.

  6. We believe this to be Leonard Francis Morse, b. 1891

  7. Hurston’s reference to the pear tree echoes the images she used in Their Eyes Were Watching God. For a discussion of these similarities see Roberta S. Maguire, “From Fiction to Fact: Zora Neale Hurston and the Ruby McCollum Trial,” Literary Journalism Studies 7, no. 1 (Spring 2015): 17–34.

  8. An editorial or typesetting error apparently mistakenly cut a passage from the text. The original reads as it does here.

  9. The poetic line that Hurston quotes comes from “The Rosary” by Robert Cameron Rogers (1862–1912), which can be found in Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed., An American Anthology 1787–1900 (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1900), 691.

  10. Rogers, “The Rosary,” 691.

  11. Rogers, “The Rosary,” 691.

  12. Despite the promise of additional stories about Ruby McCollum’s life by Hurston, this is the last one the editors have been able to identify.

  My Impressions of the Trial

  1. This essay was enclosed in Hurston’s letter to William Bradford Huie dated May 14, 1954.

  2. Hyssop is an herb, precisely which plant is still debated, used in Exodus 12:21–23 of the Bible. Moses advises the Israelites on Passover to dip hyssop into the blood of a sacrificed lamb and mark their doorways with it in order that the Lord might pass them by. It protected the home from the death of the firstborn, a curse upon Pharaoh, who was refusing to emancipate the Israelites.

  3. The parable of Dives (a rich man) and Lazarus (a poor man) appears in Luke 16:19–25 in the Bible. While the rich man prospers on earth, he is tortured in hell after his death. Lazarus suffers on earth but in heaven is at Abraham’s side. The rags-to-riches Cinderella folktale exists in many cultural traditions. See Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm, Grimm’s Complete Fairy Tales, ed. Ken Mondschein, trans. Margaret Hunt (San Diego: Canterbury Classics, 2011), 81–86. Hurston may be alluding to tales in which a peasant presents the king’s daughter with an unsolvable riddle and thereby wins the right to marry her. For the Russian version, see “The Princess Who Wanted to Solve Riddles,” The Complete Russian Folktale: v. 6: Russian Tales of Love and Life, ed. Jack V. Haney (Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, 2006), 4–6. Dick Whittington is a medieval historical figure who served as Lord Mayor of London. In spite of the fact that Whittington himself came from a wealthy family, a tale bearing his name titled “Dick Whittington and His Cat” follows a rags-to-riches plotline, which seems to be the point of Hurston’s allusion. A version appears in Marcia Brown, Dick Whittington and His Cat (New York: Atheneum, 1988).

  4. Hurston alludes here to Isaiah 11:6 in the Bible. The passage is part of Isaiah’s prophesy for a world at peace.

  5. Millard Fillmore Caldwell (1897–1984), who was white, served as governor of Florida from 1945–1949.

  6. Marcus Garvey (1887–1940) was a Jamaican-born activist, publisher, and orator with a Black Nationalist message who led the Universal Negro Improvement Association in the United States. Hurston here alludes to “the lily-maid” of Astolat, a figure from Arthurian legend who dies when Arthur fails to return her love. The story appears in Sir Thomas Mallory’s Le Morte d’Arthur (1485). See P. J. C. Field, ed., Sir Thomas Mallory: Le Morte Darthur: The Definitive Original Text Edition (Suffolk: Boydell & Brewer, 2017).

  7. Following this essay, Hurston outlined notes and additional impressions that scholars might find helpful. See that typescript housed in Documents Relating to the Trial of Ruby McCollum for the Murder of Dr. LeRoy Adams, Live Oak, Florida, 1954, Special and Area Studies Collections, George A. Smathers Libraries, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida.

  Index

  A specific form of pagination for this digital edition has been developed to match the print edition from which the index was created. If the application you are reading this on supports this feature, the page references noted in this index should align. At this time, however, not all digital devices support this functionality. Therefore, we encourage you to please use your device’s search capabilities to locate a specific entry.

  abolitionism, 243, 252

  Abomey, Benin, 39, 40

  Abraham, 108, 185, 195

  Adams, Doctor C. LeRoy, 18–22, 315, 321–327, 329, 334, 336–342, 344–353, 355, 366, 369, 374–377, 379–391, 394, 395, 399–401

  Adams, E. C. L., 112

  Adams, Florrie, 351–353

  Adams, Judge Hal W., 21, 316–317, 320, 327, 329–331, 333–336, 338, 340, 350, 352, 354, 385, 390–392, 396, 400, 401

  Adams, Loretta, 341, 343, 345, 346, 350, 351, 353, 377, 379, 389

  Adams family, 287

  African Legion, 177

  African Methodist Episcopal Church, 97

  African nose, 195

  African religions, 4

  African witch smelling, 96, 97

  Afro-American Life Insurance Company, 243

  Afro-American newspaper, 165

  Alabama, 1, 38, 42, 45, 50–51, 305

  Alabama River, 45

  Allen, Edward, 92

  “Alma Mater,” 151

  Along This Way (J. W. Johnson), 127

  Amazons, 39–41

  American Communist Party, 270, 274–283, 288–289, 297, 307–311

  American Indians, 111, 145

  American Museum of Natural History, 145

  American Peace Crusade, 270

  Andersen, Hans, 110

  Anderson, Marian, 292–293

  Anglo-Saxon nose, 184–185

  angularity, 51

  Armstrong, Louis, 137

  Arnold, Della, 348

  art, 50–52, 123, 125–128

  “Art and Such” (Hurston), 8–10, 123–128

  Arthur, King of England, 31, 219

  Astor, Caroline Schermerhorn, 279

  asymmetry, 52–53

  Atlanta University, 246, 251

  Atlantic Charter, 254

  Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man (J. W. Johnson), 127

  Back Street (Hurst), 118

  Bad Lazarus, 54

  Bailey, Ellen, 100

  Baker, Josephine, 309–310

  ballads, 76

  Baptist church, 79, 82, 90, 92

  “Bare Plot Against Ruby” (Hurston), 329–331

  Barnard College, 188

  Barrymore, John, 126

  Bates, Franke, 94

  Bates, Jefferson, 94

  Bayou Corne, Alabama, 38

  Beaufort, South Carolina, 91–92, 95, 99

  Begging Joints, 245, 247–250, 252

  Belasco, David, 111

  Belo, Jane, 81

  Benedict, Ruth, 114

  Bennett College, 246

  Bethune-Cookman University, 227

  big bands, 134–136

  “Big Boy Leaves Home” (Wright), 129

  Bilbo, Theodore G., 222, 234, 285–286, 294

  Billings, Josh, 111

  “Bits of Our Harlem” (Hurston), 25–27

  Black, A. K., 348–350, 397–398, 400

  Black, Hugo Lafayette, 240

  Black Arts Movement, 17

  Black Bottom, 60, 63

  Black Bourgeoisie (Frazier), 6

  Black English, 3–6, 47–50

  “Black Lives Matter” movement, 21

  Black Power: A Record of Reactions in a Land of Pathos (Wright), 311

  Black preachers, 57

  Black Star Steamship and Navigation Line, 175, 178

  blackface, 3, 63, 110, 112

  Blesh, Rudi, 134–137

  blues, 2, 4, 6, 9, 52, 60, 63, 136

  Book of American Negro Poetry, The, 7

  Bowers, Lloyd Wheaton, 287

  Bradford, Roark, 112–114

  Brady, Saint Elmo, 167

  breathing, 78–79

  Brer Rabbit, 4, 30, 33, 112, 192

  Bronson, Earl, 200

  Brown, Alonzo H., 170

  Brown, Gabriel, 136

  Brown, George Winston, 155, 171

  Brown, John, 221, 234

  Brown, Lawrence, 77

  Brown, Sterling A., 22, 132

  Brown v. Board of Education (1954), 13–15, 18, 296–298, 305

  Burleigh, Harry T., 77

  Burr, Aaron, 290

  Butter Beans and Susie, 64

  Cabot family, 287

  Caldwell, Millard Fillmore, 397

  Calvin, John, 89

  Canada, 256–257

  Cannon, Frank T., 21, 336–342, 344–350, 352, 378, 397–400

  Canterbury Tales (Chaucer), 192

  career women, 212–218

  carpet-baggers, 259, 264, 265

  cattle, 196–203

  Central High School, Little Rock, Arkansas, 1, 300–301, 305

  Central Life Insurance Company, 242, 352, 353, 370, 380

  chanting, 79, 82

  Chapin, Paul, 204

  “Characteristics of Negro Expression” (Hurston), 3, 47–65

  charleston, 60

  Chaucer, Geoffrey, 14, 192

  cheque words, 47

  “Chick with One Hen, The” (Hurston), 3, 131–133

  Chickasabogue River (Three Mile Creek), 42

  Childers, Lulu Vere, 153

  China, 272, 277, 280

  Chinese people, 147

  Christianity, 4–5, 45–46

  Cincinnati, Ohio, 284

  civil rights movement, 1, 286

  Civil War, 31–32, 221, 243, 252, 301

  Cleopatra, 184

  Clotilda (slave ship), 38, 42–44

  Cohen, Octavus, 112, 113

  Cohn, David, 4

  Coleman, Frank, 167

  collectivism, 275

  colleges, 118, 124–125, 226–227, 246–253, 302

  Columbia University, 118, 226, 246

  Commandment Keeper church, 89

  communism, 16, 130, 270–283, 287, 297

  concert singers, 76, 77

  Congaree Sketches (Adams), 112

  Connelly, Marc, 113

  Constitution Hall, Washington, D.C, 292–293

  Constitution of the United States, 128, 222, 223, 267, 278, 289, 298

  conversion visions, 66–71

  “Conversions and Visions” (Hurston), 66–71

  Cook, George W., 155

  Coolidge, Calvin, 113, 156

  “Court Order Can’t Make Races Mix” (Hurston), 296–299

  Cox, R. H., 347

  “Crazy for This Democracy” (Hurston), 13, 20–21, 254–258

  Crews, P. Guy, 316–320, 329, 330, 347, 397

  Crisis, The (magazine), 307, 308

  Crocketville, South Carolina, 99

  Cudahy Company, 199

  culture heroes, 4, 54, 114

  “Culture Heroes” (Hurston), 4

  Curry, Samuel Silas, 165

  Curry, Thelma, 336, 345, 400

  Dabney, John, 45

  Dahomey, West Africa, 39–44, 46

  Dailey, Carrie, 348

  Daily Worker newspaper, 271, 278

  dancing, 51–53, 60, 63, 109, 135

  Danielson, Jacques, 118–120

  Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), 292

  Davis, Jefferson, 320

  Davis, Sarah, 358, 361

  De Bourg, John Sidney, 179

  Declaration of Independence, 137

  democracy, 254–256, 258

  Democratic Party, 221–223

  desegregation, 1, 13–18, 221, 228, 296, 298–301, 305, 307, 310–311

  Dett, Nathaniel, 77

  Dewey, Thomas E., 221, 223

  dialect, 3, 7, 9, 64–65, 78, 128

  Dirksen, Everett, 223

  “Dixie to Broadway” (show), 61

  double descriptive, 49

  Douglass, Frederick, 124

  Dred Scott Decision (1857), 45

  Du Bois, William Edward Burghardt, 2, 175, 178, 240, 270, 282, 302–304, 307

  Dugger, B. A., 84

  Dunbar, Mary Jane, 96

  Durkee, James Stanley, 152–157, 161–163, 165–167, 170–171

  Dusk of Dawn: An Essay Toward an Autobiography of a Race Concept (Du Bois), 303–304

  Dust Tracks on a Road (Hurston), 11

  Dyett, Thomas B., 154

  Dying Bed Maker, The, 76

  Eatonville, Florida, 186–187

  education, 13–18, 226–227, 234–235, 246–252, 286, 296–298, 300–305, 307

  Edwards, O. O., 317–319, 331, 338, 341, 347, 348, 397, 400

  Eisenhower, Dwight D., 220–223, 307, 309

  Elijah, 115

  Ellison, Ralph, 22

  Emancipation Proclamation, 38, 45, 248

  Emory University, 225

  “Emperor Effaces Himself, The” (Hurston), 13, 173–181

  Ethiopian nose, 185

  eye-pops, 109

  Fair Employment Practices Committee (FEPC), 258, 261, 268, 286

  “Fannie Hurst” (Hurston), 117–122

  Fanon, Frantz, 2

  Fast, Howard, 271

  Federalist Papers, 287

  feminism, 10–12

  Fernandina, Florida, 126, 127

  Ferris, Sir William H., 177

  Fessenden Academy, 358–361, 370

  Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution, 128

  fighting, 58–59

  filibuster, 286

  Fisk Jubilee Singers, 63, 64

  Fisk University, 77, 147, 226, 246, 248, 251

  Florida, 15, 16, 18–21, 125–128, 186–187, 191, 193, 196–203, 225–227, 240, 242, 244, 246, 250, 296–297, 304, 361, 364–366, 368–390, 397

  primary election of 1950, 259–263, 267–268, 291

  Florida A. and M. University, 246

  Florida Agricultural and Mechanical College (FAMC), 226, 227, 244

  Florida Statewide Negro Defense Committee, 242

  Florida Writers Project, 123n

  folklore, 3, 53–55, 76, 114, 123, 131, 138, 140, 147, 192, 306, 394

  Ford, Henry, 53–55

  Ford, Isadora, 99

  Foster, Captain Bill, 42–44

  Foster, Stephen G., 315

  Four Freedoms, 254

  Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution, 128

  Franklin, Benjamin, 282

  Frazier, E. Franklin, 6

  free Blacks, 124–125, 264, 303

  Freedmen’s Bureau, 227

  French Antilles, 141

  French dances, 135

  French language, 192

  French revolution, 319

  “Full of Mud, Sweat and Blood” (Hurston), 4

  Gaines, E. L., 177–179

  Galahad, Sir, 219

  Garvey, Marcus, 13, 173–181, 400

  Gates, J. M., 12

  Georgia, 140, 223

  Gershwin, George, 63

  Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, 221

  Ghana, 310, 311

  Gilbert, Leon A., 271

  Gilbert, W. S., 224

  glee clubs, 64, 76–77

  God Shakes Creation, 4

  God’s Trombones (J. W. Johnson), 7, 127

  Goins, James Garfield, 171

  Goins, Suzanne Y., 171

  “Gointer Study War No Mo,” 151

  Goode brothers, 271

  Goodwin, Clara, 101

  gospel music, 3

  Grandfather Clause, 265

  Grant, Ulysses S., 287

  Graves, John Temple II, 222, 223

  Gray, Deputy Sheriff, 347

  Grecian nose, 185, 195

  Green, Paul, 112

  Green Pastures, The (Connelly), 113, 133

  Gulf of Guinea, 43

  Hagar, 108, 111, 281

  Haiti, 255

  Hamilton, Alexander, 288

  Hamites, 233

  Hampton University, 64, 77, 246, 305

  Handy, W. C., 136

  Hardwick, Harry C., 171

  Hardwick, Pezavia Eugene, 171

  Harlem, New York, 25–27, 276

  Harlem Renaissance, 1, 7

  Harrison, Richard B., 113

  Harvard University, 124, 225, 302, 303

  Hawkins, Virgil D., 304

  Hayes, Roland, 57

  Hayes, Rutherford B., 265

  Hedden, Worth Tuttle, 147

  Heflin, J. Thomas, 234

  Helen of Troy, 185, 195

  Henderson, Odis, 348–350

  Henry, Patrick, 320

  He’s a Mind Regulator, 76

  Heyward, DuBose, 112

  Higginbotham, Evelyn Brooks, 7

  High John de Conquer, 28–37, 140

  “High John de Conquer” (Hurston), 28–37

  Hobby, Oveta Culp, 308

  Holland, Mary, 229

  Holland, Spessard L., 225–227, 229, 349–350

  Holmes, Dwight Oliver Wendell, 157

  Holy Church of the Living God, 84, 85

  Holy Grail, 218, 219

  “Honey let yo’ drawers hang low,” 63

  hoodoo dance, 109

  “How It Feels to Be Colored Me” (Hurston), 13, 186–190

  Howard, Oliver Otis, 159

  Howard, Willie James, 19

  Howard University, 13, 132, 151–172, 246, 248, 251, 305

  “Hue and Cry About Howard University, The” (Hurston), 13, 151–172

  Huffman, Ernest, 69

  Hughes, Langston, 52, 57, 271, 308

  human rights, 262

  Humoresque: A Laugh on Life with a Tear Behind It (Hurst), 118, 119

  Hurst, Fannie, 117–122, 126

  Hurston, Lucy, 14

  hymns, 79, 80, 136

  “I Saw Negro Votes Peddled” (Hurston), 259–269

  Ibsen, Henrik, 193

  Ickes, Harold, 292

  idiom, 3–5, 8, 9, 128