Resurrecting Ruby: A Modern Retelling

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RESURRECTING RUBY A Modern Retelling

VICTORIA LAW

with a foreword by

MARIAME KABA

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Resurrecting Ruby: A Modern Retelling

Published on Jan 16, 2021

Project Nia

On August 3, 1952, in Live Oak, Florida, a Southern town of 4,000 people, Ruby McCollum shot and killed her lover, Dr. C. LeRoy Adams. McCollum was a 43 year old married Black woman and Adams was a prominent white physician. Her trial rivaled some of our modern legal circuses. Renowned writer Zora Neale Hurston was dispatched by the Pittsburgh Courier to cover the McCollum trial. Today, the memory of this incident has faded from public consciousness. In this zine, Victoria Law describes the case. Also included are Zora Neale Hurston’s impressions of the trial. Resurrecting Ruby contextualizes Ruby’s story within a legacy of how Black women have been unfairly treated within U.S. society. It raises the question of whether Ruby’s actions were justified as self-defense and asks if she might have been criminalized for survival. The publication was designed by Neta Bomani, the cover art was created by Rachel Marie Crane-Williams, and Kayla LeGrand provided research support.

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