Ruby McCollum

Ruby McCollum, born Ruby Johnson (August 31, 1909 – May 23, 1992), was a wealthy married African-American woman in Live Oak, Florida arrested and convicted in 1952 for killing a prominent white doctor and state senator. She testified during her trial that he had repeatedly raped her, and forced her to bear his child.

McCollum was tried and convicted in Live Oak, Florida that year for the murder of Dr. C. Leroy Adams, and sentenced to death. The sensational case was covered widely in the United States press, as well as by international papers, but McCollum was covered by a gag order. Her case was appealed and overturned by the State Supreme Court. Before the second trial, McCollum was examined and found mentally incompetent to stand trial. She was committed to the state mental hospital at Chattahoochee, Florida. In 1974 her attorney, Frank Cannon, obtained her release under the Baker Act, as she was not considered a danger to herself or others.

In the 21st century, McCollum and her case have received renewed attention, with new books and four film documentaries exploring the issues of race, class, gender and corruption in local politics. In the long term, McCollum's case has been considered a landmark trial in the struggle for civil rights as she was the first black woman to testify against a white man's sexual abuse and paternity of their child. It is considered to have helped change attitudes about the practice of "paramour rights" by powerful men. McCollum's attorney, Releford McGriff, became part of a team who worked to change Florida's Jim Crow practice of selecting all-male, all-white juries. (Blacks were still disenfranchised at that time and thus not eligible to serve as jurors, who were limited to voters.)

Ruby Johnson was born in 1909 to Gertrude and William Johnson in Zuber, Florida. She was the second child and first daughter among her six siblings. They attended local segregated schools. Ruby's parents recognized her intelligence and sent her to a private school, Fessenden Academy, where she excelled in bookkeeping.

In 1931 Ruby Johnson married Sam McCollum, and they moved to Nyack, New York, as part of the Great Migration of rural blacks out of the South in the early 20th century. During the few years that they lived there, she had a son, Sam, Jr.

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