McCollum, Ruby (1915–)

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McCollum, Ruby (1915–)

American murderer. Born in Live Oak, FL, in 1915; children: at least 1 daughter.

As an African-American woman in the South before the civil-rights movement, suffered discrimination throughout life; was alleged to have been the mistress of a local white politician and had a child by him; convicted of murdering him (1952), was saved from the death penalty through the efforts of a white attorney; after spending 2 years in the state penitentiary, was transferred to a mental hospital, from which she was eventually released into the custody of her daughter.

See also William Bradford Huie, Ruby McCollum: Woman in the Suwanee Jail.

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