Inherit the Land : Jim Crow Meets Miss Maggie's Will

by Stowe, Gene

• ISBN13: 9781934110607
• ISBN10: 1934110604
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2007-08-01
• Publisher: Univ Pr of Mississippi

Summary

In the early twentieth century, two wealthy white sisters, cousins to a North Carolina governor, wrote identical wills that left their substantial homeplace to a black man and his daughter.Maggie Ross, whose sister Sallie died in 1909, was the richest woman in Union County, North Carolina. Upon Maggie's death in 1920, her will bequeathed her estate to Bob Ross-who had grown up in the sisters' household-and his daughter Mittie Bell Houston. Mittie had also grown up with the well-to-do women, who had shown their affection for her by building a house for her and her husband. This house, along with eight hundred acres, hundreds of dollars in cash, and two of the white family's three gold watches went to Bob Ross and Houston. As soon as the contents of the will became known, more than one hundred of Maggie Ross's scandalized cousins sued to break the will, claiming that its bequest to black people proved that Maggie Ross was mentally incompetent.Revealing the details of this case and of the lives of the people involved in it, Gene Stowe presents a story that sheds light on and complicates our understanding of the Jim Crow South. Stowe's account of this famous court battle shows how specific individuals, both white and black, labored against the status quo of white superiority and ultimately won. An evocative portrait of an entire generation's sins,Inherit the Land: Jim Crow Meets Miss Maggie's Willhints at the possibility for color-blind justice in small-town North Carolina.Gene Stowe grew up in Monroe, North Carolina, and was a reporter for theCharlotte Observerfor twelve years. He is head of the writing program of Trinity School at Greenlawn in South Bend, Indiana. Carl A. Sergio earned degrees in art design and psychology at the University of Notre Dame. He is currently working in Chicago while preparing to attend graduate school. Learn more about the author at http://genestowe.blogspot.com/ .

Author Biography

Gene Stowe is currently head of the writing program of Trinity School at Greenlawn in South Bend, Indiana

Table of Contents

Preface	p. ix
Acknowledgments	p. xi
Prologue	p. 3
Worlds Apart
The Marvin People	p. 7
The White Man's World of Violence	p. 17
The White Man's World of Power	p. 26
The Court	p. 37
The Rosses
Susan	p. 49
Bob and Dennis	p. 54
Mittie Bell	p. 60
Sallie and Maggie	p. 65
The Neighbors	p. 70
The Tenants	p. 77
The Will	p. 83
The Cousins	p. 90
The Trial
Jury	p. 99
First Witness	p. 105
George Sutton	p. 111
Witnesses to the Will	p. 117
Preachers	p. 126
Frank Crane	p. 135
Harriet Taylor	p. 144
Cousin Margaret and the Cook	p. 153
Visitors	p. 161
Dr. Potts	p. 170
Boarders	p. 175
Alienists	p. 179
Doctors, Neighbor, and Kin	p. 188
News	p. 193
Caveators Rest	p. 198
Propounders Reply	p. 202
R.A. Hudson	p. 212
Character Witnesses	p. 220
Propounders Rest	p. 226
Sikes and Parker	p. 230
A.M. Stack	p. 237
E. T. Cansler	p. 242
Charge and Verdict	p. 248
Reaction	p. 257
New Trial	p. 262
The Heritage
The People	p. 269
The Land	p. 275
The Abundance of Peace	p. 281
White Ross Genealogy	p. 288
Black Ross Genealogy	p. 294
Sources	p. 296
Index	p. 303
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