Cid Ricketts Sumner
Encyclopedia
Cid Ricketts Sumner was a novelist from the United States. She also taught English at a Jackson, Mississippi
high school
and French at Millsaps College
.
Sumner was born Bertha Louise Ricketts in Brookhaven, Mississippi
. She was the daughter of Bertha Burnley and Robert Scott Ricketts. Her father was a professor at Millsaps College
, and her mother and grandmother provided a homeschooled education for her. She received a BS from Millsaps College in 1909 and an MA from Columbia University
in 1910. She continued postgraduate work at Columbia from 1910 to 1914, then enrolled in medical school at Cornell. She only attended one year of medical school before marrying one of her professors, Nobel Prize
winner James B. Sumner
, on July 10, 1915. They had four children (although the Nobel website for James B. Sumner indicated that they had six children, one of whom died young). They were divorced in 1930.
Several of Ms. Sumner's books were filmed. The most well-known were Quality, which became the movie Pinky; Tammy Out of Time became the movie Tammy and the Bachelor; and Tammy Tell Me True. Quality was quite ahead of its time in terms of addressing miscegenation
(interracial marriage). It depicts a young, fair-skinned black woman who attends nursing school in the north and passes for white.
In 1955, Ms. Sumner joined the Eggert-Hatch river expedition, the purpose of which was to make the last films of the Green and Colorado River canyons before construction began on Flaming Gorge and Glen Canyon dams. Ms. Sumner was the only female member of the expedition. She applied to be a member after reading an ad placed by Charles Eggert in Harper's Magazine, and was accepted after she proved to Charles Eggert that she could stand up to the rigors of the river expedition. She was not allowed to float through Cataract Canyon on the Colorado, as Don Hatch, the head boatman, felt that it was too dangerous, but she rejoined the party at Hite, Utah, and floated all the way through to Lees Ferry, Arizona, where the first leg of the expedition ended. When the journey resumed the next year for the section through the Grand Canyon, she did not return. Ms. Sumner wrote a book about her journey called Traveler in the Wilderness, published by Harper in 1957.
Ms. Sumner died violently, being bludgeoned to death at the age of 80 in Duxbury, Massachusetts
. Her grandson, John R. Cutler, was charged with her murder.
Jackson, Mississippi
Jackson is the capital and the most populous city of the US state of Mississippi. It is one of two county seats of Hinds County ,. The population of the city declined from 184,256 at the 2000 census to 173,514 at the 2010 census...
high school
High school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
and French at Millsaps College
Millsaps College
Millsaps College is a private liberal arts college located in Jackson, Mississippi. Founded in 1890, the college is recognized as one of the country's best private colleges dedicated to undergraduate teaching and educating the whole individual. Affiliated with the United Methodist Church, Millsaps...
.
Sumner was born Bertha Louise Ricketts in Brookhaven, Mississippi
Brookhaven, Mississippi
Brookhaven is a small city in Lincoln County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 9,861 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Lincoln County...
. She was the daughter of Bertha Burnley and Robert Scott Ricketts. Her father was a professor at Millsaps College
Millsaps College
Millsaps College is a private liberal arts college located in Jackson, Mississippi. Founded in 1890, the college is recognized as one of the country's best private colleges dedicated to undergraduate teaching and educating the whole individual. Affiliated with the United Methodist Church, Millsaps...
, and her mother and grandmother provided a homeschooled education for her. She received a BS from Millsaps College in 1909 and an MA from Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
in 1910. She continued postgraduate work at Columbia from 1910 to 1914, then enrolled in medical school at Cornell. She only attended one year of medical school before marrying one of her professors, Nobel Prize
Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...
winner James B. Sumner
James B. Sumner
James Batcheller Sumner was an American chemist. He shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1946 with John Howard Northrop and Wendell Meredith Stanley.-Biography:...
, on July 10, 1915. They had four children (although the Nobel website for James B. Sumner indicated that they had six children, one of whom died young). They were divorced in 1930.
Several of Ms. Sumner's books were filmed. The most well-known were Quality, which became the movie Pinky; Tammy Out of Time became the movie Tammy and the Bachelor; and Tammy Tell Me True. Quality was quite ahead of its time in terms of addressing miscegenation
Miscegenation
Miscegenation is the mixing of different racial groups through marriage, cohabitation, sexual relations, and procreation....
(interracial marriage). It depicts a young, fair-skinned black woman who attends nursing school in the north and passes for white.
In 1955, Ms. Sumner joined the Eggert-Hatch river expedition, the purpose of which was to make the last films of the Green and Colorado River canyons before construction began on Flaming Gorge and Glen Canyon dams. Ms. Sumner was the only female member of the expedition. She applied to be a member after reading an ad placed by Charles Eggert in Harper's Magazine, and was accepted after she proved to Charles Eggert that she could stand up to the rigors of the river expedition. She was not allowed to float through Cataract Canyon on the Colorado, as Don Hatch, the head boatman, felt that it was too dangerous, but she rejoined the party at Hite, Utah, and floated all the way through to Lees Ferry, Arizona, where the first leg of the expedition ended. When the journey resumed the next year for the section through the Grand Canyon, she did not return. Ms. Sumner wrote a book about her journey called Traveler in the Wilderness, published by Harper in 1957.
Ms. Sumner died violently, being bludgeoned to death at the age of 80 in Duxbury, Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
. Her grandson, John R. Cutler, was charged with her murder.