''Scarlet Sister Mary'' is a

1928 Events January * January – British bacteriologist Frederick Griffith reports the results of Griffith's experiment, indirectly proving the existence of DNA. * January 1 – Eastern Bloc emigration and defection: Boris Bazhano ...

novel by

Julia Peterkin Julia Peterkin (October 31, 1880 – August 10, 1961) was an American author from South Carolina. In 1929 she won the Pulitzer Prize for Novel/Literature for her novel '' Scarlet Sister Mary.'' She wrote several novels about the plantation Sout ...

. It won the

Pulitzer Prize for the Novel The Pulitzer Prize for Fiction is one of the seven American Pulitzer Prizes that are annually awarded for Letters, Drama, and Music. It recognizes distinguished fiction by an American author, preferably dealing with American life, published during ...

in 1929. The book was called obscene and banned at the public library in Gaffney, South Carolina. ''The Gaffney Ledger'' newspaper, however, serially published the complete book. Dr. Richard S. Burton, the chairperson of Pulitzer's fiction-literature jury, recommended that the first prize go to the novel ''Victim and Victor'' by John Rathbone Oliver. His nomination was superseded by the School of Journalism's choice of Peterkin's book. Evidently in protest, Burton resigned from the jury.

Ethel Barrymore Ethel Barrymore (born Ethel Mae Blythe; August 15, 1879 – June 18, 1959) was an American actress and a member of the Barrymore family of actors. Barrymore was a stage, screen and radio actress whose career spanned six decades, and was regard ...

had the dramatic rights to the novel, and in 1930 starred on Broadway in a blackface performance, whose cast included Estelle Winwood, Ted de Corsia,

Marjorie Main Mary Tomlinson (February 24, 1890 – April 10, 1975), professionally known as Marjorie Main, was an American character actress and singer of the Classical Hollywood period, best known as a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer contract player in the 1940s and 1 ...

and Barrymore's teenaged daughter, Ethel Barrymore Colt, in her stage debut.

Synopsis

''Scarlet Sister Mary'' is set among the

Gullah The Gullah () are an African American ethnic group who predominantly live in the Lowcountry region of the U.S. states of Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, and North Carolina, within the coastal plain and the Sea Islands. Their language and cultu ...

people of the Low Country in South Carolina. The date is never clearly established, but appears to be around the beginning of the 20th century. The title character, Mary, was an orphan on an abandoned plantation who was raised by Auntie Maum Hannah and her crippled son Budda Ben. The description of Mary as "Scarlet Sister" reflects the basic conflict in the novel as Mary is torn between her desire to be a member in good standing in the church and a desire to live a life of sin and pleasure.

Notes

References

* "Burton Quits Jury on Pulitzer Award", ''The New York Times'', May 17, 1929, p. 12. * ''Scarlet Sister Mary'', Indianapolis: Bobbs Merrill, 1928,
First Edition of ''Scarlet Sister Mary''

''Time'', June 10, 1929.

External links

* 1928 American novels Bobbs-Merrill Company books Novels first published in serial form Novels set in South Carolina Pulitzer Prize for the Novel-winning works Gullah in popular culture {{1920s-erotic-novel-stub