Learning from History

An Interview with local author George Rollie Adams on his Debut novel, South of Little Rock

• By MARY DRAKE –

The time is 1957, not long after the Supreme Court ruled in the case of Brown vs. Board of Education, which declared that segregation was unconstitutional. Across the nation, school districts were ordered to integrate. But Governor Orval Faubus of Arkansas was dead-set against integrating the all-white Central High School of Little Rock. In an eerily familiar showdown between states’ rights and the federal government, President Eisenhower sent federal troops into the capital to uphold the Supreme court ruling. Even as a young boy, George “Rollie” Adams recognized this moment as history in the making.

In his novel South of Little Rock, Adams has interwoven history with small town life, which included high-school football games, Sunday church services, and colorful residents like Crow Hicks, a gun-toting night watchman; Boomer Jenkins, an outdoorsman with a wooden leg; and Orville and Lester Grimes, the main street barbers who provide all the gossip in town along with haircuts. There is also a love story between the protagonist Sam Tate, a local businessman, and Becky Reeves, a Yankee schoolteacher. They must overcome the fears and prejudices of a small town on the verge of dramatic change.

Named after the major-league catcher Ralston Helmsley, Rollie grew up in a small Arkansas town much like the fictional Unionville depicted in his novel but has now lived in Rochester for 30 years. By career a teacher, historian and museum professional (the last as CEO of The Strong Museum of Play), Rollie has already written non-fiction but always wanted to try his hand at a novel. Now, in his retirement, he has written two. The following is an interview with Rollie in which I asked him about his experiences as a debut novelist.

MARY DRAKE (MD) : Please tell me something about the process of writing this novel. How long did it take you? How many revisions did you go through? I understand that, even though you lived through this time period, you still did some research, took classes in novel writing, and had an experienced writer friend tear it to pieces when critiquing. Did you ever get discouraged with the writing? Were there times you questioned your ability to see the novel through?

GEORGE ROLLIE ADAMS (GRA) : It’s difficult to say how long it took me to write South of Little Rock, because after I first thought about it, there were long periods when I wasn’t able to work on it at all. Let’s just say it took me several years to get from idea to book, counting time for research, writing workshops, and the like, with only the final eighteen months or so involving relatively concentrated work. It’s also difficult to say how many versions I went through, because I made a number of adjustments as I went along, but there were two major revisions. As an editor myself, I appreciated the value of critique and advice, and I never really considered not seeing the thing through. Regarding research, I read extensively in secondary historical literature and in relevant newspapers of the time.

MD: From reading about your background, I know that you have extensive writing experience—your dissertation, your biography of General William S. Harney, and other history-related works. But these are all non-fiction. How did you find the experience of writing fiction? How is it different from writing non-fiction? Did you enjoy it more or less?

GRA: For me, writing good history and writing good fiction both involve good storytelling. Because my fiction is historical, it requires research, so it also has that in common with nonfiction. I have enjoyed doing both. Right now, though, I like writing fiction better because it allows me to imagine and create stories and characters of my own, and to make greater use of dialog.

MD: The dialogue of the characters in South of Little Rock clearly reflects their rural southern background. They say things like “dadgum,” “I swan!,” “go ahead on,” and “You sound like an old sitting hen that’s been run off her nest.” Was that kind of idiomatic language easy to write and incorporate into the story? Or had you forgotten a lot of the lingo because of living up North for so long?

GRA: I found the idiomatic aspects of the dialogue in South of Little Rock relatively easy to write, and also a lot of fun. I heard so much of that language in so many different settings growing up that I never lost it even though I no longer use it in real life. Also, trips back home were a bit like refresher courses, and I could always watch a few episodes of the Andy Griffith Show to brush up.

MD: Please tell me about Found in Pieces, the sequel to South of Little Rock that you’re currently writing. How far along are you in the writing? Is this novel about gender inequality in the South?

GRA: Whether my next novel, Found in Pieces, is a sequel is probably a matter of interpretation. I suppose in one sense it is, because the story occurs in the same fictional setting and involves some of the same characters. However, the principal characters in Found in Pieces are either new ones or ones that appeared in secondary roles in South of Little Rock. The primary theme of Found in Pieces is still racism and segregation, but the novel also deals with gender inequality. The two main characters—one white and one black—are both businesswomen. One of them is a newspaper publisher-editor operating at a time when few women anywhere filled those roles, and it’s no coincidence that the book is dedicated to the ideal of truth, honesty, and integrity in journalism. It also includes a murder mystery. It’s finished and will be out shortly.

MD: As I understand it, your sequel takes place one year later (1958) and is also set in the fictional southern town of Unionville, Arkansas. This brings to mind Faulkner’s fictional Yoknapatawpha county, also in the South, where all his novels take place. Did this similarity occur to you when you were writing? Do you see yourself as part of a southern tradition of writers? 

GRA: Yes, Found in Pieces takes place one year later, in 1958. And no, I was not thinking about Faulkner when I was writing. I do think of myself as a Southern writer, and it would please me if others did, too, even though I’ve lived in the North for the last 30 plus years. However, for me to say that I see myself as “part of a Southern tradition of writers” in the way most people use that term would be unseemly. Not that I’d mind it, you understand, but as my grandmother might say, “That’s some pretty high cotton.”  

MD:  We are always affected by the places and experiences of our childhood, but are there particular reasons why you write about the South? Because you love it? Because you want other people to be aware of the rich traditions of southern life? Because you want to explore some of the problems endemic to the south? All of the above?

GRA: I write about the South, or at least about aspects of Southern life I grew up with, partly because I’m familiar with it and partly because there are so many connections between that history and issues that Americans continue to struggle with every day all across the country. I want readers to know that not all white Southerners in the Jim Crow era fell neatly into the stereotypical roles of either fighting desegregation or simply going along with the way things were. Some whites worked hard early on for racial equality, and others were willing to change, and did. Chiefly, however, I want to shine light on the inhumanity and injustice of racial prejudice and bigotry. 

For information about George Rollie Adams and his newest title, Found in Pieces, visit https://georgerollieadamsbooks.com/book/found-in-pieces/ .