Early career

In 1903, Stribling moved to Tuscaloosa, to teach at Tuscaloosa High School. He taught both mathematics and physical education. He taught there for one year before departing, having "no idea whatever of discipline" in the classroom (Kunitz, 1359); he preferred to continue his own education.

In 1905, Stribling completed his law degree at the University of Alabama School of Law. He passed the bar but used his newly earned degree for only a brief time. In fewer than two years, he served as clerk in the Florence law office of George Jones; as one of the practicing lawyers in the Florence law office of Governor Emmett O'Neal; and as a lawyer in the law office of John Ashcraft. Instead of working on clients' cases, Stribling was using the office supplies, typewriter, and paid hours to perfect his writing craft. Under the advice of his fellow lawyers, Stribling gave up practicing law in 1907.

Novels

In 1917, The Cruise of the Dry Dock was published in a limited print run of 250 copies. This was Stribling's first effort at a novel. It was strongly influenced by his adventure writings for boys that were published in various pulp magazines. This World War I story set in the German-infested waters of the Sargasso Sea, where an American crew tries to escape capture and certain death by the hands of the evil enemy. "A potboiler, The Cruise of the Dry Dock is neither in its style nor its choice of subject matter particularly original or impressive." (Martine, 73)

His second novel, Birthright, was first serialized in seven parts in Century Magazine, then collected and published in book form in 1922.^[3] This is considered to be Stribling's first serious novel, in which he attempts to "tell the truth" about the negro problem.^[4] Birthright was highly praised by critics in both the black and white communities, but it also received mixed reviews.^[4] Set in the early 20th century, Birthright is the story of Peter Siner, a young African-American of mixed-race (referred to as mulatto), who has graduated from Harvard and returned to his home town, the fictional Hooker's Bend, Tennessee. He intends to teach in a black school and has hopes of developing a higher level training school, such as Tuskegee or Hampton Institute. He wants to help his race and also heal racial rifts in the village and the South. There he struggles against prejudices of both the white and black man.^[5]

His black mother Caroline Siner is a washwoman, and wants him to rise above this place. He indirectly meets his white father for the first time, an older "gentleman", who had helped pay for college, hires him as an assistant to help compile a memoir, and encourages his training school plans. But few others support it, and Peter makes social missteps among both blacks and whites in the small town. Peter finally marries Cissie, a young woman frequently described as an octoroon (meaning she is three-quarters white) and very light with straight hair. She also was educated away from town, but wants to leave, especially after becoming pregnant by a scheming white youth. The couple flee the South, migrating to Chicago, where Peter can take a business job held for him by a Harvard classmate. The Independent found this effort worthy but too bound by stereotypes and the author pushing a theory.^[4]

Birthright was a major departure for Stribling from his pulp adventure stories. It is a social critique of not only the discriminatory practices of the South, but in all of America. He notes the social rules, taboos and racial laws of the South that oppressed blacks, such as Jim Crow laws and the Tennessee-initiated Segregation Seating Act for Railroad Cars (1881). Blacks entering the state were required to leave the general cars and move to the segregated car, generally in poorer condition and location on the train.

This novel also reflects ongoing population movements, such as "The Great Migration" of blacks from the mostly rural South to Northern and Midwestern industrial cities. "From 1910 to 1930 between 1.5 million and 2 million African Americans left the South for the industrial cities of the North."^[6] The Pennsylvania Railroad hired blacks for construction and to work on its rapidly expanding lines across the country. Many blacks became Pullman workers, considered a good job at the time. World War I had broken out in Europe, and although America had not entered the conflict, it was supplying goods for the war. Northern manufacturers recruited Southern black workers to fill the high demand for factory workers. In addition, blacks voted with their feet, leaving the South to escape Jim Crow laws and racial violence.

During the time that Stribling was writing his adventure stories, he was also traveling extensively, in Europe, and to Cuba and Venezuela. In Venezuela Stribling was inspired to write the novels Fombombo (1923), Red Sand (1924), and Strange Moon (1929). All three are set in Venezuela, and all three explore the country's different social and ethnic classes. He adds a touch of romance and adventure also. All three novels are classified as among the lighter, "fun" reading of Stribling's works.

With Teeftallow (1926) and Brightmetal (1928), Stribling returned to novels set in Middle Tennessee and offering social satire. He became well known for this style. These two novels have some overlap in characters. They explore the problems of the South through the eyes of local whites, both poor and middle class. Neither book gained any high critical praise, but both were well received by the reading community.

Vaiden trilogy

1930 was a highly significant year for Stribling. That year he produced his eleventh novel, The Forge (1931), the first book of a trilogy and social satire following three generations of the Vaiden family. That year he married Lou Ella Kloss, a music teacher and hometown friend. They settled in Clifton, Tennessee.

Set in Florence, Alabama, this trilogy follows the Vaiden family from the Civil War and postwar period of emancipation of slaves, to the post-Reconstruction era in the late nineteenth century, and lastly, to the 1920s. Stribling was one of the most popular writers of his time, and the novels are considered significant in Southern literature:

"Through not great literary art, Stribling's trilogy is, nevertheless, historically significant; for in The Forge, The Store, and Unfinished Cathedral, Stribling introduced a subject matter, themes, plot elements, and character types which parallel and at the same time anticipate those that William Faulkner, who owned copies of this trilogy, would treat in Absalom, Absalom! and in the Snopes trilogy." (Martine, 76)

These three novels represent an ambitious overview of social, political and economic issues encountered in the South by blacks and whites and various social classes among them.

The Forge introduces many of the characters who reappear in the next two novels but does not have a single protagonist. Among these is veteran Miltiades "Milt" Vaiden, who had previously been overseer on a major plantation, although he was son of a poor white blacksmith, Jimmie Vaiden. Col. Milt, as he is known, served as an officer in the Confederacy during the Civil War and returns home to struggle to make a place for himself. Finding work, Vaiden soon also finds a woman who he wants to marry, as a means to reach his dreams. She rejects him, choosing a richer man. Vaiden meets and marries another girl, middle-class Ponny BeShears. While he is not so attracted to her, he learns she will gain a nice inheritance after her father dies. He hopes this will help push him into the mercantile class. The background is based on changes in the post-war era, after slavery is abolished. White Southerners attempt to control the changing social and political landscape of free labor and black enfranchisement, in part through such vigilante groups as the Ku Klux Klan (KKK), which Vaiden also joins.

Stribling's most famous novel is The Store (1932), the second book in The Vaiden Trilogy. It won a Pulitzer Prize for the Novel in 1933. It returns to Col. Miltiades "Milt" Vaiden, as he is known by this time in the post-Reconstruction era of the 1880s.^[7] He has established himself as a prominent business figure in Florence. The South is developing a new economic and social order, with more businesses and industries, such as textile mills, being established. Throughout the course of novel, Vaiden cultivates a reputation for honesty and square dealing, while he also chooses opportune moments to lie and steal. His successes and failures in the arena of commerce contribute much to the dynamics of the storyline. He becomes a merchant and banker.

Meanwhile, it is revealed that, as a young man, Miltiades had raped Gracie, a mixed-race black girl working for his family. His own father Jimmie Vaiden had forced her enslaved mother into sex, so Gracie is his half-sister. Gracie became pregnant after Militades's assault, and gave birth to a boy she named Toussaint (after a hero of the Haitian Revolution). Her son is three-quarters white by descent.

Gracie never tells Toussaint about his father, nor Vaiden about the boy. Gracie keeps Toussaint with her and tries to get him an education, even under southern limits. She hopes that Toussaint will some day be able to travel North, pass as a white man, and marry a white woman. Toussaint's behavior, and "uppity" attitude in terms of Southern expectations, are a central point of tension throughout the story.

The final book in the trilogy is The Unfinished Cathedral (1934). It is set in Florence in the 1920s at a time of economic boom. The Vaiden family are still main characters. It is a time of the rising white middle class to challenge the long dominance of wealthy landowners and merchants. This period also saw significant changes in the status of Southern women and blacks. The now aged Milt Vaiden is a banker and prominent member of his church, where he supports building a great structure. He plans to be buried there.

He also works to take full advantage of an economic boom stimulated by federal spending under President Herbert Hoover for public works projects. His campaign promises gained new urgency after the stock market crash of 1929. Flood control proposed for the Tennessee River stimulated speculators to acquire land before development took place. As Florence attracts new businesses and residents, Vaiden and others tried to buy land, especially from poor blacks. They had been disenfranchised in the early 20th century, their schools are underfunded, and many are uneducated and left outside the economic boom. Local whites offer sums of money for their land that blacks couldn't refuse, or used threats to run them off, or found other means to cheat them.

In this novel, Stribling moves the trial of the Scottsboro boys to Florence. As he says, he uses it in an incidental way, to show that such a trial could take place in the South. He is most interested in how the various social classes and groups react to it, as well as exploring Northern intervention through activities of the Communist Party, and civil rights groups.^[8]

Gracie and her son Toussaint never were able to leave Florence. She is being kept by a white man. Toussaint runs afoul of the law and is lynched with other black men by a white mob.

Meanwhile, the town pastor and Vaiden have gotten caught up in the fever of expansion. The pastor ignores the spiritual needs of the townspeople in favor of promoting Vaiden's goal of building a great church. Vaiden is shocked when his cherished daughter becomes pregnant before she marries, and he realizes the generations have really changed. His world is badly shaken even before a bomb brings down the unfinished cathedral around him.^[7]

Adaptations

Stribling's work has been adapted for both film and plays:

• Birthright was twice adapted as a feature film with the same name, both times by noted African-American director Oscar Micheaux. The 1924 version was a silent film. Fifteen years later, Micheaux co-wrote, produced and directed another version, and Birthright was distributed in 1939. The 1924 film is lost and only part of the 1939 Birthright film survives. This remaining portion was restored under the supervision of the Library of Congress.
• Rope. This play was adapted by Stribling with David Wallace from Teeftallow; it was produced at the Biltmore Theatre, on Broadway, New York City (1928)^[10]
• The Great Fombombo. This play was adapted by David Wallace from the novel Fombombo; it was produced at the Beachwood Theatre, New York City (1932).

Novels

• The Cruise of the Dry Dock (1917). A children's novel published in a limited edition of 250 copies.
• Birthright (1921). First published as a serial in The Century Magazine from October 1921, then as a novel in 1922. (available free online at Wikisource)
• Fombombo (1922) (available free online @ Google Books,
• Red Sand (1923)
• Teeftallow (1926) (available free online @ Google Books)
• Bright Metal (1928)
• East is East (1922)
• Strange Moon (1929)
• Backwater (1930)

The following three form the Vaiden trilogy:

• The Forge (1931)
• The Store (1932), winner of the 1933 Pulitzer Prize for the Novel
• Unfinished Cathedral (1933)
• The Sound Wagon (1935)
• These Bars of Flesh (1938)

Short story collections

• Clues of the Caribbees: Being Certain Criminal Investigations of Henry Poggioli, Ph. D. (1929)

The following collections were all edited and published posthumously:

• Best Dr. Poggioli Detective Stories (Dover, 1975)
• Dr. Poggioli: Criminologist (Crippen & Landru, 2004)
• Web of the Sun (2012) - also contains "The Green Splotches"

Short fiction

• 'The Father of Invention'. Trotwood Monthly, September 1906
• 'Old Four Toes'. Trotwood Monthly, October 1906
• 'Big Jack'. Great Bend Tribune, 8 May 1908
• 'The Pictures of Jacqueleau'. Illustrated Sunday Magazine, 18 April 1909
• 'The Loot of the Dog Star'. Illustrated Sunday Magazine, 4 July 1909
• 'The Peace Commissioner'. Illustrated Sunday Magazine, 25 July 1909
• 'Romance to Order'. Buffalo Enquirer, 8 December 1909
• 'Seeking the Stolen Service'. Leaonardsville News, 21 July 1910
• 'The Utility Man'. Shelby City Herald, 14 September 1910
• 'Old Block and Chips'. Junction City Republic, 17 December 1910
• 'Getting Action'. The American Boy, February 1915
• 'A Hammerhead Film'. The American Boy, April 1915

Poetry

• Design on Darkness
• The Dead Master. Gastonia Gazette, 11 October 1907
• To a Cherokee Rose. Florence Herald, 21 October 1921

Short non-fiction

• Apology to Florence, Wings Magazine, June 1934. Essay related to his novel The Unfinished Cathedral, before its publication as a Literary Guild selection.

Non-fiction books

• Laughing Stock: The Posthumous Autobiography of T.S. Stribling (1982) This was not Stribling's work, but was compiled from his manuscripts by doctoral students Randy Cross and John T. McMillan at University of Mississippi.

Notes