Women's Roles in "The Heat of Night"

Virgil Tibbs and Bill Gillespie

When watching In the Heat of the Night (1967), I found myself drawn to the themes of women and how they're presented in the movie through ways of speech, roles, and social status. The women in this movie represent a degree of the level of oppression during the era of the Jim Crow South. Mrs. Colbert, Delores Purdy, and Mama Caleba occupy vastly different positions in social order, yet they share a common theme of powerlessness, subtly exposed by the movie, that women still faced in the 1960s. 

Mrs. Leslie Colbert

Mrs. Leslie Colbert, played by Lee Grant, represents the pinnacle of Southern, white womanhood. As the wealthy widow of a murdered industrialist, she possesses both monetary comfort and social standing. Even in her grief, however, I noticed that her authority remains limited. She isn't allowed to partake in the investigation of her husband's death or demand justice for him. She instead has to work through the patriarchal society of the time and use economic leverage to insist that Virgil Tibbs, played by Sidney Poitier, continues to work on the case. Her power is real, but very indirect, which she only has due to influence

The film presents her high status as armor, but I see it as limiting. She is the embodiment of the traditional upper class Southern woman. She is elevated above the lower class, and although living in a period of change for women, she is still immobilized. The fact that she is a wealthy white grants her protection yet no true autonomy. She exists as a symbol to be defended rather than a real person with independent autonomy.

Delores Purdy

Quentin Dean, playing Delores Purdy, represents an entirely different type of woman than Mrs. Colbert. She is a poor, white woman, who is also very sexually available to men. Despite the sexual revolution going on at the time, she represents many aspects of what people in the 1960s despised while simultaneously exploiting it. I also noticed how the film portrayed her vulnerability. She lives in filth with her brother Ralph. Her liaison with Mr. Colbert before he died wasn't romance, but was survival in a town with few options for women who lacked means.

When Delores become involved in the murder investigation, her lack of social protection becomes apparent. She has none of Mrs. Colbert's resources. The fact that she is white offers her only marginally more consideration than the Black residents of the town, but the consideration she does receive remains limited. The men around her see her as a morally compromised individual who is worthy of suspicion in relation to the crime rather than sympathy. She struck me as separate and unequal, even within her own racial group.

Mama Caleba

Finally, there is Mama Caleba, played by Beah Richards, who appears briefly but undoubtedly powerful. As a Black woman in the South during the Jim Crow era, she faces the burden of both racial and gender based discrimination. I found her scene with Virgil Tibbs to be very revealing. She provides him with important information regarding the case, operates her business during a time of turmoil, and navigates the world with a dignity unattainable for many people. Despite all of this strength, she operates in a completely different world than Mrs. Colbert and Delores.

Mama Caleba doesn't appeal to the protection of white womanhood like Mrs. Colbert does. She lacks the proximity to white society that both Delores and Mrs. Colbert possess through their relationships with white men. She is completely self sufficient in an era designed to deny her with resources and respect. Her appearance, which is brief but vital, suggests a lifetime of wise interaction with others and intelligent use of the few resources she did have access to.

Virgil Tibbs

I do not believe these women were separate but equal in any sense. They do exist in very separate classes and areas of society, and are members of different races. However, equality is absent from all the relationships the film shows. Mrs. Colbert has privilege due to her social status and race, yet doesn't have freedom to do what she pleases. Delores doesn't have privilege nor shares the protection that Mrs. Colbert has. Mama Caleba is forced to create her own dignity in a society which tries to make sure she doesn't have it.

Although the film was focused on the murder case of Mr. Colbert and the interactions between Tibbs and Gillespie, the women showed another story that is often unrepresented. Separate spheres for women didn't always guarantee better treatment, just oppression in different ways. They had different forms of constraint, different strategies for survival, and different types of invisibility within a patriarchal world.