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On February 1, 1956, Autherine Lucy Foster integrated The University of Alabama.
Kevin M. Kruse Retweeted65 years ago.
Historic admission. Mob violence complete with Klan members in full regalia, a cross burning, & the CRM pioneer barely escaping campus. Complex memory of Autherine Lucy Foster at UA.#BlackHistoryMonth
Link to tweet
News
Autherine Lucy Foster integrated The University of Alabama 65 years ago today
Updated Feb 01, 6:00 AM; Posted Feb 01, 6:00 AM
By Jeremy Gray | jgray@al.com
The night before a 26-year-old secretary from Birmingham was set to enroll as the first Black student in The University of Alabama’s 124 years of existence, four crosses were burned on the Tuscaloosa campus. ... Autherine Lucy made history the next day, Feb. 1, 1956, when she successfully enrolled at the university after a three-year federal court battle. ... Minutes later, Lucy was informed that the board of trustees would not allow her to stay in a dormitory or eat in the cafeteria because her presence “might endanger the safety or result in sociological disadvantage to the students.”
{snip}
A campus police officer accompanied Lucy as she quickly registered for classes. The Birmingham News reported she had received “preferential treatment.” ... Lucy was also accompanied by Polly Ann Myers Hudson, a Black woman denied admission because of her “conduct and marital record,” the Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, Emory Jackson, editor of The Birmingham World (a newspaper for the Black community), and a woman identified only as Mrs. J.R. Lee.
Lucy and Hudson, both graduates of Miles College, had each received their letters from the university the day before. Attorney Arthur Shores said Hudson was denied for no valid reason and both women said Hudson was denied because the two were friends. University officials, they said, believed Lucy would not enroll without Hudson. ... Hudson died in Detroit in 2003 having never enrolled at Alabama.
{snip}
As reporters from around the world watched in a packed Birmingham federal court, Grooms on Feb. 29, 1956 ordered UA to allow Lucy to return to the university. ... That night, the board of trustees permanently expelled her for making “false, defamatory, impertinent, and scandalous charges” against university officials. .... Lucy soon after married the Rev. Hugh Foster and moved to Texas, where the couple raised four children. ... No other Black students would enroll at Alabama for seven years.
{snip}
Autherine Lucy Foster integrated The University of Alabama 65 years ago today
Updated Feb 01, 6:00 AM; Posted Feb 01, 6:00 AM
By Jeremy Gray | jgray@al.com
The night before a 26-year-old secretary from Birmingham was set to enroll as the first Black student in The University of Alabama’s 124 years of existence, four crosses were burned on the Tuscaloosa campus. ... Autherine Lucy made history the next day, Feb. 1, 1956, when she successfully enrolled at the university after a three-year federal court battle. ... Minutes later, Lucy was informed that the board of trustees would not allow her to stay in a dormitory or eat in the cafeteria because her presence “might endanger the safety or result in sociological disadvantage to the students.”
{snip}
A campus police officer accompanied Lucy as she quickly registered for classes. The Birmingham News reported she had received “preferential treatment.” ... Lucy was also accompanied by Polly Ann Myers Hudson, a Black woman denied admission because of her “conduct and marital record,” the Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, Emory Jackson, editor of The Birmingham World (a newspaper for the Black community), and a woman identified only as Mrs. J.R. Lee.
Lucy and Hudson, both graduates of Miles College, had each received their letters from the university the day before. Attorney Arthur Shores said Hudson was denied for no valid reason and both women said Hudson was denied because the two were friends. University officials, they said, believed Lucy would not enroll without Hudson. ... Hudson died in Detroit in 2003 having never enrolled at Alabama.
{snip}
As reporters from around the world watched in a packed Birmingham federal court, Grooms on Feb. 29, 1956 ordered UA to allow Lucy to return to the university. ... That night, the board of trustees permanently expelled her for making “false, defamatory, impertinent, and scandalous charges” against university officials. .... Lucy soon after married the Rev. Hugh Foster and moved to Texas, where the couple raised four children. ... No other Black students would enroll at Alabama for seven years.
{snip}
