Opening Doors, Integration 40th Anniversary Commemoration

In June 1963, Vivian J. Malone and James A. Hood became the first African-Americans to sustain enrollment at the University. This second attempt to integrate the University was peaceful in comparison to the riots that accompanied Autherine Lucy Foster's enrollment, due in large part to the University's meticulous planning of the event. However, then-Governor George Wallace had vowed in his inaugural address to "stand in the schoolhouse door" if necessary to prevent federal authorities from integrating any school in the state. True to his word, Wallace stood in front of Foster Auditorium on June 11, 1963, when Malone and Hood arrived to register for classes. Ordered to "cease and desist" by a proclamation from President Kennedy, Wallace refused to step aside for more than four hours until Brigadier General Henry Graham of the Thirty-first Division of the National Guard enforced the presidential order.

Due to pioneering efforts of Malone and Hood, Dave Mack McGlathery was able to register without incident at the University's Huntsville extension on June 12, 1963. After graduating from the University in 1965 with a business degree, Malone went to work for the civil rights division of the U.S. Department of Justice. In 1988, the board of trustees overturned Autherine Lucy Foster's expulsion, and she returned to The University of Alabama, enrolling in a master's program at the same time her daughter, Grazia Foster, was an undergraduate student here. In 1992, mother and daughter graduated together, Autherine Lucy Foster with a master's degree in elementary education and Grazia Foster with a bachelor's degree in corporate finance. While James Hood left the University before completing his undergraduate degree, he returned to campus in 1995 and received a Ph.D. in interdisciplinary studies in 1997.

BRIEF HISTORY OF UA

Opening Doors