Historical figures revisit Foster
Crimson White – Nov. 3
Foster Auditorium, a historical landmark on campus, is now home to the Autherine Lucy clock tower and the Malone-Hood Plaza. Prominent figures will grace the Capstone today to remember the building’s storied history. The morning will begin with a moderated panel discussion. The panel will include prominent figures from the University’s integration – Autherine Lucy, the first black UA student, and James Hood, whose enrollment, along with Vivian Malone Jones’, led to George Wallace’s infamous stand at Foster Auditorium. Jones’ siblings Sharon Malone Holder and Elvin Malone will also be at the discussion. E. Culpepper Clark, former dean of the College of Communication and Information Sciences, will return to moderate the discussion, which will take place in the Ferguson Student Center Ballroom at 9 a.m. “This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for students to hear accounts from people that experienced the desegregation of UA firsthand,” said Kelli Knox-Hall, senior assistant director for the Ferguson Student Center…
WVUA (Tuscaloosa) – Nov. 2
Family to represent UA’s first black grad
Crimson White – Nov. 3
… Vivian Malone Jones, who passed away in October 2005 after suffering a stroke, will be represented at today’s event by her sister, Sharon, and six of her other siblings. Hood will be present at the events. Sharon Malone said she was excited to be returning to Tuscaloosa for the dedication as she and her husband, current U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, were here a month ago…Sharon Malone, her brother Elvin, and James Hood will participate in a panel discussion in the Ferguson Center Ballroom at 9 a.m. before heading to the new Foster plaza for its dedication at 1 p.m…
Tower honors integration hero
Crimson White – Nov. 3
After Autherine Lucy enrolled in the University of Alabama in 1956, she was met with intense opposition that led to her expulsion after three days as a student. When the University renovated Foster Auditorium – the site of former Alabama Gov. George Wallace’s Stand in the Schoolhouse Door – planners at the Capstone sought to construct a clock tower in honor of Lucy. The Autherine Lucy Clock Tower now stands at the center of the plaza leading to the entrance of Foster…
Lucy paves path, faces oppression
Crimson White – Nov. 3
…Autherine J. Lucy…the first black student admitted on campus, Lucy was not warmly welcomed by the community at large. Racial prejudices were a dime a dozen in 1956, and Lucy’s three-day tenure as a student worked as an excuse to let the bigotry flow. However, Lucy’s victory was short-lived. After three chaotic days with Lucy on campus, the Board of Trustees succumbed to the wishes of a terrifying mob that would stop at nothing to “Keep ’Bama White.” “I remember that Autherine Lucy came into my office to register for classes because Graves Hall was filled with students, newspaper people and curiosity,” said the former registrar for the college of education, M. L. Roberts. “Ms. Lucy was planning to get a master’s degree in school librarianship.”…Regardless of who was actually responsible for the bedlam, the Board of Trustees voted for the indefinite suspension of Lucy on the grounds that the University administration could not keep her safe. However, the first black president of the Student Government Association, Cleo Thomas, said he is not quite sure if this was a valid reason for kicking her off campus. “If she had the courage to come, I can’t imagine they didn’t have the resources to protect her,” Thomas said. “Therein lies the tragedy. What have we ever done to challenge the mindset that would make it unsafe for a young girl to go to college?” Thomas said he sees Lucy as a historic opening, in that she was the first black student to come to the Capstone…
Author discusses significance of stand
Crimson White – Nov. 3
Today marks Foster Auditorium’s rededication following years of disuse…E. Culpepper Clark, known by many as “Cully,” will moderate the discussion. Clark is the former dean of the College of Communication and Information Sciences and author of “The Schoolhouse Door: Segregation’s Last Stand at the University of Alabama,” a history and explanation of George Wallace’s famous protest at Foster Auditorium…Clark said even in 2010, the auditorium’s historical and symbolic significance for the Civil Rights Movement is still present. “There’s not a historical moment, such as [Wallace’s stand], that doesn’t have a lasting legacy because of the change that it represented,” Clark said. “It would be like saying, ‘Well, we couldn’t memorialize Gettysburg.’”
Foster Auditorium through the years
Crimson White – Nov. 3
From concerts and lectures to record-making sports events, Foster Auditorium has been a point of history in the making at the University of Alabama since it was built. This timeline helps tell the tale of a building that was once the hub of the University, soon reopening with hopes of fostering new glory days…
Needed: More Students, Less Pickets by James Hood
Crimson White – Nov. 3
James Hood, who became the first black man enrolled at The University of Alabama in 1963, wrote this guest editorial in the Crimson White on June 27, 1963, 16 days after George Wallace’s Stand in the Schoolhouse Door. The editorial in The Birmingham News ran on the same day. The current editorial staff of The Crimson White made no changes for this publication…
Hudson makes UA history once again
Crimson White – Nov. 3
Women’s basketball coach Wendell Hudson has been making history since he first came to the Capstone to be Alabama’s first black scholarship athlete in any sport. Forty-one years later, Hudson will lead the Alabama women’s basketball team into a renovated Foster Auditorium, a landmark that once stood as a symbol of racism in the South…Next season, Hudson will lead the women’s basketball team to its new home at the renovated Foster Auditorium, where, on June 11, 1963, then-Gov. George Wallace stood in front of the door to try to keep Vivian Malone Jones and James Hood from integrating the University. Hudson is excited to make history once again. “It’s going to be a great experience,” Hudson said. “I played an awful lot of basketball in Foster, back when it was like a rec center. I’m glad to be a part of Alabama history, but where we’re going is Alabama history, too.”…
Wallace Jr. talks about his controversial father
Crimson White – Nov. 3
CW Staff Reporter Katherine Martin interviewed George Wallace, Jr., the son of former Alabama governor George Wallace. Wallace Sr. gained national prominence with his stand in the schoolhouse door at the University of Alabama during his first term as governor…Wallace Jr. discussed his father’s reasoning for the stand and lifelong attempts to make amends for his actions in a phone interview Monday…
Ex-secretary of state to sign books, give speech
Tuscaloosa News – Nov. 3
Former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will appear Thursday in Tuscaloosa, where she spent part of her childhood, as a part of her national book tour. Rice will sign copies of “Extraordinary, Ordinary People: A Memoir of Family,” at 1 p.m. in the lobby of Foster Auditorium on the campus of the University of Alabama…During her visit, Rice will deliver remarks to an audience of UA and Stillman College students in the theater of the Ferguson Center at 10:30 a.m. She will also meet with members of the Blackburn Institute, a selective UA student organization whose members examine public policy issues. The institute, which is hosting Rice’s visit, is named for John Blackburn, a former UA administrator who died earlier this year and was a longtime friend of the Rice family. “Hosting Dr. Rice on campus will be an outstanding way for students and members of the Tuscaloosa community to hear a moving story of American success,” Philip Westbrook, the director of the Blackburn Institute, said in a news release. “It’s truly unique to welcome a former Cabinet secretary to the university, not to discuss political issues, but to share her life story, one with deep ties to both Tuscaloosa and the state of Alabama as a whole.”
Crimson White – Nov. 3
Voting students make strong turnout at University of Alabama campus
Birmingham News – Nov. 3
At the University of Alabama Campus Recreation Center, a stream of students came in during the waning hours of Tuesday’s voting both to work out and to cast their ballots. Jim Patrie, an election worker, said the about 700 votes had been cast over the course of the day. “That is unusually high,” he said. That total will far outstrip the number of votes cast in the primary and runoff when the bulk of students were gone for summer break…
UA students get ride to vote
ABC 33/40 (Birmingham) – Nov. 2
CBS42 (Birmingham) – Nov. 2
…the election express will take students to the polls. The University of Alabama took an active approach in ensuring it’s students are involved in the state’s political future…
Jefferson County Commission ends tough four-year term
Birmingham News – Nov. 3
… William Stewart, a retired political science professor at the University of Alabama, said he has been following the Jefferson County Commission for decades. The outgoing commission’s legacy, he said, will be “a mountain of sewer debt and unsolved problems left for its successors to solve.” “Jefferson County has become the poster child for problem county governments in the U.S.,” Stewart said. “It has been a tumultuous four years.”
Republicans claim state House and Senate after angry voters turn out long-time office holders
Gadsden Times – Nov. 3
… Hubbard’s Democratic Party counterpart, Joe Turnham, said it was important to keep the House and Senate because whoever controls the Legislature redraws legislative and congressional district lines. Retired University of Alabama political science professor William Stewart said drawing legislative and congressional district lines is “very important.” “Republicans would like to be in charge when the official 2010 Census figures are in to reapportion the Legislature,” Stewart said.
UA professor studies snakes.
WGTV (Atlanta) – Nov. 2
Stephen Secor is a professor and team leader at the University of Alabama. He wants to understand how snakes can stomach their prey…