February 3, 1956

On this day in 1956, Autherine Lucy attended her first class at the University of Alabama, and became the first African-American to do so. Originally enrolled to seek her master’s in education in 1952, Lucy was denied by school administrators who discovered she was black. After three years of court battles, Lucy was able to re-enroll for the spring term of 1956. After a few days, her presence on campus brought large crowds of protesters, sometimes numbering in the thousands. Claiming an interest in Lucy’s safety, the board of trustees voted to exclude her. When her attorneys claimed the protests were orchestrated to make her leave, the trustees expelled her. African-American students would not return successfully to the university until Gov. George Wallace’s infamous stand in the schoolhouse door in 1963. Lucy’s expulsion was eventually lifted in 1988, and she earned her master’s degree in 1992.

Read more at Encyclopedia of Alabama.

Autherine Lucy in 1956, the year she became the first African American to attend the University of Alabama. (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, courtesy of W.S. Hoole Special Collections Library, The University of Alabama Libraries)

Roy Wilkins, in a news conference with Autherine Lucy and Thurgood Marshall, director and special counsel for NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, March 2, 1956. (Library of Congress, Wikipedia)

From left, Rosa Parks, Eleanor Roosevelt and Autherine Lucy Foster are seen prior to a civil rights rally at Madison Square Garden in New York City in May 1956. (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, courtesy of Library of Congress)

Autherine Lucy Clock Tower in Malone-Hood Plaza on the campus of the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. (Ttownfeen, Wikipedia)

For more on Alabama’s Bicentennial, visit Alabama 200.