Autherine Lucy became the first Black student to desegregate the University of Alabama on this day in 1956 despite violent threats from rioting white mobs. Lucy, who was ultimately expelled from the school on a weak technicality, re-entered the school in the ’80’s and completed her master’s degree.
Autherine Juanita Lucy was born October 5, 1929 in Shiloh, Ala. She graduated from Miles College in 1952 with a degree in English. She wanted to complete her graduate work at UAB. That year, she and a friend, NAACP activist Pollie Myers Hudson, enrolled at the school and were admitted, but later denied after it was discovered they were Black.
This prompted a lengthy intervention from the NAACP, which represented the legal affairs of the women. In 1955, the civil rights organization won a court order preventing Alabama from barring Black students, but Hudson was denied anyway because she had a child out-of-wedlock and was deemed an unfit student. In interviews, Lucy claimed to never want to be an activist and instead just thought graduating from the school would allow her better opportunities.
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