First black student at University of Alabama who was expelled in 1956 gets honorary doctorate

[Judi Lynn]

Source: The Hill

BY ARIS FOLLEY - 05/04/19 08:36 PM EDT

The first black student to ever enroll at and attend the University of Alabama, received an honorary doctoral degree from the institution on Friday.

"I love The University of Alabama, and it is an honor to be recognized in this way,"Autherine Lucy Foster said in a statement.

"I am thankful for opportunities such as this, which allow us to talk about the past while looking to the future," she continued.

Foster, 89, enrolled into the university in 1956. She originally applied to be a student at the school in 1952, shortly after earning an English degree from another college earlier that year, but was denied because of her race, the university said in a release.

Read more: https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/442150-first-black-student-at-university-of-alabama-who-was-expelled

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Rosa Parks,  Eleanor Roosevelt,  Autherine Lucy Foster

Autherine Lucy



Autherine Lucy Foster (1929- ) was the first African American to be enrolled at the University of Alabama (UA), in 1952. When school administrators found out her race, she was denied admittance but reenrolled in 1956 after a three-year court battle. Mob violence on campus, however, led to her expulsion by university officials under the guise of protecting Lucy after she attended only two full days of classes. Lucy briefly travelled as a public speaker at civil rights meetings and rallies before opting for life as a wife and mother.

Lucy was born as Autherine Juanita Lucy on October 5, 1929, in Shiloh, Marengo County, the last of 10 children; her parents were Milton Cornelius Lucy and Minnie Maud Hosea. The family owned and farmed 110 acres, and Lucy's father also did blacksmithing and made baskets and ax handles to supplement their income. A good student although reportedly reserved and shy, Lucy graduated from Linden Academy in Linden, Marengo County, where she boarded during the week in her final two years of high school. She attended Selma University and received a two-year teaching certificate. Unable to get a job because the state recently had begun requiring a four-year degree for a full-time teaching position, she entered Miles College in Birmingham in 1949 and graduated with a B.A. in English in 1952.

That same year, Lucy was contacted by friend Pollie Anne Myers, whom she had met in a public speaking class at Miles, about enrolling in graduate school at UA with her. Lucy somewhat reluctantly went along with the idea, enrolling in the master's of education program. Myers and Lucy requested and received admission forms in early September and applied and were accepted by September 13, receiving dorm assignments after sending in five-dollar deposits; admissions officials at the university had no idea that they were African American. Lucy and Myers retained a lawyer working for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), Arthur Shores, anticipating the inevitable rejection of their enrollment, which occurred on September 19 when the Admissions Office discovered that they were black. When the women showed up at the Admissions Office, they were told by Dean of Admissions William F. Adams that they could not be enrolled, although he would not state that it was because of their race. He tried to refund their deposits.

The incident initiated what would become a three-year journey through the court system. In the interim, Lucy took a position teaching English at Conway Vocational High School in Carthage, Mississippi. In 1955, the Brown vs. Board of Education decision outlawing segregation came down from the U.S. Supreme Court, and it became clear to Shores and the NAACP that the Myers/Lucy case would be the first test. Recognizing this, UA administrators hired private investigators to probe into Myers's and Lucy's backgrounds; they found that Myers had been pregnant but not married before she applied for admission. The case went before federal Judge Harlan Grooms on June 29, 1955. After only a single day of testimony, Grooms ruled for Myers and Lucy and later extended the ruling to all such cases.

More:
http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/h-2489

[JohnnyRingo]

1. 'bout time.

Took a while thinking about it, didn't they? Now she can embark on that new career.

Good for her anyway.

[wellst0nev0ter]

2. In the Year of Our Lord 2019

How backwards is that state?

[groundloop]

4. Still backwards, but not as much as you may imagine.

We're S-L-O-W-L-Y inching forward, and don't forget the fact that Alabama sent Democrat Doug Jones to the US Senate instead of electing child molester Roy Barnes. Still, there's a LONG way to go.

[Aristus]

5. Looks like Alabama is eager to take a giant step backward with their embrace of Moore

as a Senatorial candidate again.

[groundloop]

6. That's gonna' be interesting..... not sure who'd come out ahead in that race

Certainly there are plenty of die-hard right wingers here who will vote for the devil if he has an (R) next to his name, but the fact that he was pursuing relationships with teenage girls turned a lot of people against him. I'm just not sure how that will play out against Doug Jones the second time around.

[wellst0nev0ter]

9. 63% of white women voted for Moore

If that isn't backwards, I don't know what is.

[reACTIONary]

8. It looks like there are plenty of alternatives to ..

the Molester on the republican side. He doesnt seem to have even declared as yet.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_United_States_Senate_election_in_Alabama

[Aristus]

11. That's good to know.

Thanks.

[Polybius]

7. Jones only won because of Moore though

If that tall guy (who Moore beat in the primary) would have gotten the nomination, Jones would have lost. Alabama is still very backwards.

[struggle4progress]

10. Another "little problem" handled "with all deliberate speed"

[Blue_Tires]

12. kick!