Recognizing the Naming of Autherine Lucy Hall on the Campus of the University of Alabama

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Ms. SEWELL. Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize the naming of Autherine Lucy Hall on the campus of the University of Alabama. Autherine Lucy Foster was the first Africa-American student to integrate the University of Alabama in 1952.

After graduating from Miles College in 1952 with a degree in English, Autherine followed her aspirations of continuing her education by applying for graduate school at the University of Alabama. After sending in her initial request on September 4, 1952, she and her friend Pollie Anne Myers received letters welcoming them to the University of Alabama. However, upon submitting applications that indicated race, both women's admissions were revoked by university officials due to the university's ``Whites only'' policy. Once the community learned of both students not being admitted to the university due to their race, two of the most prominent civil rights lawyers, Arthur Shores and Thurgood Marshall, began working on their behalf testing one of the most consequential Supreme Court cases in our history, Brown v Board of Education of Topeka. On June 28, 1955, just over a year after the Brown decision, U.S. District Judge Harlan Grooms heard their case ruling in favor of the women upholding the precedent of the Supreme Court and solidifying the legal eradication of the ``separate but equal'' policy.

In hopes of further discouraging Autherine and Pollie, the university hired private investigators to look into their backgrounds to find information that would ensure they could not attend. As a result of their efforts, Pollie was disqualified from admission, leaving Autherine to attend the university alone. Upon her attendance, Autherine experienced high-intensity adversity. She was denied dining and dormitory privileges and suffered multiple verbal and physical attacks from her White counterparts, which resulted in her being removed from the university by the Board of Trustees, claiming it was for her protection. With Autherine fearing for her life, Attorney Shores and Marshall stepped in on her behalf once again, filing an official complaint stating that the university had been complicit in permitting the crowd to intimidate and threaten Autherine. Unfortunately, they were unable to prove the university's role in the mob action, and despite withdrawing the complaint, the administration argued that through their actions, Autherine had defamed the school and its administration resulting in her expulsion.

Though she felt defeated at the moment, less than ten years later, her efforts to integrate the University of Alabama finally became a reality. Vivian Malone and James Hood enrolled at the University of Alabama in June 1963. Vivian went on to become the first African American to graduate from the University of Alabama, continuing the work of Autherine and opening the door for more students to follow in their footsteps. However, unbeknownst to her, it would take over thirty years for her own story to be completed at the University of Alabama.

Thirty-two years after her expulsion from the University of Alabama, she was asked to come back to the university as a guest speaker. With multiple faculty members advocating on her behalf to overturn her expulsion, she returned in 1989 to enroll as a student. Enrolling the same year as her daughter Grazia, they graduated together in 1992 to receive their respective graduate and undergraduate degrees. Ensuring that her legacy of bravery and tenacity lives on, the University of Alabama awarded Autherine with an honorary doctorate in 2019, a $25,000 scholarship in her name and honored her with two land makers on campus--a historic marker in front of the newly named Autherine Lucy Hall and the Autherine Lucy Clock Tower.

On a personal note, as Alabama's first Black Congresswoman, it is a source of tremendous pride to celebrate the courage and sacrifice of Autherine Lucy Foster in integrating the University of Alabama. The naming of a campus building in her honor 70 years after she first enrolled in the university shows that delayed justice can lead to racial healing and reconciliation. It was because of her bravery and sheer audacity in the face of an incredible injustice that Black students attend and graduate from the University of Alabama today. The university, the State of Alabama, and the nation owe Autherine Lucy Foster a debt of gratitude that can never truly be repaid. The naming of Autherine Lucy Hall will stand as a powerful reminder of the progress that can be achieved when this nation lives up to its best ideals of equality and justice for all.

On behalf of Alabama's 7th Congressional District, I ask my colleagues to join me in recognizing the extraordinary courage of Autherine Lucy Foster and the naming of Autherine Lucy Hall on the campus of the University of Alabama.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source