Sixty Years

A friend posted this to Facebook:

On this day in 1963, Alabama Gov. George Wallace literally stood in the doorway at the University of Alabama campus in Tuscaloosa to prevent black students Vivian Malone and James A. Hood from entering. Wallace was attempting to uphold the promise he stated in his inaugural address: "segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever." When Wallace refused to budge, President John F. Kennedy called for 100 troops from the Alabama National Guard to assist the students' entry. Wallace chose to step aside rather than incite violence.

I'm not going to post the photo of Wallace in the doorway that my friend included. Instead, here are Malone and Hood from that moment:

Malone was the first black graduate of the University of Alabama. She spent her career in voter education and civil rights-related work. She died of a stroke at the much-too-young age of 63 in 2005.

James Hood got degrees in Michigan, rather than finishing at Alabama, and spent his career teaching in Wisconsin. He also died too young, at the age of 70, in 2013.

Today, the University of Alabama has a student population that is 75.4% white and 10.5% Black. 

That figure somewhat over-represents white people's share of the general population in the 2020 census (close to 71%), while in contrast, it under-represents Black people, who make up 19% of the general population.