Autherine Lucy

Autherine Juanita Lucy (October 5, 1929 – March 2, 2022) was an American activist who was the first African-American student to attend the University of Alabama, in 1956. She and Pollie Myers were the first black students admitted to the University of Alabama, but they had to fight the university in court to have their admission maintained once the university realized they were black. Lucy was able to attend in 1956, but a violent mob of white community members targeted her on her fourth day of classes, enabling the university to suspend her. Her expulsion from the institution later that year led to the university's president Oliver Carmichael's resignation. and mother 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. She graduated in 1947, and went on to attend Selma University in Selma for two years, after which she studied at the historically black Miles College in Fairfield. She graduated from Miles with a Bachelor of Arts in English in 1952. Myers was a civil rights activist with the NAACP at the time.

In 1954, the landmark Supreme Court desegregation case, Brown v. Board of Education said that racial segregation in public schools was unconstitutional (illegal). This precedent made a federal court side with Lucy and Myers against the university. On June 29, 1955, the NAACP secured a court order preventing the university from rejecting the admission applications of Lucy and Myers (who had married and was then known as Pollie Myers Hudson) based upon their race. Days later, the court amended the order to apply to all other African-American students seeking admission to the University of Alabama.

The university hired private investigators to find reasons to disqualify Lucy and Myers: it was able to reject Myers on the grounds that a child she had conceived before marriage made her an unsuitable student, but couldn't find a reason to reject Lucy. Even though Lucy was officially admitted, she was still barred from all dormitories and dining halls. At the Education Library building, Lucy locked herself in a room and prayed for strength, fearing the mob would kill her. The police were called and she slipped away in a patrol car when the mob was distracted by someone else who was supposed to pick her up.

Complaints and aftermath Lucy and her lawyers from the NAACP filed contempt-of-court charges against the trustees and president of the university; against the dean of women for barring her from the dining hall and dormitories, and against four other men (none connected to the university) for participating in the riots. On February 29, the Federal Court in Birmingham ordered that Lucy be reinstated and that the university must take adequate measures to protect her. The university trustees expelled her permanently on a hastily contrived technicality the same day.

Later life and death After Lucy was expelled from the university, Marshall was so concerned about her safety that he brought her to New York to stay in his home with him and his wife, Cecilia. Lucy said later, "I just felt so secure with Mr. Marshall and his wife... How grateful I have been over all these years for the protection and the kindness he gave to me."

Late in life, Lucy stated that she still resented the way the university had previously treated her, but "you just refuse to spend time thinking about it." Her grandniece, Nikema Williams, is a member of the United States House of Representatives and chair of the Democratic Party of Georgia.

Legacy

In 2003, when Vivian Malone, the first black graduate of the University of Alabama, spoke about the university's desegregation, she honored Lucy as an inspiration for her own desegregation work. Malone stated: “I was a child when that happened, but her efforts had an indelible impression on me...I figured if she could do it, I could do it.” The Plaza is located beside Foster Auditorium, where, in 1963, Alabama Governor George Wallace unsuccessfully attempted to bar Malone and Hood from registering at the university. The brick tower has a base displaying bronze plaques that chronicle the individual struggles of Lucy, Malone, and Hood. Additionally, on September 15, 2017, a special marker was erected in her honor near Graves Hall (home of the College of Education) on the UA campus. Lucy returned to speak at the ceremony and compared the crowd that welcomed her with the hatred she had encountered the first time she entered the university.

In May 2019, Lucy attended the University of Alabama's spring graduation, where the school presented her with an honorary doctorate. They described her as "the architect of desegregating Alabama's education systems."

Lucy's legacy continues at the University of Alabama with a $25,000 scholarship named after her and a picture of Lucy was put up at the university in 1992. Following an outcry from students, faculty and the public about Lucy's name being placed alongside that of a former Klansman, UA trustees dropped Graves's name completely from the hall on February 11, 2022, renaming the building Autherine Lucy Hall.