Autherine Lucy

Summary

Autherine Juanita Lucy 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 targeting her on her fourth day of classes and enabled the university to suspend her. Her expulsion from the institution later that year led to the university's president Oliver Carmichael's resignation. Years later, the university admitted her as a master's student and in 2010 a clock tower was erected in her honor on its campus.