Opening the Doors: The Desegregation of the University of Alabama and the Fight for Civil Rights in Tuscaloosa

6. Prepping for Peace: Fall 1962–Spring 1963

chapter 6 Prepping for Peace Fall 1962–Spring 1963 This was total radical action for myself anyway, and it could have gotten us killed, quite seriously. The University of Alabama’s sec­ond attempt at desegregation began in Mississippi . On the morning of Monday, Oc­ to­ ber 1, 1962—at the conclusion of a nightlong firefight that left a French journalist and a jukebox repairman dead—twenty-­nine-­year-­old African Ameri­can James Meredith marched toward the Lyceum Administration Building on the Ole Miss campus to enroll in classes. The previous day, Sunday, Sep­ tem­ ber 30, Mississippi’s segregationist governor , Ross Barnett, began to understand that his battle against the federal governmentontheissueofdesegregationhadalreadybeenlostandwhatmattered most was the publicity spurred by the terms of surrender. In a morning phone call to Attorney General Robert Kennedy, a desperate Barnett suggested a highly elaborate plan in which he would arrange three rows of patrolmen, sheriffs, and soldiers—all unarmed—to square off against federal troops. Barnett understood that the best-­ case scenario was losing with a winning photograph—one in which armed federal troops pointed their weapons at unarmed Mississippians. 54 The Stand “Ithinkitissillygoingthroughthiswholefaçade...ofyourstandingthere; our people drawing guns; your stepping aside,” Kennedy informed him. “To me it is dangerous, and I think it has gone beyond the stage of politics.” Having grown tired of their failed negotiations, the White House forged aheadwithanewapproach—thesneakattack.WhilethecityofOxford,Mississippi , prepared for a Monday showdown, President John F. Kennedy and his advisors decided to register Meredith on Sunday instead. When word reached the locals, segregationists began gathering near the university’sLyceumCircle,asmallcontingencysuddenlygrowinginstrength, buglecallsandConfederateflagsfurtheraddingtothedrama.Emboldenedby their numbers, the crowd began shouting invectives aimed at President Kennedy and blacks alike, as well as a more menacing message: “Just wait’ll dark.” As darkness approached, the mob made good on its promise. Their fury mounting, they relied on the typical tools—bricks, bottles, and rocks—all hurled indiscriminately in the marshals’ direction. Tear gas remained the US marshals’ primary weapon, and at 7:58 p.m., after a lead pipe cracked a marshal ’s helmet, Chief US Marshal J. P. McShane—who had watched his men suffer the abuses of the mob long enough—ordered tear gas into the crowd. The battle waged on through­out the night, coming to its close only upon the arrival of federal troops, who successfully cleared the circle just before dawn, allowingMeredithtowalkacrossthesmolderingbattlefieldandregister.Areported 160 US marshals sustained injuries, in­ clud­ ing twenty-­ eight who suffered gunshot wounds. Meanwhile, four hours to the east in Tuscaloosa, the local newspaper reported on the violence at Ole Miss, attempting to make sense of its ramifications for its own university. One headline, in particular, managed to capture what many Tuscaloosans feared: “The Big Question: What Next?” % Within weeks of the Ole Miss riot, University of Alabama faculty, administrators , and student leaders drove to a retreat two hours east in an attempt to answer that question. Paramount to the retreat’s success was a candid discussion on the race question, and President O. C. Carmichael’s successor, President Frank Rose, fully encouraged such talk, his attempt at planting desegregation ’s seeds early to ensure a peaceful spring and summer. Measuring in at six feet two inches, Dr. Frank Rose was a man of great cha- Prepping for Peace 55 risma, whose charm and kind eyes regularly vaulted him to become the most well-­liked person in the room. “Frank Rose was a hell of a president,” agreed Donald Stewart, who not only served as 1963’s Student Government Association president, but also as a US senator fifteen years later. “[Rose] was a popu­lar fella.” Stewart’scharacterizationofRosewassharedbyfacultyandstudentsalike. The ordained minister’s work ethic and likability made him a perfect candidate for the difficult job of desegregating the campus, and while his responsibilities left little time for family, through­ out his tenure he remained a creature of habit—waking early each morning to share a meal with his wife and children. “Breakfast is the only time in a 15-­hour work day that I can relax with the family,” he explained. “I won’t take a morning paper. If I did I’d know the crises I was facing before I got to the office.” Jefferson Bennett (who had traded in his title of assistant to the president for administrative vice president) believed Rose was fully aware of his intended mission from the moment he accepted the...