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

Notes

Notes Introduction 5.“Inmoresoberdays”:GeneRobertsandHankKlibanoff,TheRaceBeat:ThePress,the Civil Rights Struggle, and the Awakening of a Nation (New York: Vintage Books, 1995), 138. Chapter 1 9. On the night of Thursday, January 26, 1956: “Four Crosses Are Burned on UA Campus,” Tuscaloosa News, Feb­ru­ary 1, 1956. 9. “a land of quick reactions, of sudden and stunning violences”: Carl Carmer, Stars Fell on Alabama (Tuscaloosa: The University of Alabama Press, 1990), 15. 10. “or­ga­ni­za­tion which is pledged”: “3 Crosses Burn; 2 Men Nabbed at University,” Tuscaloosa News, Feb­ ru­ ary 2, 1956; Ann Mitchell, “Keep ’Bama White” (thesis, Georgia South­ ern College, 1971), 42. 10. a total of eight crosses: “Four Crosses Are Burned on UA Campus.” 10. “give them all their respect”: Mitchell, “Keep ’Bama White,” 5–6. 11. “conduct and marriage record”: Ibid., 33. 11. “represented not only herself but her race”: Ibid., 34. 11. “send down some basketball players about 7'2"”: Bill McEachern, “Student Reaction to Negro Seems Mostly Resignation,” Tuscaloosa News, Feb­ru­ary 2, 1956. 11. In an attempt to diffuse any potential confrontations: E. Culpepper Clark, The Schoolhouse Door: Segregation’s Last Stand at The University of Alabama (Tuscaloosa : The University of Alabama Press, 1995), 58. 12. “didn’t mind the Negrowoman”: Bill Gibb, “Negro Vows Court Fight to Get Dormitory Room: Trustee Orders No-­Room Action,” Tuscaloosa News, Feb­ru­ ary 1, 1956. 12. “I don’t like it”: Ibid. 12. “It’s bad enough that she’s here”: Bill McEachern, “Student Reaction to Negro Seems Mostly Resignation,” Tuscaloosa News, Feb­ru­ary 2, 1956. 12. “I’m a died-­in-­the-­wool Confederate”: Ibid. 226 Notes to Pages 12–18 12. “resignation”: Ibid. 12. “I fig­ured all along”: Ibid. 13. “We don’t care how many cross burnings”: Clark, Schoolhouse Door, 58; Mitchell , “Keep ’Bama White,” 36. 13. “impolite and obnoxious”: Mitchell, “Keep ’Bama White,” 84. 13. “elbowed her way”: Ibid. 13. Author E. Culpepper Clark noted the many specific charges: Clark, Schoolhouse Door, 59. 13. “By simply being there”: Ibid. 13. “every action had its explanation”: Ibid. 13. driving Lucy in his Cadillac: Anthony Blasi, Segregationist Violence and the Civil Rights Movements in Tuscaloosa (Wash­ ing­ ton, DC: University Press of America, 1980), 36. 14. “Every gesture made that day”: Clark, Schoolhouse Door, 59. 14. Writer Anthony Blasi concurred: Blasi, Segregationist Violence, 36. 14. “All the criticism leveled against Miss Lucy”: Mitchell, “Keep ’Bama White,” 86. 14. three additional crosses were burned: “3 Crosses Burn; Two Men Nabbed at University .” 14. Meanwhile, a few hours to the southeast in Montgomery: “South’s Race Cauldron Boils Stirred by Alabama Bomb Blast,” Tuscaloosa News, Feb­ ru­ ary 2, 1956; Al Lanier, “NAACP Leader’s Home Hit by Bomb, Second in Days,” Tuscaloosa News, Feb­ru­ary 2, 1956. 15. “segregated travel in Alabama”: Lanier, “NAACP Leader’s Home Hit by Bomb, Second in Days.” 15. “No single racial clash in the South had attracted so many reporters”:Roberts and Klibanoff, Race Beat, 130. 15. “It was a great day for me”: Bill Gibb, “Walking Steps to History,” Tuscaloosa News, Feb­ru­ary 5, 1956. 16. Accompanying Lucy was Reverend R. I. Alford: Clark, Schoolhouse Door, 61. 16. “as if [Lucy] was going to church”: Interview with Joyce Lamont conducted Oc­ to­ber 12, 2011. 16. “I was all in favor of her attending the university”: Ibid. 16. “I was standing there sharpening a pencil”: Ibid. 16. “[The Secret Service] stuck out”: Ibid. 17. “For two cents I’d drop the course”: Clark, Schoolhouse Door, 61; Bill McEachern , “Campus Curious, Calm as Negro Starts Class,” Tuscaloosa News, Feb­ru­ary 3, 1956. Chapter 2 18.streetsalesleapednearly75percent:“WorldTurnedEyesonUAThisWeek,”Tuscaloosa News, Feb­ru­ary 3, 1956. Notes to Pages 18–24 227 18. “Tuscaloosa and the University of Alabama were in the eyes”: Ibid. 18. just over 56,000: Wayne Phillips, “Tuscaloosa: A Tense Drama Unfolds,” New York Times, Feb­ru­ary 26, 1956. 19. BorninNewnan,Georgia:“BufordBoone,” Encyclopediaof Alabama,http://www .encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Article.jsp?id=h-­1783. 19. While shying away from the term liberal: Mitchell, “Keep ’Bama White,” 107; Roberts and Klibanoff, Race Beat, 134 19. “boycotted simultaneously”: Mitchell, “Keep ’Bama White,” 107. 19. “Let us remind”: “This Pushing, Pushing Is No Good,” Tuscaloosa News, Feb­ru­ ary 3, 1956. 19. “Never have we seen a time when an abundance”: Ibid. 20. “disturbances...