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Brown v. Board of Education
The U.S. Supreme Court had declared segregation unconstitutional in 1954’s Brown v. Board of Education, and the executive branch undertook aggressive tactics to enforce the ruling. -
George Wallace
He was elected Alabama's governor in 1962, under an ultra-segregationist platform. During 1963, he had an inaugural address in which he had promised his white followers ¨Segregation now! Segregation tomorrow! Segregation forever!¨ -
University of Alabama
In June of 1963, African American students tried to desegregate the University. They couldn't because the governor a large number of police forces blocking the entrance to the school so they were denied access in. -
University of Alabama
A federal district court in Alabama ordered the University of Alabama to admit African American students Vivien Malone and James Hood during its summer session. -
National Guard Sent In
On June 10, 1963, President John F. Kennedy federalized National Guard troops and deployed them to the University of Alabama to force its desegregation. -
Wallace yields to federal pressure
The following day, Governor Wallace yielded to the federal pressure, and two African American students Vivian Malone and James A. Hood were successfully enrolled. -
Tuskegee High School
Wallace tried once again to block the desegregation of a public school in Alabama, this time it was Tuskegee high school. This was not a college, however the first time he tried to block this was on a college. Kennedy had to federalize troops again and send them to the high school to help force the desegregation. -
Wallace's Standoff
The summer of 1963 was a tense time in this nation's history. The day after Wallace's standoff, civil rights leader Medgar Evers was assassinated in Jackson, Miss. Violence also struck in Cambridge, Md., and Danville, Va., that June -
Alabama Nat. Guard Called In
At Tuscaloosa, only about 100 troops took part in the integration of Alabama University. The troops used were units of the Alabama National Guard, called into federal service by the President on that same day. Although 18,000 Guardsmen were federalized, it was merely a "token" force that was actually used. -
50 years forward
Today, 50 years removed from Wallace's protest, the University of Alabama's student body is 13 percent African American, which is only slightly lower than the national average of 14 percent of college students, but is equal to the overall percentage of black people in the United States.
