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Birth
Early Life of George WallaceGeorge Corley Wallace Jr. was born in Cilo, Alabama.He was born into a Methodist, farming family. Wallace was interested in politics began at age 10. -
Became A Page
In 1935 (at the age of 14), he won a contest to serve as a page in the Alabama Senate and confidently predicted that he would one day be governor of Alabama. -
Law School and Army Service
Wallace graduated from with an LL.B degree from University of Alabama and entered into pilot cadet training for the United States Army. -
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Military Service
During this time he suffered from spinal meningitis, which granted him early discharge with disability pension. -
Marraige and a Baby Carriage
George Wallace married 16 year old Lurleen Burns. They began a family right away. -
Assistant Attourney General of Alabama
In late 1945 he was appointed one of the assistant attorneys general of Alabama. -
Seat in the House of Representatives of Alabama
May 1946, he won his first election as a member to the Alabama House of Representatives. At the time, he was considered a moderate on racial issues. He quickly earned himself a reputation as a "dangerous liberal" at the capitol. -
Circuit Judgeship
In 1953 Wallace won election to a circuit judgeship in the Third Judicial Circuit that he held for six years. He became known as "the fighting little judge," a nod to his past boxing association. -
Failed Run for Govenor
In 1958 Wallace entered the race for governor. Wallace thought he could remain a "moderate" on segregation and win. His opponent in the Democratic primary, Attorney General John Patterson, promoted segregation and anti-African-American policies and received the support of the Ku Klux Klan, while Wallace received the endorsement of the NAACP. Patterson defeated Wallace in a landslide. -
Govenor of Alabama
After taking a hard turn in his policies on civil rights, Wallace won the 1962 election by a landslide. -
"Segregation Now, Segregation Tomorrow, Segregation Forever"
Wallace took the oath of office in January of 1963 and used his soon to be famous line: "In the name of the greatest people that have ever trod this earth, I draw the line in the dust and toss the gauntlet before the feet of tyranny, and I say segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever." -
Violence in Birmingham
April 3, 1963 marked the beginning of violence in Birmingham, Alabama. Under the leadership of Gov. Georege Wallace, peaceful demonstrators were attacked by city policemen with high-powered water hoses and trained dogs. -
The Stand in the Schoolhouse Door
In a vain attempt to halt desegregation by the enrollment of black students Vivian Malone and James Hood, he stood in front of Foster Auditorium at the University of Alabama on June 11, 1963. -
Boming in Birmingham
[Violence in Birmingham](<a href='http://www.angelfire.com/blues/history105project/BirminghamBombing.htm)' >Violence in Birmingham</a>On Sunday, September 15, just eighteen days after the Marsh on Washington, the nation suffered another devastating tragedy; the seventh bombing in Birmingham. Four young girls attending Sunday school were killed. Another young girl was critically injured while twenty-one other members were wounded. There were also two other victims that day. One was a thirteen year old boy who was shot by two white boys who were trying out their new pistol. The sixth victim, a black man was shot by police. -
Presedential Primaries
Testing his national appeal, he entered three presidential primaries in northern states in 1964 and made a respectable showing. -
Second Run for Gov
Despite having freely played the race card in the campaign against incumbent Albert Brewer, after Wallace's election in 1970 he began to soften his stance on segregation. "Wallace had always been able to sense which way the political wind was blowing." George Wallace -
Assassination Attempt
In the middle of the presedential primaries of 1972, in which Wallace was doing quite well, there was an attempted assassination. He was shot 5 times by Arhtur Bremer. The attempt left him paralyzed from the waist down. -
Singing a Different Tune and Final Run as Gov
In 1979 Wallace professed that he had become a born-again Christian and apologized to the black civil rights leaders for his past actions as a segregationalist. Wallace said of his stand in the schoolhouse door: "I was wrong. Those days are over, and they ought to be over." Wallace was elected for his final term as Governor in 1982 with strong support from African American voters. Wallace's final term as governor (1983–1987) saw a record number of black appointments to state positions.
