Hi! Each Wednesday this month will be dedicated to someone in the Education, Medical or Legal fields who positively impacted our community through their work. We're starting off with the Education field today. I had such a tough time picking the entrants for this category--I'll never simultaneously be more grateful yet so full of complaints about the fact that February is the shortest month and therefore I have to cram more categories together in order to give some variety. This means that in multiple categories like these, I can only feature one person per field, with a bonus tossed in at the end of the month. This year we had some strong contenders for the Education category, so strong in fact that I had to hold a 6-person vote for which one to select. lol Today's entrant won because her main accomplishment shows that it only takes the determination of one person to do something big that could change the world. Cheesy but true. Let's get to our entrant!
Name: Autherine Lucy Foster, 1929--
Profession: English teacher, civil rights pioneer and lecturer
Why is the Spotlight on her today? For her fight to attend college, which led to the desegregation of the University of Alabama
Notables:
--Through her fight to be accepted into the University of Alabama, was eventually successful in completely desegregating it, leading to the university now holding the largest percentage of Black students in the entire state
--Had already obtained an undergraduate degree before applying to admission at the University of Alabama
--Was the first Black student to be accepted to an all-white university in the state and the first Black student to be allowed at the University of Alabama
--Had to fight for admission alongside her friend Pollie Myers and got lawyers from the NAACP to successfully argue their case, one of whom was Thurgood Marshall
--Faced unprecedented discrimination and threat upon her attempt to enter school after winning her case
--Was later expelled from the university again, for 'safety' purposes stemming from her near-attack by the angry mob, and was unsuccessful in overturning the decision for 17 years
--Was invited to return to the University to give a speech, opening the door for students to successfully petition for the overturning of her expulsion
--Returned to the University of Alabama, where she obtained her master's degree in education alongside her daughter
--Became a member of the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute
--Was honored by the University by having a clock tower installed in her name
--Is the subject of a scholarship created by the University of Alabama and a portrait of her displayed in one of the busiest places on the school's campus
--Was inducted into the University of Alabama's Division of Student Life Hall of Fame
Further reading links:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4
Quotes of the Day:
"The Autherine Lucy case became a symbolic battlefield for those who were determined to maintain segregation and those who had resolved to eradicate it."
--Nora Sayre, historian
"I decided it was just something that I must do. That I felt it was my task to do. That I couldn't stop until I felt I had gone as far as I could."
--Autherine Lucy Foster
"Her initiative and courage won the right for students of all races to attend the University."
--The caption under a portrait of Autherine Lucy displayed at the University of Alabama
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