James Hood Died Yesterday at Age 70
So, you don't know or don't remember James Hood? He and Vivian Malone were the first two African American students to be registered at the University of Alabama in 1963. They were the students who Governor Wallace tried to block from being admitted to the University when he famously and symbolically "stood in the schoolhouse door". The schoolhouse door was the front door of Foster Auditorium where the Alabama men played basketball. It was recently renovated and is home to the women.
It's interesting that he died yesterday in the year which Alabama commemorates 50 years since the most significant year in the struggle for Civil Rights. Birmingham is having a year long recognition of events from that year, culminating with the 50 year anniversary of the bombing of the 16th St. Baptist Church. The history from that one year alone is fascinating stuff. al.com is featuring reprints of Birmingham News articles each week reporting events as they occurred. History buffs or folks who can remember 1963 would find the articles to be very interesting. Last week the topic was the Segregation now, Segregation tomorrow, Segregation forever speech Wallace gave at his inauguration. An interesting tidbit from the article was a feature on Asa Carter. Carter was a klansman who wrote the speech for Wallace. A decade later he went on to write "The Rebel Outlaw: Josey Wales" Later Clint Eastwood went on to direct and star in the movie adaptation. It's hard to imagine a klansman writing an inaugural speech much less a novel used in a Hollywood Screen play. But, I commend to anyone interested in this history, the articles at the web site.
