Timeline: 67 years ago, Autherine Lucy enrolled as UA's first Black student

Sixty-seven years ago, the University of Alabama was an all-white institution. That changed in the first week of February 1956 when Autherine Lucy became the first Black student to enroll at UA.

Lucy, a graduate student who was studying education, was met by hostile crowds of people hurling debris and voicing racially charged threats.

She was expelled just three days after enrolling, with UA officials citing concerns about the protests and threats against her life.

More:Tribute to a trailblazer: Family, friends celebrate life of Autherine Lucy Foster

African-American students did not return to the UA campus until June 11, 1963, when then-Gov. George Wallace made his infamous "Stand in the Schoolhouse Door" in an unsuccessful attempt to prevent the enrollment of Vivian Malone Jones and James Hood.

UA later celebrated Lucy’s legacy, her role in desegregating the institution and her bravery before her death on March 2, 2022.

Here's a look back at the life of Autherine Lucy:

• Oct. 5, 1929: Autherine Juanita Lucy is born to sharecroppers in Shiloh, Alabama, the youngest of nine children.

• 1947: Lucy graduates from Linden Academy after completing public school in Shiloh through 10th grade. She then goes on to Selma University in Selma and then Miles College in Fairfield.

• 1952: Lucy graduates from Miles College with a bachelor’s degree in English and applies, alongside a friend, to be a student at the University of Alabama. The women were accepted, but their status as students was soon rejected after campus officials discovered they were Black.

• June 29, 1955: The NAACP secures a court order preventing the University of Alabama from barring Lucy’s admittance on the grounds of her race.

• Feb. 3, 1956: Lucy takes her first class at the University of Alabama, officially becoming the first Black student at the Capstone.

• Feb. 6, 1956: Lucy is chased from campus amid a mob of outraged men and students. Threats were made against Lucy’s life and the President’s Mansion was damaged. Lucy was then suspended from classes by university officials, who said they did so for her own safety.

• Feb. 7, 1956: The Tuscaloosa News publishes an editorial, "What a Price for Peace," written by publisher Buford Boone. In 1957, Boone earned a Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing, with judges citing “his fearless and reasoned editorials in a community inflamed by a segregation issue."

• April 1988: Lucy’s expulsion from the University of Alabama is officially revoked and she enrolls in UA’s graduate program in education.

• May 1992: Lucy earns a master’s degree in education.

• Nov. 3, 2010: The Autherine Lucy Clock Tower is dedicated on the University of Alabama campus at the Malone-Hood Plaza as part of a ceremony commemorating the first three Black students who led the desegregation fight at the state’s flagship university.

• Sept. 15, 2017: A commemorative marker is erected in Lucy’s honor outside the former Bibb Graves Hall home of the University’s College of Education.

• May 2019: Lucy is presented with an honorary doctorate by the University of Alabama during its spring commencement ceremonies.

• Feb. 11, 2022: University officials rename Bibb Graves Hall as “Autherine Lucy Hall.” Although her married name by then was Autherine Lucy Foster, she wanted the building to have her name as it was when she first enrolled at UA.

• Feb. 25, 2022: Lucy makes her last public appearance at the dedication of Autherine Lucy Hall.

• March 2, 2022: Lucy dies at age 92.

This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Timeline: 67 years ago, Autherine Lucy became UA's first Black student