Group 1 - Autherine Lucy: A Documentary
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Abstract: Our documentary project on the 1956 enrollment of Autherine Lucy will enable the visualization of the horrific events that occurred on the University of Alabama’s campus in February 1956 and how the University can improve its acknowledgment of these events today.
Starting on University Boulevard, the viewers encounter where the mob marched to the Student Union building, leaving destruction and fear in their wake. The mob consisted of both students at the University and residents of Tuscaloosa and was described as more “vicious” than the mob, that was primarily made up of students, the night before. The mob, which started to dissipate, burns a cross at Denny Chimes, a prominent landmark of the University, attracting many more to join the mob making it grow drastically. The mob then marches their way to the president’s mansion where they confronted President Carmichael and chanted “Keep Bama White!”[i] President Carmichael addressed the mob but some of the participants shot fireworks at him but eventually they disperse at 2 am.
Moving to Smith Hall, we discuss Autherine Lucy riding to campus with Henry Nathaniel Guinn, an African American business man, and how when they reach Smith Hall there’s a crowd of two or three hundred people blocking the entrance to the academic hall. Lucy is able to enter without much of a problem but while inside her classroom, where she sat on the front row, she could hear the mob screaming “Lynch the nigger” from outside Smith. The issue is now getting Autherine out of Smith Hall and to Graves Hall. Lucy and the administrators had to sneak out to the car but they are still caught and pelted with eggs and rocks, but luckily are able to make it to the back entrance of Graves Hall and make it into the building without running into the mob.
Concluding with Graves Hall, the viewer gains an understanding of the complexity in moving Lucy from Graves without being overtaken by the mob. The administration utilizes a secret tunnel system between Graves and McClure Library to move Autherine but were still at a loss on how to exit the building. It just so happens that a truck driver runs into a line of police motorcycles that eventually hit Henry Nathaniel Guinn, the African American business man that drove Autherine to campus that morning, and the mob spots the “downed black man” and begins closing in on their next victim, who is luckily being assisted by two white men, Reverend Emmet Gribbin and New York Times reporter Peter Kihss. This serves as enough distraction for the mob that the administrators remove Autherine from the library and escort her to a patrol car, where she then lays down in the backseat as not to be seen by the mob.
The ending of the documentary gives the viewer an understanding of how the University has progressed sense then, how they’ve taken steps to acknowledge Lucy’s experience, and how this acknowledgement can be improved.
Word Count: 500 words
Endnotes
[i] Hollars, Opening the Doors, 24.
Bibliography
Starting on University Boulevard, the viewers encounter where the mob marched to the Student Union building, leaving destruction and fear in their wake. The mob consisted of both students at the University and residents of Tuscaloosa and was described as more “vicious” than the mob, that was primarily made up of students, the night before. The mob, which started to dissipate, burns a cross at Denny Chimes, a prominent landmark of the University, attracting many more to join the mob making it grow drastically. The mob then marches their way to the president’s mansion where they confronted President Carmichael and chanted “Keep Bama White!”[i] President Carmichael addressed the mob but some of the participants shot fireworks at him but eventually they disperse at 2 am.
Moving to Smith Hall, we discuss Autherine Lucy riding to campus with Henry Nathaniel Guinn, an African American business man, and how when they reach Smith Hall there’s a crowd of two or three hundred people blocking the entrance to the academic hall. Lucy is able to enter without much of a problem but while inside her classroom, where she sat on the front row, she could hear the mob screaming “Lynch the nigger” from outside Smith. The issue is now getting Autherine out of Smith Hall and to Graves Hall. Lucy and the administrators had to sneak out to the car but they are still caught and pelted with eggs and rocks, but luckily are able to make it to the back entrance of Graves Hall and make it into the building without running into the mob.
Concluding with Graves Hall, the viewer gains an understanding of the complexity in moving Lucy from Graves without being overtaken by the mob. The administration utilizes a secret tunnel system between Graves and McClure Library to move Autherine but were still at a loss on how to exit the building. It just so happens that a truck driver runs into a line of police motorcycles that eventually hit Henry Nathaniel Guinn, the African American business man that drove Autherine to campus that morning, and the mob spots the “downed black man” and begins closing in on their next victim, who is luckily being assisted by two white men, Reverend Emmet Gribbin and New York Times reporter Peter Kihss. This serves as enough distraction for the mob that the administrators remove Autherine from the library and escort her to a patrol car, where she then lays down in the backseat as not to be seen by the mob.
The ending of the documentary gives the viewer an understanding of how the University has progressed sense then, how they’ve taken steps to acknowledge Lucy’s experience, and how this acknowledgement can be improved.
Word Count: 500 words
Endnotes
[i] Hollars, Opening the Doors, 24.
Bibliography
- B.J. Hollars, Opening the Doors: The Desegregation of the University of Alabama and the Fight for Civil Rights in Tuscaloosa Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 2013.
- Madison Davis, "First Negro’s Entrance Sets Off Chain Reaction; Adams Called Into Court," Crimson White, 63, no. 4, February 7, 1956.
- "March in Protest to Negro Girl’s Admission," Crimson White vol. 63, no. 4, February 7, 1956.
