Slavery and Colleges

Slavery and the Civil War

The gallery images document significant examples of sites of slavery and memory at the University of Alabama, past and present. For individuals using screen readers and for additional information on the images in the various galleries, click here.

State Historical Marker on the University of Alabama of its founding to Reconstruction reopening.

Image of the front facade of the Gorgas House decorated with holiday garland on the ironwork and porch.

Photograph of the front facade of the President's Mansion decorated with holiday garland and red bows on the front porches.

President's Mansion outbuilding used as a slave quarters.

Front facade of Frederick R. Maxwell Hall, a surviving antebellum campus building.

Close up photograph of the Little Round House/Guardhouse, a surviving Civil War era building.

Photograph of Slave Cemetery with UA Slavery Apology Marker.

Close up photograph of the UA Apology marker at slave cemetery

Exhibit on the founding of the university with a large painting in the background and building models in the foreground of the lobby of Gorgas Library.

Reconstruction and Post-Civil War Rebuilding

The images and documents below showcases specific physical sites, primary sources, and a virtual student exhibit for understanding how the post-Civil War era campus community remembered slavery, enslaved campus laborers and the postwar racial realities.

Photograph of Woods Hall facing the quad during Fall.

Photograph of the front facade of Clark Hall

Photograph of the front facade of Garland Hall

Photograph of the front facade of Morgan Hall

Photograph of the Dedication plaque in Morgan Hall

Photograph of the front facade of Nott hall

Transcription: John T. Morgan, "Race Question in the United States," 1890.
Primary Source - Josiah C. Nott, “The Negro Race,” Popular Magazine of Anthropology 1 (July 1866): 102-118.
Virtual Exhibition: After Slavery: A Pop Up Museum, created by BUI 301-015 Slavery, Emancipation and the University of Alabama students (Fall 2018).

Memorials and Commemorative Landscape

The images and documents below showcases specific physical sites and primary sources for understanding the predominantly Lost Cause memorials created at the University of Alabama.

Photograph of the Mound, the ruins of Franklin Hall.

Photograph of the surviving entry steps to Franklin Hall at the Mound.

Photograph of the UDC Tiffany Memorial Stain Glass Window in Mary Harmon Bryant Hall.

Photograph of the UDC Boulder on the Quad.

Close up photograph of the UDC Boulder plaque.

Photograph of the Madison Hall Memorial.

Transcription: Crimson White coverage during the dedication of the UDC Boulder.
Transcription: Crimson White coverage during the dedication of the UDC Memorial Stain Glass Window.
Transcription: Crimson White coverage of the transition from the Old Campus to the New Modern Campus of the 1920s.

2020 Removal of CSA Memorial Plaques

On June 8, 2020, University of Alabama officials removed three CSA Memorial plaques from the Gorgas Library and the UDC Boulder. In addition, the formation of a taskforce examining remaining buildings was formed. The following the day, facilities removed the UDC Boulder from the Quad.

On August 5, 2020, UA Board of Trustees renamed Nott Hall to Honors Hall.

UDC Boulder with a removed plaque from the front of it.

Close up of UDC Boulder with a removed plaque from the front of it.

UDC Boulder being lifted in the air by a crane with workers standing in background.

Watermark caused by the removed plaque on the Gorgas library wall.

Primary Source: Jessa Reid Bolling, "UA Board of Trustees authorizes removal of three Confederate plaques," The Crimson White, June 8, 2020.
Primary Source: UA System Board of Trustees, UA President Stuart Bell and Chancellor Finis St. John, "Joint statement regarding plaque removals at UA and formation of Building Names Review Committee," June 8, 2020.
Primary Source: Board of Trustees of the University of Alabama, "Resolution - Amending the Name of Nott Hall," Special Called Board of Trustees Meeting, August 5, 2020.
Primary Source: Michael Casagrande, "Alabama strips racist name from campus building," Al.com, August 5, 2020.
Primary Source: March Hughes Cobb, "UA building named for slavery advocate to get new name," Tuscaloosa News, August 5, 2020.

Other Campuses

The University of Alabama is one of many institutions of higher education who are currently trying to grapple with its complex racial past from slavery to the present. The images and documents below showcases specific physical sites, and primary sources for contextualizing the Tuscaloosa campus with other flagship public universities.