MONTGOMERY, Ala. -a A single with the to start with black college students who enrolled with the University of Alabama a half century ago in defiance of racial segregation has died. James Hood of Gadsden was 70.
Officials at Adams-Buggs Funeral Dwelling in Gadsden mentioned these are dealing with arrangements for Hood, who died Thursday.
Then-Alabama Gov. George Wallace created his infamous "stand from the schoolhouse door" within a failed work to stop Hood and Vivian Malone from registering for courses in the university in 1963.
Hood and Malone have been accompanied by Deputy U.S. Lawyer Common Nicholas Katzenbach whenever they had been confronted by Wallace because they attempted to enter the university's Foster Auditorium to register for courses and spend charges.
Wallace backed down later on that day and Hood and Malone registered for courses.
UA President Judy Bonner remembered Hood like a guy of "courage and conviction" for staying a single of your to start with black college students to enroll in the university.
"His connection for the university continued decades later on when he returned to UA to earn his doctorate in 1997. He was a valued member in the University of Alabama local community, and he'll be missed. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family members through this challenging time," Bonner stated.
Hood was the final survivor amid the main figures inside the schoolhouse door incident. Wallace died in 1998, Vivian Malone Jones in 2005 and Katzenbach final yr.
Just after enrolling, Hood remained at UA for the handful of months and moved to Michigan, exactly where he obtained a bachelor's degree from Wayne State University as well as a master's degree from Michigan State.
He later on moved to Wisconsin, the place he worked in the Madison Region Technical University for 26 many years. He retired in 2002 as chairman of public security companies in charge of police and fire coaching.
He last but not least returned to UA later on in daily life to earn his doctorate.
Culpepper Clark, writer of "The Schoolhouse Door: Segregation's Final Stand in the University of Alabama," termed the schoolhouse door incident "an iconic moment" inside the Civil Rights Motion simply because it supplied a confrontation in between Wallace plus the Kennedy administration. He explained the incident was "symbolically important" and assisted result in passage from the Voting Rights Act.
Clark described Hood being a guy which has a good deal of "intellectual energy" who understood the significance of what he did with the University of Alabama in 1963.
"He did not attempt to create it into a lot more than what it had been," Clark stated.
The Rev. Preston Nix grew up in Etowah County and explained he knew of Hood, who was quite a few many years older than he.
Nix explained it took lots of courage for Hood to challenge the segregation in the University of Alabama in 1963.
Nix stated he felt Hood did what he did partly to "pave the way" for other folks to get capable of make improvements to themselves and obtain a greater training and partly mainly because he wished to attend the University of Alabama.
Samory Pruitt, vice president for local community affairs at UA, agreed with Nix.
"Because of what he did, individuals like me had been afforded the chance to head to the University of Alabama," stated Pruitt, who's black. "I feel it is about persons possessing the chance to become the ideal they are able to be."
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