The Schoolhosue Door tells the story of how the University of Alabama experienced the end of segregation and how two dramatic events on that campus sparked a struggle that heavily influenced the civil rights movement, exposing the massive resistance to such social change in the South.
This is the story of how the University of Alabama experienced the end of segregation and how events on that campus influenced both the civil rights movement and massive resistance to the changes it promised. It is the story of two confrontations, the Autherine Lucy episode and the stand in the schoolhouse door, confrontations that transformed Tuscaloosa into an international dateline and gave the nation symbols for an age of moral struggle. It is the story of courageous black applicants and reactionary trustees, lawyers and judges, of cautious university officials, fist-shaking demonstrators and fiery crosses; of brave, bewildered students and their worried parents; of powerful men and their low cunning, also of high-minded men and women struggling almost without hope; and, in the end, of George Wallace, whose confrontation with the Kennedys changed America's political landscape. For all its drama, no one dies in this story. Behind these scenes violence simmers, but no one dies.
This is a book about threats, intimidation, courage, perseverance, and the morality of an old and rotten way of life finally giving way. The story moves from the national politics of the Kennedy's confrontations with George Wallace to Wallace's artfully orchestrated public surrender and the impact of the transformation of the base of the Democratic Party in the Southern states as a result. This is a story of high drama about the human spirit and how Lucy's religious faith sustained her through the turmoil and racist threats. The author's research is carefully documented and his access to Lucy is evident. More important, the author clearly identifies the forces of racism, anti-democracy and ignorance. He names names, he discloses the betrayals, and he pierces the hypocrisies of the politicians and leaders who failed.
