Divided into two parts, this title presents a story that covers the period 1943-57, which centers on the admission to and expulsion from the University of Alabama of Autherine Lucy in 1956. It also looks at the events culminating in Wallace's spectacular stand at Foster Auditorium in June 1963.

Full of courageous African American applicants, fist-shaking demonstrators, and powerful politicians, this powerful book captures the dramatic confrontations that transformed the University of Alabama into a proving ground for the civil rights movement and gave the nation unforgettable symbols of its struggle for racial justice. History professor Clark is Assistant to the President at the university.