FOSTER AUDITORIUM - HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE

My old friend, Mara Jo was so excited about her office moving from Coleman Coliseum to Foster Auditorium.  I've always lived in Tuscaloosa, and had heard people talking about Foster, but never knew the historial significance of it until Mara Jo gave me a tour.  No wonder she was so excited!  This is the new plaza outside Foster - a plaza that was built on the site of former Gov. George Wallace's infamous 1963 stand in the schoolhouse door.  The whole building was gutted and rebuilt.  It's beautiful!

The plaza was named after Vivian Malone and James Hood, some of the first black students who desegregated the University of Alabama. Hood arrived to pay his fees, accompanied by Vivian Malone and U.S. Attorney General Nicholas Katzenbach.   Wallace, backed by state troopers, refused them entry. President Kennedy nationalized the Alabama National Guard later the same day, which put them under the command of the President, rather than the Governor of Alabama. Guardsmen escorted Hood and Malone back to the auditorium, where Wallace moved aside at the request of General Henry Graham. Hood and Malone then entered the building, albeit through another door.  Hood left the university after only two months but returned in 1995 to earn his doctorate degree. On May 17, 1997 he received his Ph.D. (Wikipedia)

Here's the view of the plaza from the balcony off of Mara Jo's office.  Nice!

Here's some inside pics where the girls volleyball players hang out.  It's awesome!  Above are the lockers with stools in front of each one where the coach comes in to talk to the players

This is an X that was preserved in the renovation where the record for the  longest college basketball shot was held for years.  The player threw the ball over his shoulder from the opposite end of the court as he was exiting when  the buzzer sounded.  He wasn't even looking at the goal, and the coach from the opposite team told him he made the shot!

What an intelligent, brave woman Ms. Foster was!  Her expulsion was finally overturned  in 1992,  and she earned her Masters degree in Elementary Education from the University that she had applied to decades earlier.  In a complete reversal of spirit from when she was first admitted there, the university named the building after her, and George Wallace later apologized for his actions.