TIME MAGAZINE

(February 20, 1956)

 Of all the Southern universities that have been forced to open their doors to Negroes, none have reacted so violently--or surrendered so abjectly to mob pressure--as Alabama. All week a storm of hatred swirled around the lone figure of Autherine Juanita Lucy, 26, the first Negro ever admitted to a white public school or university in the state.

 This, says Autherine, "is a day I'll never want to live through again." She arrived at Smith Hall in a black Cadillac driven by Henry Nathaniel Guinn, Negro owner of a Birmingham finance company. A crowd of 300 had already gathered around the hall, suddenly began to chant "Hey, hey, ho, ho. Autherine must go." At the end of class Dean of Women Sarah L. Healy and Carmichael's assistant, Jefferson Bennett, led Autherine out a back door to a waiting car. The mob spotted them, began throwing eggs and stones as the car sped off to Bibb Graves Hall to Autherine's next class (children's literature). Autherine had to use a back door once again, but the crowd kept pelting the car with rocks, shouting at Bennett, "Kill him! Kill him!" Says Autherine: "After that class I was not permitted to leave the building, for my own safety. I could still hear the crowd outside...Sometime later I was escorted back to Birmingham by the state police."

 During these demonstrations the board of trustees met, later sent Autherine a telegram notifying her:

FOR YOUR SAFETY AND THE SAFETY OF THE STUDENTS AND FACULTY MEMBERS OF THE UNIVERSITY, YOU ARE HEREBY SUSPENDED FROM CLASSES UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE.