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1963 - University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa

The Autherine Lucy case went to court in 1953, and a decision to prohibit the university from rejecting Autherine Lucy based on race was reached in 1955. This decision was amended days later to apply to all African American students seeking to enter the University of Alabama. Autherine Lucy's dream of obtaining a degree in library science was finally realized when she officially enrolled at the all-white University of Alabama in 1956. Lucy enrolled on February 3, 1956, but was expelled for her own safety three days later. While the court had granted her the right to attend the university, the white population seemed intent on making this impossible by staging riots. Students, adults and even groups from outside of Alabama shouted racial epithets, threw eggs, sticks and rocks, and generally attempted to block her way. Protestors prompted the University to expel Lucy on February 6, 1956, in order to ensure her personal safety.

The federal government refused to intercede. Lucy's expulsion was finally overturned in 1988 by the Board of Regents. She entered the University in earnest the following year and graduated in 1992 with a master's degree in elementary education along with her daughter, Grazia, who was enrolled as an undergraduate.

On June 11, 1963, Wallace, surrounded by Alabama state troopers, confronted and blocked Assistant U.S. Attorney General Nicholas Katzenbach and African American students from entering the university. He stood at the doors of a building at the University of Alabama, threatening to block the entrance of two black students to the school. Facing him was then Assistant Attorney General Nicholas Katzenbach, sent by President John F. Kennedy to enforce a federal court's decision to integrate the university. In his statement to Katzenbach and the press, Wallace said: "The unwelcomed, unwanted, unwarranted, and force-induced intrusion upon the campus of the University of Alabama today of the might of the central government, offers frightful example of the oppression of the rights, privileges, and sovereignty of this state by offices of the federal government."

After Governor George Wallace stood in the doorway of the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa to prevent integration, President Kennedy federalized the Alabama National Guard. A total of 16,463 Alabama Guard were federalized (14,435 ARNG - 154 units; 2,028 ANG - 17 units) authorized by EO 11111 of 11 June 1963, from 11 June - 11 July 1963. Wallace left the university grounds after being informed by Major General Henry Graham, Commanding General of the 31st Infantry Division, "Governor Wallace, it is my sad duty to inform you that the National Guard has been federalized. Please stand aside so that the order of the court can be accomplished."

Vivian Malone and James Hood were the first two students to integrate the University of Alabama with the help of the National Guard, Assistant U.S. Attorney Katzenbach, and President Kennedy on June 11, 1963.