Autherine Juanita Lucy (1929 - 2022)

Born 5 Oct 1929 in Shiloh, DeKalb, Alabama, United States

Ancestors

Wife of Hugh Lawrence Foster — married 22 Apr 1956 in Smith, Texas, United States

Died 2 Mar 2022 at age 92 in Lipscomb, Jefferson, Alabama, United States

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Biography

Autherine Lucy was a part of the Civil Rights Activist Movement.

Autherine Lucy is Notable.

Autherine Lucy Foster was an icon of the civil rights movement as the first Black student to attend the University of Alabama in 1956.

On September 13, 1952, she received a letter stating she was accepted to the University of Alabama. It took 4 years of legal court cases with Civil Rights lawyers Arthur Shores and Thurgood Marshall before she was able to register for classes.

Autherine Lucy Foster integrated The University of Alabama in 1956

"Autherine Lucy Foster was the first African American student to attend The University of Alabama. On Feb. 3, 1956, Lucy attended her first class as a graduate student in library science, becoming the first African American ever admitted to a white public school or university in Alabama. Campus riots broke out three days later, and the University removed Lucy for her own safety. Her expulsion was officially annulled in 1988. A year later, she again enrolled at the University, joining her daughter, Grazia Foster, who was also a student at the Capstone by that time. They graduated together in 1992 with Autherine earning a master’s degree in elementary education and Grazia earning a bachelor’s degree in corporate finance. The University named an endowed fellowship in her honor that year and dedicated the Autherine Lucy Clock Tower in 2010, honoring her as one of three individuals who pioneered desegregation at The University of Alabama. In 2017, Foster was honored with the Autherine Lucy Foster marker, located in front of Graves Hall."^[1]

In 2019, she was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Alabama. In a ceremony just weeks before her death, the school’s college of education building was renamed in her honor, having previously been named for a former governor and Ku Klux Klan member.

https://www.legacy.com/news/celebrity-deaths/autherine-lucy-foster-1929-2022-first-black-student-at-the-university-of-alabama/

Research Notes

• Autherine is the daughter of Milton Cornelius and Minnie Maud Hosea Lucy.
• Great Aunt of Congresswoman Nikema Williams

Sources

1. ↑ https://125years.ua.edu/trailblazers.php

• Graduating with Honor; 09 May 1992; from The Boston Globe (Boston, MA)

• Autherine Lucy Faster Received Masters in Education; 18 May 1992; from the Sun Herald (Biloxi, MS)

• "United States Census, 1930," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:3JKT-M3Z : accessed 4 March 2022), Arthur R Lucy in household of Milton Lucy, Shiloh, Marengo, Alabama, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 22, sheet 6B, line 73, family 122, NARA microfilm publication T626 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2002), roll 38; FHL microfilm 2,339,773.

• "United States Public Records, 1970-2009", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KPSM-5C9 : 20 November 2019), Authiene L Foster, 1994.

See Also:

• https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/autherine-lucy

• Wikipedia

• Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/238631282/autherine_juanita-foster: accessed May 9, 2024), memorial page for Autherine Juanita “Lucy” Lucy Foster (5 Oct 1929–2 Mar 2022), Find a Grave Memorial ID 238631282; Burial Details Unknown; Maintained by Bob Bardo (contributor 48069300).